Telemundo: Venezuela Halts Transmission

Telemundo: Venezuela Halts Transmission

CARACAS, Venezuela — Officials identifying themselves as members of a state regulatory agency forced the U.S.-based Spanish-language TV network Telemundo to halt transmission Sunday of its presidential election coverage.

"We're surprised by this," said Pablo Iacub, a member of Telemundo's eight-person team, which arrived last week. "We only want to do our work," he said by telephone.

At least six people who identified themselves as members of the National Commission of Telecommunications (CONATEL), which regulates electronic media in Venezuela, arrived Sunday afternoon at the hotel from which Telemundo had been transmitting since Friday, said Iacub.

The officials said the network needed permission to transmit and lacking such could not, he said. Iacub said he was unaware of such a requirement but that the Telemundo journalists were accredited with Venezuela's national elections council.

Iacub said the Telemundo team asked how they could obtain permission and, after an hour, were told that they would not be able to transmit.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4376202.html

:eyes:

No more

I'd say my already cautious impression of Mr.Chavez has sunk even further.

On the flip-side, it appears your mind is made up that he is some savior that can possibly do no wrong.

the fact that an unlicensed foreign broadcaster was shut down does not (even begin to) change my mind.

"There's Either Free Media Or There Isn't" but you never seem to care about our media..you seem to lap it up.

Furthermore, this wasn't a rhetorical discussion on 'Who is better: Venezuela or America?", so I don't know why you were commenting as if that were the case.

I would also appreciate it if you could possibly support the absurd notion that I don't care about our failure of a media or that I lap it up. Because to say such a thing was not only false on its face but also obviously completely made up in order distract from your lack of other argument.

Viva "Voice of America" which is part of "YOUR Failed Media"

:shrug:

Outrage? Whose failed media? Voice of America? You're talking about what now? Were you even forging a return response or was this just pure nonsense?

but that doesn't mean what President Chavez is doing is right.

I believe in freedom of expression, as any American should.

this is what I fear in our future - giving people on 'our' side or those we like a pass instead of using the same critical eye we have used on bush.

We need to be critical of people in power. Period.

They start breaking a thousand of their own rules and people let it go and make excuses for it.

It is mere arrogance why US media believe they can go into developing countries without permits. Rest assured that the Venezuelan media travelling with Chavez weren't allowed into the US when he came to the UN.

the United States without a license.

This is hardly a matter of freedom of the press.

If it is, there is damn little of it here in The Land of the Free, The Home of the Whopper.

Or, as so many here are fond of saying, "What part of ILLEGAL do you not understand?"