Media In Venezuela: Facts and Fiction

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/2059/35/">full article (only about 1/3 of article was posted)

to use the public airwaves in Venezuela--which is not a right in any country, but rather a privilege subject to regulation and licensing in the public interest, since broadcast media have such enormous power to shape political debate and to influence people subliminally with imagery, sound and repetition and is so pervasive in society, with TV in virtually every home and radio in every vehicle*.

Besides RCTV's 625 violations of broadcast regulations, during the 2002 coup d'etat in Venezuela RCTV broadcast falsified footage that made it seem that Chavez government supporters were shooting at unarmed anti-government demonstrators (not true), broadcast a false military announcement that Chavez had resigned as president (he had not resigned), hosted meetings of the coup, broadcast its events, refused to broadcast any opposition to the coup, encouraged violence against Chavez supporters and members of his government, and then ran cartoons and soap operas at critical moments to cover up what was being done (kidnapping of the president, and suspension of the Constitution, the courts, the National Assembly and all civil rights).

RCTV's actions were outrageous and reprehensible. In many countries, its owners would be in jail. And their utter hypocrisy--and the utter hypocrisy of our own corpo/fascist press--on freedom of speech--is illustrated by the coup's shutdown of the government broadcasting station, during the coup, to prevent members of the Chaver government from telling the people of Venezuela what was really happening. "Free speech" is a very limited thing, in their view--"free speech" for themselves and none for Chavez and members of his government and the millions of Venezuelans who voted for them.

A shitstorm of phony outrage spewed from our corpo/fascist press and theirs, when Chavez exercised a power given to him under the Venezuelan Constitution--which here is exercised by the FCC (a politically appointed board)--to license or not license broadcasters, and chose not to renew RCTV's license. They made it seem that Chavez did something illegal and that he was merely punishing RCTV for opposing him politically. As this article points out, 90% of broadcasting in Venezuela is anti-Chavez, much of it very anti-Chavez. RCTV was no loss, on the matter of fairness and balance. In truth, de-licensing RCTV improved free speech in Venezuela, by taking off the public airwaves a corporation that touted suspending all civil rights except for themselves.

It is fair to criticize Venezuela's method of regulation and suggest that it be improved (--that the licensing power not be concentrated in the president's hands, that it be more diffuse, that an appeals process be established, etc.), but the legality and justice of Chavez's action, regarding RCTV, are beyond question. In fact, he would have been justified, as president of the country with particular responsibility for Venezuela's security and the integrity of its institutions, if he had sent military troops to RCTV to shut it down as soon as he was back in power. He probably chose not to do so immediately for that very reason--the security of the country. The country was in turmoil, and it was unclear what might happen next. The Bushwhacks had stationed a US Navy ship off the coast of Venezuela. Venezuelan military officers had been involved in the coup. The Bush Junta in Washington and our corpo/fascist press were still hailing the coup as a 'triumph for democracy' as tens of thousands of Venezuelans poured into the streets to defeat the coup and restore order in their country. And the turmoil continued, with various hostile actions by the Bushwhacks and nearly successful destabilization efforts, including a crippling oil professionals' strike and a US-funded recall election during the 2003-2004 period. Venezuela was not all that secure until 2006, when Chavez ran for re-election, in an election with heavy international monitoring, and won big. Apparently only then did he and his government feel secure in taking the mildest of appropriate actions against this powerful, treasonous, coup-mongering broadcasting corporation.

The Chavez government is now trying to establish the very regulatory system that the anti-Chavez screamers criticized them for not having at the time that RCTV license was not renewed. As they have done with tax collection, they are trying to create a system with consistent, enforceable rules. Dozens of stations are resisting this appropriate regulation of use of the public airwaves, The scofflaws are, of course, screaming censorship and tyranny. And the screams of "dictator" echo over our corpo/fascist-controlled airwaves, and theirs, and in all of our corpo/fascist newspapers, and half of theirs (--they have more balance in the print media). Let me repeat: The airwaves belong to the public, and they are regulated in every country in the world, with public interest objectives, many of which include "fairness and balance" in political debate, as well as public access and public service. We used to have "fairness and balance" here, in the era of the "Fairness Doctrine" (and we had much better journalism as a result). Even if the Chavez government is reviewing station ownership for too many fascist owners and too much fascist bullcrap on TV and radio, they have that right and indeed they have an obligation, as public servants, to ensure fairness to the public in the use of publicly owned airwaves. But there is no evidence yet that the Chavez government is even trying to do this--trying to "balance" political coverage. They have found owners who can't prove they ever got a license; owners who are regularly violating existing rules; narrow cliques who pass their use of the station amongst their friends and family, and other sorts of irregularities that need to be corrected by good government. And, if in this process, they alter the current 90/10 ratio of corpo/fascist views vs. neutral or leftist views, more power to them. They will have done the Venezuelan people a great favor.

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* (You pick up a newspaper or news magazine and choose to read it, and stop reading it. The object does not have the power to repeatedly force ideas upon you. TV/radio, on the other hand, entices you with imagery, sound and entertainment. You can turn it off, but when it is on, you have no defenses against it. It can cleverly repeat certain messages over and over and over again, and can subliminally shape how you think and what you think. This is why broadcasting is regulated.)