A-list message, [A-List] Telesur: Latin America Broadcasts With Its Own Voice

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200508/01/eng20050801_199592.html People's Daily (China) August 1, 2005 Latin America sends out its own voice The Southern Television, co-founded by Venezuela, Uruguay, Cuba and Argentina to cover news of Latin America, was officially launched recently. It is an heartening event that Latin American countries send out their "own voice" to the world and people in the world have a new channel to learn of Latin America. The fast changing information technologies are making the earth increasingly smaller and it is becoming more convenient and easier for people to learn of the world. But the situation of monopoly of information dissemination resources and international press right to speak by a few western developed countries remains unchanged, with their voice far louder than that of developing countries. Vice president and general manager of the Southern Television said among the 300 global top media the United State accounts for 144 and Europe 80 while developing countries, which represent 75 percent of world population, have only 30 percent newspapers worldwide. Statistics also show that 80 percent major international news in the world is released by news agencies controlled by a few developed countries. To control public opinion with their own values the media in the west often cover events wearing colored spectacles. Words like "truth", "objectivity", "impartiality" and "freedom", although sounding beautifully, can hardly mask bias and selfish considerations. It is for this reason that "voice of the stronger" not only often misleads public opinion in the world, but also makes impact on the social stability and normal order in some countries and regions. In the meantime, the monopoly of information dissemination resources constitutes virtual encroachment on the national culture of relatively weak countries. The situation has given rise to alarm and unease in many developing countries. People realized that to break the monopoly, developing countries must have a more powerful voice. Moreover, only this way can they more effectively safeguard national sovereignty and maintain political stability, and from this proceed to realize the goal of economic development and protecting national culture. The birth of the Southern Television made a concrete step in this respect. Andres Izarra, Venezuelan Minister of Communication and Information, said proudly the Southern Television broke the monolithic situation controlled by "press giants", which would contribute to maintaining the traditional values of the peoples in Latin America. As far as economic strength is concerned the developing countries can hardly make fundamental changes to their disadvantaged status in the near future. They can only make progress in building up influence by consolidation and joint efforts. None of the founder countries of the Southern Television is big or strong in terms of economic strength. By joining hands, however, they set up a TV station of considerable scale and with ambitious development goal. The TV station broadcasts in Spanish and Portuguese, features news reporting and in the meantime televises sports and culture programs as well as feature films made by Latin American countries. To increase independently gathered and edited news content the station set up correspondent stations in major American countries, covering the whole America, Europe and some African countries, with an initial audience of about 50 million, which is expected to exceed 150 million. Judging by this the joint strength of developing countries is by no means negligible. The broadcasting of the Southern Television has won applause in the Latin American countries. Leaders of the Andean Community member states, which are gathering in Peru, said in a unanimous voice that the Southern Television is a tool to promote integration of the region and enhance communication with other regions of the world. The member states would make contribution to its development in various ways. It is reasonable to believe that as the Southern Television develops people in the world will have truer understanding of Latin America and the voice of the region will be constantly reinforced. ____________________________________________________ Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

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