Freedom of the press in Venezuela
From: Hector_Sabelli@xxxxxxxx
It seems important that as USA citizens we actively oppose the media
campaign to start a war against Venezuela. There is a dangerous scaling of
international disinformation on the case of Radio Caracas Television
(RCTV). RCTV, far from to be silenced, has been authorized to continue
broadcasting by cable and via satellite. Only one of their licenses, that
expired the 27 of May, was not renewed.
This is not a dictatorial act and there is no state monopoly of
information
in Venezuela. On the contrary, private companies, many with USA
financing,
dominate the media. The totality of 118 newspapers and 706 of the
709
transmitters are in private hands. 78 percents of the television
stations
in VHF are used by the private sector, whereas only 22 percents by
the
public sector; and in the UHF band 82 percents are operated by
private
companies.
The main media group is the Organization Cisneros (ODC)
Venevisión
associated with companies such as Pepsi, Pizza Hut, etc that own more
than
50 percent of stocks.
The consequence of the enormous concentration of the media in private
hands
played a mayor role in the coup d’eat of the 11 of April of 2002.
“RCTV
not only endorsed illegal the military coup of April 2002, but that
was
deeply involved in its execution. During the 47 hours in which
the
insurgents were in the power, they closed the National Assembly,
the
Supreme Court and other institutions of the State.
Notably, the RCTV license was not cancelled then, but only now 5
years
later, it was not renewed.
British intellectuals call to support the Venezuelan decision asking
their
English readers to imagine the consequences “if were discovered that BBC
or
ITV was part of a blow against the British government�. The signers
include
the Nobel prize de Literature Harold Pinter; the writer and film
director
John Pilger; the specialist in international questions, Tony Benn;
the
writer and Tariq journalist Ali; and the academic Julia Buxton.
In Latin America, the Argentine intellectuals including the Nobel prize
of
La Paz, Adolph Perez Esquivel, the film director Fernando Pine
Solariums,
sociologists Atilio Borón and Alcira Argumedo, among other
personalities,
have initiated a campaign to combat this disinformation.
Hector Sabelli
Member of the International Committee
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