[Marxism] NYT on TELESUR: Building a TV Station and a Platform for Leftists

[Walter Lippmann <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(A good journalistic snapshot of Telesur at this precise
moment in its development. The station is one of the most
essential foundation stones of Latin American integration.
If it were possible to obtain Telesur and Cubavision here
in the United States, I'd consider getting satellite TV.
While the headline is pure New York Slimes, the body of 
this report is definitely worth reading all the way.)
=============================================================

June 16, 2007

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/16/world/americas/16izarrap.html

The Saturday Profile
Building a TV Station and a Platform for Leftists
By SIMON ROMERO

CARACAS, Venezuela

AT the headquarters here of Telesur, the regional Spanish-language
network financed largely by Venezuelaâs government, an anchor reads a
bulletin describing a meeting of landless peasants in Brazil.
Producers receive a report from Bolivia on a meeting of Andean
leaders. On a talk show, intellectuals discuss trends in Caribbean
cinema. An advertisement celebrates the broadcast of a documentary on
the life of Che Guevara.

Less than two years old, Telesur is seen as this hemisphereâs answer
to Al Jazeera, a Latin American network aimed at fostering
integration and countering the influence of news organizations like
CNN. The man guiding this experiment is AndrÃs Izarra, a rising star
of President Hugo ChÃvezâs ambitious project to upend elites in
Venezuela and elsewhere in the region.

Mr. Izarra, 38, was a news director at RCTV, the network recently
taken off the air in the governmentâs move not to renew its license,
until he quit during the 2002 coup against Mr. ChÃvez, complaining of
pro-coup coverage.

Since then, he ascended quickly through the highest ranks of
government, becoming Mr. ChÃvezâs communications minister and now
president of Telesur, a project at the forefront of Mr. ChÃvezâs
efforts to assert greater state control of the news media.

While protests have convulsed Venezuela in recent weeks over Mr.
ChÃvezâs move against RCTV, Mr. Izarra has emerged as a passionate
defender of the decision.

âRCTV practiced a form of media terrorism,â Mr. Izarra said in an
interview. âThe families that own RCTV hate my guts for saying that,
but the oligarchy that once controlled Venezuela is finally coming
apart.â

While the old oligarchy is undone, a new political elite is emerging
in Venezuela, comprised of officials who support Mr. ChÃvez as a foil
to the United States government and, not incidentally, have benefited
from the changing order.

His critics call Mr. Izarra an apparatchik, someone who has defended
Mr. ChÃvezâs media policies for personal gain, a charge he denies.
Mr. Izarra said he admired the presidentâs capacity to stand up to
the United States policies of âsabotage and containment.â

Hastily eating take-out sushi at his desk here, Mr. Izarra said he
and his wife could no longer comfortably dine in restaurants. âI
become the subject of verbal abuse when I go into a public place,â he
said, explaining how walking around Las Mercedes, the chic district
where he lives, had become difficult.

DESPITE projecting an intensely partisan personal image, Mr. Izarra
says he is tolerant of different opinions in his family or in
Telesurâs studios. He said 120 of Telesurâs 400 employees were
opponents of Mr. ChÃvez, acknowledging that he kept tabs by using
lists of voters and their political sympathies, available here on
pirated software.

He says he never dreamed of working in a profession that did not
revolve around a newsroom. But his departure from RCTV in 2002 led
him into other worlds. Cast into the wilderness as far as privately
owned media here were concerned, he first returned to CNN as a field
producer during a general strike that paralyzed the economy in 2002
and 2003.

âAndrÃs was far from being a Chavista when I met him,â said Lucia
Newman, who was Mr. Izarraâs boss as a senior Latin America
correspondent for CNN.

âBut he found himself in a position in which he had to choose sides,â
said Ms. Newman, who now covers Latin America for Al Jazeera
International, describing Mr. Izarraâs trajectory after his work for
her. âIn a general sense, I think heâs now a true believer.â

Mr. Izarra crossed into politics definitively when he took a job in
media relations for the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington after his
stint in Caracas for CNN. Then, at the age of 35, he was given charge
of Mr. ChÃvezâs personal television show and a growing portfolio of
other responsibilities.

âThe pace of working alongside ChÃvez isnât easy for anyone,â said
Josà Roberto Duque, a writer and journalist who was hired by Mr.
Izarra to help retool Venezuelaâs state news agency by drawing
inspiration from Cubaâs Prensa Libre and Spainâs Agencia EFE. 
âHe matured immensely, and intensely, during that time.â

Mr. Izarra started in journalism while living in France after he left
university studies here in economics, writing for a magazine
published by his uncle, who was jailed in Venezuela in the 1970s for
leftist political activities.

His father, William Izarra, a retired air force officer and a
political scientist, is one of the chief theorists of Mr. ChÃvezâs
political movement.

STILL, Mr. Izarra seems an unlikely Chavista. He had a privileged
upbringing, attending Santiago de LeÃn, an elite school in Caracas.
He speaks flawless English, having also attended public schools in
Newton, Mass., while his parents did graduate work at Harvard. He
spent nearly five years working in the United States at CNN and NBC
before returning to Venezuela.

Now he is in the middle of the debate over the closing of RCTV, even
as Telesur plans to expand into Europe, Brazil and perhaps the United
States, using Internet-based broadcasting technology. The network,
which has more than 10 bureaus overseas, including Cuba, Nicaragua
and Haiti, is opening two more in London and Madrid.

Last year Telesur and Al Jazeera announced a content-sharing
agreement, which was derided by Connie Mack, a Republican 
congressman from Florida, as âcreating a global television 
network for terrorists.â

Such statements, Mr. Izarra said, have only given Telesur greater
legitimacy among its viewers. Compared with the Venezuelan
governmentâs main television network, which ruthlessly disparages Mr.
ChÃvezâs critics, Telesurâs tilt left is more moderate. The networkâs
mission, he said, is âto advance integration while portraying Latin
Americans as we see ourselves.â

Cookie-cutter anchors are not part of this project. Instead, a
ponytailed journalist with a 5 oâclock shadow discusses the news each
morning. A diversity of accents from correspondents from around the
region reflects the countries supporting Telesur, which include
Argentina, Brazil, Cuba and Nicaragua.

But this is Venezuela, where politics intrudes even into lifeâs most
intimate spaces. During his time as communications minister, Mr.
Izarra met Isabel GonzÃlez, a former anchor at GlobovisiÃn,
Venezuelaâs only remaining opposition television network.

They married soon after Mr. Izarra was interviewed on her program and
have a 1-year-old daughter. Mr. Izarra has a 14-year-old son from a
previous marriage.

His wife remains an outspoken critic of the government. So is his
mother, Viviana GarcÃa, a retired university professor. And his
wifeâs stepfather, Antonio Ledezma, heads an opposition political
party.

âWe do not discuss politics when the family gets together,â Ms.
GarcÃa said. âUnfortunately, this is a situation common to many
Venezuelan families at this time.â

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company


================================
WALTER LIPPMANN
Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
writer - photographer - activist
http://www.walterlippmann.com
================================

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