And people still have the gall to call mainstream media a tool of liberal extremists.

If you have not heard of what's going on in Venezuela, let me recap it for you: A dark-skinned mestizo who goes by the name Hugo Chávez was popularly elected a few years ago, much to the chagrin of the American-funded oligarchy of the country. Henceforth the American-funded right wingosphere of Venezuela did not just created a wold-wide propaganda war against the new government. They allegedly also attempted a coup. To the point that many people who were in the country before the 2002 coup attest that, indeed, the coup was chearleadered by none other than Radio Caracas Televisión.

Boing Boing [1], of all places, has compiled an excellent list of people who describe the situation as, not only complicated, but one that is being mischaracterized by the media from governments who have a bone to pick with Hugo Chávez --and that makes about almost everybody in the "First World".

There is a cornucopia of links to follow in that Boing Boing article, but I'd like to point your attention to two items : A letter published at The Guardian [2] on Saturday the 26th and signed by several UK MPs, scholars and activists titled, Television's role in the coup against Chávez [3]

We believe that the decision of the Venezuelan government not to renew the broadcasting licence of RCTV when it expires on May 27 (Chávez silences critical TV station, May 23; Comment and Letters, May 25) is legitimate given that RCTV has used its access to the public airwaves to repeatedly call for the overthrow of the democratically elected government of President Hugo Chávez. RCTV gave vital practical support to the overthrow of Venezuela's elected government in April 2002 in which at least 13 people were killed. In the 47 hours that the coup plotters held power, they overturned much of Venezuela's democratic constitution - closing down the elected national assembly, the supreme court and other state institutions.

RCTV exhorted the public to take to the streets and overthrow the government and also colluded with the coup by deliberately misrepresenting what was taking place, and then conducting a news blackout. Its production manager, Andrés Izarra, who opposed the coup, immediately resigned so as not to become an accomplice.

This is not a case of censorship. In Venezuela more than 90% of the media is privately owned and virulently opposed to the Chávez government. RCTV, far from being silenced, is being allowed to continue broadcasting by satellite and cable. In Venezuela, as in Britain, TV stations must adhere to laws and regulations governing what they can broadcast. Imagine the consequences if the BBC or ITV were found to be part of a coup against the government. Venezuela deserves the same consideration.

Colin Burgon MP
Dr Julia Buxton
Jon Cruddas MP
Tony Benn
Billy Hayes General secretary, CWU
John Pilger
Professor Jonathan Rosenhead LSE
Hugh O'Shaughnessy
Rod Stoneman Executive producer, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
And 16 others

The other source is Venezuela Analysis, a blog I have read from time to time and have found to be balanced with its criticism and praise of the Venezuela's political system. In Is Free Speech Really At Stake? [4] that you get to the heart of the matter :

If RCTV were the only major source of opposition to the government, the loss of its voice would be troubling. It would also be disturbing if the RCTV case forced others to tone down legitimate opposition. But Greg Wilpert, a sociologist living in Venezuela, declares, “It is the height of absurdity to say that there’s a lack of freedom of press in Venezuela.”

Of the top four private TV stations, three air mostly entertainment and one, Globovisión, is a 24-hours news channel. On Globovisión, Wilpert says, “the opposition is very present. They pretty much dominate it. And in the others, they certainly are very present in the news segments.”

Regarding the print media, Wilpert told me, “There are three main newspapers. Of those three, two are definitely very opposition. The other one is pretty neutral. I would say, [the opposition] certainly dominates the print media by far. There’s no doubt about that.”

“I think some of the TV stations have slightly moderated [their opposition to the government] not because of intimidation, but because they were losing audience share. Over half of the population is supportive of Chávez . They’ve reduced the number of anti-Chávez programs that they used to have. But those that continue to exist are just as anti-Chávez as they were before.”

The RCTV case is not about censorship of political opinion. It is about the government, through a flawed process, declining to renew a broadcast license to a company that would not get a license in other democracies, including the United States. In fact, it is frankly amazing that this company has been allowed to broadcast for 5 years after the coup, and that the Chávez government waited until its license expired to end its use of the public airwaves.

Read the whole damn thing. It's excellent. And now compare it to the "quality reporting" found here [5], or here (which is a newswire to be copied ad nauseum by newspapers all around the world) [6] or even here [7].

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