[NYTr] Media Pot Continues to Boil: Venezuela, RCTV, Internet
by way of NY Transfer News <nyt@viola.tamara-b.org>
excerpted from VIO Venezuela News Roundup - Jun 12, 2007
Summary:
Vice President Jorge Rodriguez has invited students opposed to the
non-renewal of RCTV's broadcasting license to hold talks with the
government, the Associated Press reports today. Student leaders
accepted the invitation without setting a date for the talks.
Venezuela will host the Americas Cup Soccer Tournament beginning June
26th, and students have stated their desire to use the event to draw
attention to their anti-Chavez cause.
Jose Miguel Insulza, Secretary General of the OAS, told a Spanish
newspaper he expects Venezuela "to continue to be a democratic
country." El Universal reports that while Insulza personally "did not
like the move on RCTV," the non-renewal was "an administrative
decision," and insufficient reason for creating divisions within the
OAS. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stormed out of last week's
OAS summit after arguing with Venezuela's top foreign minister.
The debate on RCTV continues elsewhere: a Washington Times op-ed
charges that the non-renewal is proof that dissent is being silenced in
Venezuela. The opposition-affiliated Globovision is referred to as a
"small cable news channel," when in fact the station reaches the
roughly 5 million residents of the Caracas metropolitan area (some 20%
of the national population) for free on the open-access airwaves. For
its part, RCTV has taken its programming to the internet, where
web-based broadcasts of regular programming are frequent. Canada's CBC
News reports on a study that finds a higher prevalence of internet
hacking in Venezuela than any other country. The CBC writes that,
since RCTV's non-renewal on May 27th, "both anti-government protesters
and government supporters have taken their fight to the internet," with
both sides experiencing website shutdowns. -VIO
***
AP via CNN - Jun 12, 2007
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/06/12/students.chavez.ap/index.html?section=cnn_latest
Miffed students agree to talks with Chavez administration
The Associated Press
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Students who led recent protests against a
decision by President Hugo Chavez that forced an opposition TV station
off the air said Monday they are willing to meet with the government
for talks.
Student leader Yon Goicochea said university groups that condemned
Chavez's decision not to renew the broadcast license of Radio Caracas
Television would accept Vice President Jorge Rodriguez's invitation for
talks -- but that the government would have to wait.
"When the universities are ready to have a meeting with the executive
branch, we will have it," Goicochea said.
Critics argue Chavez is trying to muzzle his opponents by not renewing
RCTV's license, which expired May 27.
The president defends the move as a means of democratizing the airwaves
by turning over the signal to a state-funded public broadcasting
station.
Some political analysts argue the government is eager to appease
students before Venezuela hosts the Copa America on June 26. Students
say they are planning more demonstrations during the international
soccer tournament.
"We are going to take advantage of this Copa America to send a message,
and the message is freedom," student leader Stalin Gonzalez said.
Chavez, who has derided students protesters as U.S. "pawns," has warned
against protests that could be aimed at disrupting the tournament.
Unlike past protests by opposition parties, the recent student marches
and street demonstrations have been dominated by a new generation that
has taken to the streets by the thousands in a coordinated challenge to
Chavez.
***
El Universal - June 11, 2007
http://english.eluniversal.com/2007/06/11/en_pol_art_insulza-hopes-venezu_11A883121.shtml
OAS's Insulza hopes Venezuela "to continue to be democratic"
JosC) Miguel Insulza, Secretary-General of the Organization of American
States (OAS), hoped Venezuela "to continue to be a democratic country,"
and clarified he does not intend to widen the gap at OAS regarding the
case of Caracas-based TV station RCTV, "because what this continent
needs is unity." "I am among the people who did not like the move on
RCTV (which stopped broadcasts last May 27, after Venezuelan President
Hugo ChC!vez refused to renew the broadcast license for the TV channel),
but nobody believes this is a reason to provoke a division in the
institution (OAS)," Insulza told Spanish newspaper El PaC-s during an
interview conducted in Washington and published on June 10.
While he endorses the idea that the discontinuation of RCTV was "an
administrative decision," Insulza also believes that such a move
"became a political punishment from the very moment the Venezuelan
government made it based on political allegations."
Insulza reminded that non-renewal of RCTV broadcast license came after
ChC!vez accused the TV network of supporting a failed coup d'etat in
2002. He added that he is keeping close communication with OAS member
countries to assess any likely decisions on Venezuela.
He would not rule out the possibility to visit Venezuela any time in
order to study the situation, but warned he would not travel to
Venezuela in the short term. "I hope Venezuela to continue to be a
democratic country. My mission will not be that of exacerbating the
process of rupture, because what this continent needs is unity,"
Insulza told El PaC-s.
***
CBC - June 11, 2007
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/technology-blog/2007/06/venezuelas_war_on_the_web.html
Internet becomes battleground in Venezuela
By Paul Jay
CBC News
When you think of web-based attacks from hackers, what country first
coes to mind? The United States? China? Try Venezuela.
Last week Akamai Technologies Inc. launched a new free web service that
allowed viewers to see a sort of internet weather report on global
traffic tie-ups and attacks. Surprisingly, Venezuela had the highest
attacks of any region. And it wasn't really close.
On June 6, Akamai reported there had been 844 attacks in Venezuela in
the past 24 hours, over 500 more attacks than the next closest nation.
Over the weekend things had calmed down a bit, with the number of
attacks as of 1 p.m. on June 11 down to 351 over the previous 24 hours.
China was the next-closest nation outside of the United States on
Monday with 226 attacks. U.S. results were broken down by state, with
California leading all states with 27 attacks in the past 24 hours.
The results are a bit surprising, but not when you consider the
political unrest in the nation. According to a story from the Agence
France-Presse, both anti-government protestors and government
supporters have taken their fight to the internet since Venezuelan
president Hugo Chavez announced he would not be renewing the license of
a television station that was a frequent critic of his policies.
The AFP said both sides have had their sites shut down because of
concentrated attacks from hackers.
The raging web war in Venezuela comes a month after Estonia's
government sites were effectively shut down by a series of attacks in
May.
***
The Washington Times - June 12, 2007
http://washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20070611-085928-2953r.htm
Chavez vs. free speech
By Blanquita Cullum
For weeks ahead of taking Venezuela's oldest and most widely watched
television station off the air, President Hugo Chavez and his regime
maintained the fiction that the move was nothing more than a regulatory
matter. A broadcasting license was up for renewal, and in this
particular case, the broadcaster had all too often violated regulations
protecting Venezuelan viewers from indecency and violent programming.
Or as Venezuela's envoy to Spain said of Radio Caracas Television, the
"licensee did not behave, and therefore the agreement was not renewed."
But once RCTV was off the air, it didn't take long for the Venezuelan
strongman Hugo Chavez to lift the veil, threatening to shut down any
media outlet that displeases him. "I am going to go after those
resisting the revolution," Mr. Chavez announced, "and eliminate them
one by one." What counts as resistance? Anything other than fawning
coverage of his "revolution" is deemed to be a threat against Venezuela
and against Mr. Chavez personally. For the chavistas, the president is
the government of Venezuela, and any opposition to him is an attack on
the nation. Mr. Chavez aggressively promotes the notion that he and the
state are inseparable, as when he sneered this weekend that "Separation
of powers and alternation of powers is a device of bourgeois
democracy."
Globovision, a small cable TV network, has been one of the only
Venezuelan media outlets willing to cover the student protests sparked
by the closure of RCTV. Mr. Chavez denounced the network as "enemies of
the motherland," and taunted: "Greetings, Globovision, you will see
where you will go." Mr. Chavez isn't known for the subtlety of his
threats. "I am warning you in front of the country," el Presidente
declared at a rally. "I recommend they take a tranquilizer and cool
down, because if not, I will take care of Globovision myself."
Undeterred, the network has kept up its coverage, showing abundant
footage of students, their hands painted white and held high to clearly
show that they are unarmed, tear-gassed, clubbed by the government's
riot thugs and blasted with water cannons. CNN kept up its coverage
too. Mr. Chavez' regime responded by accusing Globovision and CNN both
of trying to incite the assassination of the president. In Venezuela,
even the most basic sort of media coverage gets labeled terrorism, and
is treated as such. "I can take away the concession of any media outlet
that practices media terrorism," Mr. Chavez proclaimed. No wonder
nearly every other broadcaster in the country has gone into a defensive
crouch of self-censorship.
Venezuela's regime could not be more clear about its ambition to
silence dissent. And finally the United States is speaking bluntly too.
At a meeting of the Organization of American States in Panama City,
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke out against the closing of
RCTV, calling freedom of speech "the beginning of justice in every
society." Miss Rice said: "Everyone recognizes that when you start
closing down television stations because they express opposition to the
leadership, that that is, in fact, a strong move against democracy."
That threat to democracy extends well beyond Venezuela's borders.
Emboldened -- and financed -- by Venezuela, rulers in Ecuador and
Bolivia are moving to crush media that make room for dissenting voices.
"The main adversaries of my presidency, of my government," said
Bolivia's Evo Morales, "are certain communications media." When Mr.
Morales made this statement, Venezuela had just put the padlock on
RCTV, so it is clear what he had in mind when he said he would "draw on
the experience of our friends in Venezuela and Cuba."
Ecuador's president Rafael Correa announced a Chavez-like initiative to
review media "concessions." Venezuela's college students are bravely
risking their futures, even their lives, by publicly protesting Hugo
Chavez and the authoritarian juggernaut his regime has become. We can
and should do more to support their cause. We broadcasters can make a
simple gesture of solidarity with them by tying black ribbons on our
microphones, or wearing black ribbons on our lapels, especially on June
27, which is Journalists' Day in Venezuela. But it's not enough to
dress ourselves in crepe, mourning the death of free speech under the
Chavez regime. There are more important gestures of solidarity to be
made. First among them is to keep the issue of freedom in Venezuela
alive by not allowing Mr. Chavez' fait accompli to be accepted as old
news. In other words, we need to exercise our free speech in defense of
free speech in Venezuela, and anywhere it is under assault.
[Blanquita Cullum is a member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors
and is chairman of the Talkers First Amendment Committee. ]
***
The Providence Journal - Jun 11, 2007
http://www.projo.com/opinion/letters/content/LT_clifford_RDY_06-11-07_435STHO.21e7ff6.html
Letters to the Editor
U.S. worse than Venezuela's Chavez
By Joseph Clifford
The U.S. government, mainstream media and big oil (who all sleep in the
same bed) have done their best to demonize Hugo Chavez, the outspoken
leader of Venezuela. ChC!vez threw big oil companies out of Venezuela
and nationalized the nation's oil because foreign oil companies were
raping the oil resources. He argued that oil proceeds should be used to
help the poor and has attempted to redistribute wealth by providing the
poor with free food, medicine, and education, paying for his social
programs with oil money. Additionally this past winter he offered oil
to the poor in the U.S. at discount prices.
Meanwhile, Exxon-Mobil earns mind-boggling profits. What has
Exxon-Mobil done for you? Who would you like to see end up with your
gas money; the poor or Exxon-Mobil?
President Bush is indignant because ChC!vez would not renew the
broadcast license of a TV station that participated in an attempt to
overthrow him, and some U.S. politicians are highly critical, calling
it an infringement of the right of free press and referring to ChC!vez
as a dictator ? forgetting he has faced the people five times in
elections.
We can only speculate as to what Bush would do if CBS participated in
an attempt to overthrow his administration. We know what he has done to
news outlets that do not give the slant he wants.
In November 2001, the U.S. dropped a 500-pound bomb on the al-Jazeera
news station in Kabul, bombed their office in Baghdad in 2003, and
imprisoned numerous reporters, with one still being held at GuantC!namo,
because we did not like what it was broadcasting.
We also know through leaked British memos that Bush wanted to bomb
al-Jazeera's headquarters in Qatar, but Tony Blair talked him out of
it. None of this bothered the ardent free-speech advocates who are so
critical of ChC!vez.
JOSEPH CLIFFORD
Jamestown
*
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