In recent weeks a number of press articles have
claimed that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is closing down the TV station
RCTV and that this is a sign of increasing censorship and restrictions to the
freedom of expression in Venezuela.
These are false allegations, circulated by
opponents of the Chávez government as part of a politically motivated campaign
to undermine support for the government. The truth about RCTV is very different
and below the Venezuela Information Centre outlines the facts.
1) Is the Venezuelan government shutting down the
RCTV Station?
Contrary to some reports, the RCTV station is not
being closed down. Rather, the Venezuelan government has chosen not to renew
RCTV’s licence to broadcast via Venezuela’s Channel Two when this expires on 27
May. RCTV will continue to be able to operate freely in Venezuela on the public
airwaves on cable and on satellite, as will the many TV and radio stations that
RCTV owner Empresas 1BC runs across Venezuela[i].
2) Why has the
government decided not to renew RCTV’s licence?
As with other democracies, Venezuelan law allows
the government the right to grant broadcast licences, renew them or let them
expire. The government has made the decision not to renew because of RCTV’s
violation of numerous laws – most notably the active support it gave to a
military coup in April 2002 to overthrow the democratically-elected Chávez
government.
In addition to its violation of laws that prohibit
the incitement of political violence, RCTV has not co-operated with tax laws and
has failed to pay fines issued by the Telecommunications Commission.
RCTV’s involvement in the 2002 coup
In April 2002, a violent military coup temporarily
overthrew the democratically-elected government of President Hugo Chávez. At
least 13 people were killed and in the 48 hours that the coup plotters held
power there was violent repression against those protesting for Chávez’s return
and many were shot at by the police. The coup plotters overturned key components
of Venezuela’s democratic constitution - closing down the elected National
Assembly, the Supreme Court and other state institutions.
Sections
of Venezuela’s private media – including RCTV – played an active role in
supporting this coup which became known as the world’s first ‘media coup’. One
of the coup leaders Vice-Admiral Victor Ramirez Perez, underlined the key role
of the media in organising the coup, stating, “We had a deadly weapon – the
media.” The media’s role is highlighted in the documentaries, The Revolution
Will Not be Televised and the new John Pilger film The War on
Democracy.[ii]
RCTV’s specific involvement included running
adverts encouraging the public to take to the streets and to overthrow the
democratically elected president.[iii] As www.venezuelanalysis.com highlighted,
RCTV was the first to broadcast the false claim that Chávez’s supporters were
shooting at opposition demonstrators, which then served as a justification for
high level military generals to declare their disobedience to the government[iv]
and RCTV also showed exclusive interviews with coup plotters.
RCTV’s involvement was publicly highlighted on a
television chat show the day after the coup, where journalists and military
plotters boasted of their collaboration in creating a violent confrontation that
could be used to justify the overthrow of the government. In this exchange, one
conspirator says: "I must thank Venevision and RCTV" for the role it played[v].
RCTV's participation was so extensive that its production manager, Andrés
Izarra, who opposed the coup, immediately resigned so as not to become an
accomplice.
In addition to direct misrepresentation of events,
RCTV also censored news reporting to try to stop the public from finding out
what was really happening. RCTV's owner Marcel Granier ordered on the day of the
coup and the following day that there was to be "No information on Chávez, his
followers, his ministers, and all others" on the station. [vi] A managing
producer of one of the station's news programmes affirmed this when testifying
to the Venezuelan National Assembly. Instead, in the days of the coup, when
hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to demand the return of
President Chavez, RCTV showed only cartoons[vii]. This is in clear violation of
regulations contained in Article 58 of the Venezuelan Constitution that
guarantee Venezuelan citizens a right to "true and accurate
information".
In no country would it be the case that media
outlets which have not only called for, but also played a key role in organising
the violent overthrow of a democratic government, would have their licence
to broadcast renewed.
Following their support for the April 2002 military
coup, sections of the media have continued to go beyond just expressing
criticism of the democratic Venezuelan government by calling for its overthrow.
For example, just a few months after the April 2002 military coup, a sabotage of
the oil industry – Venezuela’s main source of revenue – was organised by
industry employers with the intention of creating severe economic hardship that
would lead to the overthrow of the Chavez government. It lasted for two months
and saw Venezuela’s economy shrink in the first and second quarters of 2003 by
15 percent and 25 percent respectively. Again, the four main TV stations,
including RCTV, ran a propaganda war against Chavez including broadcasting
17,600 ‘advertisements’ in support of the sabotage. Many of these were paid for
by the TV stations themselves.[viii]
3) Is the non-renewal of the licence legal and have
other governments made similar decisions? Most countries regard the TV and
radio airwaves as a public space that has to be regulated through laws and codes
of conduct. Governments or delegated bodies are empowered to take action against
any broadcaster that fails in its legally prescribed
responsibilities.
Across the world, decisions not to renew licences
to those who have violated these requirements are not unusual. A report by J.
David Carracedo published in the magazine Diagonal on 21 countries, including
the US and in Europe, found that there have been at least 236 closures,
revocations, and non-renewals of radio and TV licences. [ix] In addition
research conducted by the Venezuelan Ministry of Telecommunications shows that
over 600 TV broadcasting licences have not been renewed all around the
world.
In Venezuela, the regulations are based on Article
156 of the Venezuelan Constitution, the Organic Law of Telecommunications (2000)
and the Law of Social Responsibility in Radio and Television (2004) Similarly,
there are requirements on broadcasters in the US and Britain.
In the US, laws have long established standards to
which all broadcasters must adhere. These are maintained by the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) which controls licensing and programming. The
FCC has regularly denied licence renewals based on these standards and as an
article in the Houston Chronicle noted, “it’s doubtful [RCTV’s] actions would
last more than a few minutes with the FCC.”[x]
In Britain, TV and radio must adhere to the
Broadcasting Code which embodies objectives that Parliament set down in the
Communications Act of 2003. This states that “Material likely to encourage or
incite the commission of crime or to lead to disorder must not be included in
television or radio services”[xi] and that “Broadcasters must use their best
endeavors so as not to broadcast material that could endanger lives.”[xii]
RCTV’s role in the coup would have clearly violated these laws.
4) Will alternative views still be able to be
expressed in Venezuela? Much of the reporting of the non-renewal of the RCTV
licence has implied that this station is a lone critical voice of the Chavez
government. This could not be further from the truth.
It is estimated that 95 percent of the Venezuelan
media is in opposition to President Chávez, and on a daily basis produces
vitriolic ‘news pieces’ as well as editorials against the
government.[xiii]. The private Venezuelan media includes five major
television channels –Venevisión, RCTV, Globovisión, Televen and CMT – which
control at least 90 percent of the TV market, with smaller private stations
controlling another five percent.[xiv] In addition all of the country’s 118
newspaper companies, both regional and national, are held in private hands, as
are 99 percent of radio stations.[xv]
Venezuela’s media enjoys the freedom to report and
express opinions without government interference. Despite the clear violations
of laws and active support for the overthrowing of a democratic government, not
a single TV or radio station has been closed by the government since President
Chávez was elected in 1998.
However, two television channels have been shut
down temporarily for political reasons, not by the government, but by opponents
of President Chavez. One was the public station, Channel 8, which was shut down
by the junta responsible for the coup as part of concerted efforts to prevent
the truth from getting out. The second is the case of alternative station Catia
TV, which was closed in July 2003 by the former Metropolitan Area Mayor, Alfredo
Peña, an anti-Chávez member of the opposition and supporter of the April 2002
coup[xvi].
In fact, since the election of the President
Chávez, the diversity of media has expanded. Venezuela’s Telecommunications
Minister, Jesse Chacón, recently pointed out that during the Chávez presidency
the number of TV channels have increased from 30 to 78 and the number of FM
radio broadcasters from 368 to 617 since 1999.
5) What will replace RCTV on Channel Two?
In addition to RCTV’s failure to meet basic public
interest standards, the Venezuelan government has also said that it has chosen
to grant the licence to another broadcaster in order to democratise both access
to and the content of the airwaves.
A new television station TEVES (Venezuelan Social
Television) will begin airing on Channel Two once RCTV’s licence expires.
Government Minister Jesse Chacon has said that TEVES will be similar in concept
to that of European public service broadcasting, with the aim of creating space
for diverse programming. He explained that the new channel will “break the
editorial line that exists in the TV business, where the owner of the medium is
the owner of the message” with independent TV producers creating the programmes
for the new channel.[xvii] The Venezuelan Director of Public Policy of the
Ministry of Communication and Information, Luisana Colomine, added that “Any
person can participate in its production and no one will be excluded for
belonging to one political party or another… That's part of the idea of public
service”. [xviii]
An international campaign of misinformation, led by the Bush administration, is seeking to undermine support for the democratic government of Hugo Chávez.
In this section VIC exposes the false claims made in the media.
More rebuttals here, and send your examples of inaccurate coverage to info@vicuk.org
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