Venezuela Takes Over TV Network as Police, Protesters Clash
By Guillermo Parra-Bernal and Alex Kennedy
May 28 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuela's new state television channel TVes took control of the country's most-watched network as protesters accused President Hugo Chavez of seeking to stamp out voices of opposition to his government.
The new channel began transmitting at 12:00 a.m. local time (12:00 a.m. New York time), prompting celebrations by Chavez supporters gathered in Caracas's Morelos Square. Workers at Radio Caracas Television, shut after Chavez refused to renew its license, left the channel's Quinta Crespo facilities amid tears and pledges to fight the decision peacefully and in the courts.
Opposed by more than two-thirds of Venezuelans in a poll last month, the decision to close RCTV, as Radio Caracas is known, is unpopular at home and has earned Chavez condemnation abroad from groups such as the European Parliament as he consolidates power and silences critics. Starting today, the government will control two of Venezuela's four nationwide broadcast channels.
``This has exposed the abusive, arbitrary and autocratic nature of Chavez's government,'' said Marcel Granier, managing partner of Grupo de Empresas 1BC, the holding company that owns RCTV, in a speech last night in Caracas. ``This is a government that fears free thought, a government that fears dissenting opinions and fears criticism.''
Chavez's refusal to license RCTV, as the country's oldest network is known, will aid his daily battle to dominate political discussion. Many of Chavez's opponents retain ownership of established news organizations, using them as political platforms, while his government funds dozens of new community and national media outlets friendly to its cause.
TVes Programming
``That channel of coup-mongers clearly trespassed all types of limits and that's why we canceled its license,'' Vice President Jorge Rodriguez said in a yesterday interview with Televen television station. ``We are now offering a new type pf television, more democratic, more representative of our culture and our people.''
TVes, which started with an initial investment of $4 million put up by the government, plans to broadcast movies, documentaries and reality shows made by ``independent producers,'' Chavez said last week. The government took over transmitters from RCTV technical staff one minute before midnight.
During a speech earlier this month, Chavez showed about 15 minutes of a movie about the life of South American liberator Simon Bolivar, saying the rest of the movie and others like it would be shown on Tves.
Violent Clashes
The state-run stations have shown commercials promising Tves's programming will be ``creative, participative, varied, entertaining and accurate.''
``It's a great challenge to really achieve plurality, so all Venezuelans are seen, and have high levels of quality programming,'' the government's Web site quoted Telecommunications Minister Jesse Chacon as saying.
The closure of RCTV was preceded by hours of tension that ended in violent clashes outside the headquarters of the National Telecommunications Commission, the industry's regulator and the entity that terminated the channel's concession on behalf of Chavez.
As night fell, officers in riot gear used water cannon and tear gas to disperse lingering crowds, while police officials told state television that 11 officers had been injured in the disturbances.
``Somebody's looking to provoke a death here,'' Francisco Romero, the police officer in charge of the forces securing the commission's offices, told the state television in an interview. He pointed to bullet holes in a light pole that he said came from protesters shooting.
Coup Coverage
A spokesman for the Justice Ministry, which coordinated the police presence, could not confirm reports of shots.
RCTV was the nation's oldest and most popular network, known for beaming ``Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,'' soap operas and heated talk shows into millions of Venezuelan homes.
Chavez's government accuses RCTV executives of using the network to help incite a coup that ousted him from office for two days in 2002. While RCTV filled the airwaves with coverage of his ouster, it reportedly ran cartoon shows once Chavez was restored to office, declining to report his government's return.
Granier said the network is considering resuming broadcasting via cable in the future among different options. It will also continue to fight the shutdown in courts, nationally and internationally, and may seek financial compensation for losses related to that decision, according to an e-mailed statement released last night.
Original article posted here.
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2 comments:
There are only two types of government: Sparta and Athens.
Sparta is a violent, militaristic, socialistic, lock-step, mandatory cult.
Athens is a laid back, arts and philosophy, Parthenon-building, free thought democracy.
The lynch pin of all dictatorial monsters is the state run media.
Chavez and Bush are self degenerating worms, full of entropy, self-love, and bottomless appetites for power.
The "anti-christ" will conquer the world and destroy it because nothing can fulfill or satiate his lust for divinity.
Well, you are never going to get me to support the seizure of media. Even Faux News has a right to exist (to satisfy the needs of idiots).
You are right: the attempt to force feed thought is simply in all cases dictatorial, abusive and unjustifiable.
Better for Chavez to have hung the conspirators regarding his coup attempt (who were actually in the media (and weazl is vehemently against the death penalty)) than shut down the entire operation.
Not a good move was an understatment.
I guess it's pretty boring that you and I are in such agreement. A far cry from the FPM days, but oh, well . . .
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