VENEZUELA: Chavez puts pressure on journalists who fail to toe his line

www.asiamedia.ucla.edu CARACAS

Attacks on journalists and threats to shut TV channels reflect the polarisation of Venezuela, where private media outlets are openly involved in the political battle against President Hugo Chavez.

Media harassment is not entirely new in the South American country, having started in January last year with physical attacks on journalists and televised interventions by the president "imposed" on all TV channels, says Marcel Granier, president of Radio Caracas Television (RCTV).

RCTV is one of the private channels Mr Chavez refers to as "the four horsemen of the apocalypse" for their open support of an eight-week-old strike that has crippled the vital oil sector.

Mr Chavez said he would set up an "office of shame" to exhibit the lies he says form part of a media tyranny.

Mr Granier said such statements reflected "the permanent intimidation" of private media in Venezuela. "Hundreds of journalists, including 30 from RCTV, have been physically attacked and journalists feel threatened while carrying out their profession," he said.

In recent clashes between supporters and foes of the president, three journalist were shot at, and owed their lives to the fact they were wearing bulletproof jackets, Mr Granier said.

Mr Chavez has initiated legal procedures against RCTV and news channel Globovision, which Mr Granier believes could close the two stations. "Chavez is not a democrat, he is seeking confrontation," he said.

The two sides in the political conflict accuse each other of pushing the country to the brink of all-out violence, prompting the recently formed six-nation Group of Friends of Venezuela to urge the government and the opposition to find ways of easing the tension.

Mr Granier said he was willing to "lower the tone", adding however, that "the tone is set by the president".

One of his pet peeves is the president's often-used ability to impose "at the time that suits him" his live interventions on all television channels and 400 radio stations. In early April, Mr Chavez "appeared 33 times on our screens in the space of 48 hours", he said.