Chávez ratchets up his war against broadcast media

www.miami.com Posted on Sat, Feb. 01, 2003 BY FRANCES ROBLES frobles@herald.com

CARACAS - President Hugo Chávez is wielding a new weapon in his battle against the nation's broadcast media: Venezuelan law.

Chávez has begun administrative proceedings against two major television stations here, accusing them of using incendiary interviews and subversive political ads to incite rebellion.

The charges could lead the government to yank news outlets off the air for up two days, raising the stakes against the president's simmering clash with news organizations that critics say are more political than informative.

''The world should not be surprised if we start closing TV stations in Venezuela shortly,'' Chávez told reporters during a visit to Brazil last weekend. ``This is a country at war. There is a war on the part of the media.''

Chávez's latest strategy against Globovision and RCTV stations illustrate his escalating plans to crack down on both unflattering news coverage and private property, his opponents say.

MEDIA GAP

His tactics in fighting what he sees as biased coverage underscores the wide gap between an embattled president and the opposition widely supported by the news media, and is likely to become a major obstacle in negotiations to end a two-month strike here.

Considering the threat against freedom of expression, tens of thousands of people attended a rally Friday in support of the press.

''The only thing inciting rebellion is the aggressive, rude Castro-like discourse of the president of the republic,'' said Alberto Ravell, executive director of Globovision, a 24-hour news channel. ``We are defending Venezuelans so they won't have to move to Miami to flee a regime.''

An alliance of business groups, labor unions and oil workers banded together Dec. 2 for a nationwide strike aimed at ousting Chávez.

Arguing that the former army officer is consolidating his power to duplicate Castro's Cuba, the coalition shut down the nation's economy, causing shortages of everything from gasoline to Coca-Cola. They expected Chávez to fold. He hasn't.

Meanwhile, newspapers and television stations have run without advertisements for two months. Private networks carry nearly continuous coverage of the nation's political crisis, peppered with talk shows that usually feature one-sided commentators and even anchors who blast Chávez.

CLIPS OF CLASHES

The few ads have been from the Democratic Coordinator, the opposition's umbrella group. The public service announcements often show clips of clashes with government troops, and encourage Venezuelans to fight for freedom. The state-owned channel, on the other hand, only airs government propaganda, rallies and politicians.

Last week the government's National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel) cited a series of opposition ads and interviews with dissident military officers as evidence that the television stations have violated sections of the law. The stations are accused of broadcasting false and subversive information aimed at inciting rebellion, particularly because of ads that encourage citizens to stop paying sales taxes.

The government cites a Dec. 6 CNN interview with labor leader Carlos Ortega broadcast on Globovision:

''We are in the hands of a demented criminal,'' Ortega said. ``[He] represents a dangerous element; not just for Venezuela but the entire world.''

The head of Conatel, Jesse Chacón, is a former army lieutenant who, with Chávez and Infrastructure Minister Diosdado Cabello, took part in a failed 1992 coup. The Infrastructure Ministry is responsible for broadcasting concessions. Cabello took action against the television companies days after assuming the post.

Since the action against the stations is administrative, these men will be responsible for deciding the penalties, which range from fines to a temporary closure of the station. The companies have had 15 working days (from Jan. 20) to present their defense.

''Whatever the government's decision, it will look like political retaliation, even though it is acting on a law that is on the books,'' said Andrés Cañizalez, a journalism researcher at the Catholic University here who believes media coverage has been fiercely biased.

The Venezuelan media came under fire in April for its lopsided coverage of an uprising that briefly led to Chávez's ouster. When Chávez supporters took to the streets to demand the president's return, nobody covered it.

According to RCTV head Marcel Granier, the media have logged 600 physical attacks against journalists since Chávez took office in 1998. Journalists said they didn't cover the pro-Chávez marches that day because they feared they would be killed on the streets; however, Ravell later personally apologized on air.

Chávez expressed regret for ordering the National Guard to cut the stations' signals after to avoid coverage of live coverage of shooting in the streets.

Analysts say the collapse of opposition political parties forced the media to take on -- and overplay -- the role of government watchdog. Chávez filled traditionally independent government posts with his friends, so the media became one of the few institutions the president could not control.

Not that he does not try.

Venezuelan law allows the government to broadcast cadenas, government announcements that are played on every radio and television station at the same time. In the first four weeks of January, the government had played 21 cadenas, which averaged an hour each. Some of the government broadcasts are brief and important, but many are Chávez pep rallies or speeches that drag on for hours.

'Taking us off the air would come at a very high cost, because at that moment, people would say, `I am not in a constitutional democracy, I am in a dictatorship like Fidel Castro,' '' Ravell said. ``Venezuela can live without Coca-Cola. They cannot live without the news media.''

Special correspondent Phil Gunson contributed to this report.