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Originally Posted by Yahwe
Why did you not comment on this alleged media blackout?
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Mainly because I have very little to add beyond my general comments
here,
here or
here.
I should imagine that it's difficult to get an accurate information about a media blackout if it is true, so it's difficult to say.
What seems generally true to say is :
- There are serious restrictions on freedom of the press in Venezuala (even when going by the standards of the developing world). It would not be an exaggeration to say such restrictions are basically criminal.
- Restrictions on the freedom of the press (aside from the violence, etc) include in particular new laws on "social responsibility" in the media and other restrictions on defaming the government or somesuch. Chavez has said publicly he would not use such powers, but one hardly takes a potential tyrant at his word.
- Such restrictions have got worse over the last five years or so. In the
Reporters sans frontiers ranking Venezuala dropped from 77th (already pretty poor) to 115th (almost in the bottom 25% of all countries on earth). This by any standards is shockingly bad, and represents one of the worst in the region. In fact, of mainland South America there are only two countries scoring worse in 2005.
- Restrictions on the press are probably part of a much wider problem with human rights abuses - in particular persecution on political grounds. These have been documented by Amnesty International, the Organisation of America's and Human Rights Watch among others. Some of this violence can be blamed on the "usual" Latin American problems - the local bosses, heavy handed and often corupt policing, corruption in the government and so on. Venezualan police have been linked to at least a hundred murders in the last couple of years from the little I've read. To put this in context, the Brazilian police are alleged to have killed (not murdered I hasten to add so not a direct comparison) approximately 1,100 people in 2003 in the state of Rio alone (which has about 50-60% of the population of Venezuela).
- However, other instances of violence can be squarely attributed to Chavez and his supporters. The US State department say that Chavez's supporters were involved in threats, assaults, vandalism, arson, intimidation of journalists and other forms of violence(although I can find no allegation of murder). Since a large proportion of these political murders do not seem to get properly investigated, it is fair to say that the central government certainly can be considered responsible for much for this violence (against journalists and other activists).
- The media is overwhelmingly in the hands of a wealthy elite, both native and foriegn. On the whole, they still operate - albeit with interference and restriction as mentioned above. They are generally hostile to both Chavez and his politics. Overall it's worth noting that the largest television stations and newspapers are in the hands of "the opposition".
- In the 2002 anti-Chavez coup the Venezuelan media (TV in particular) were generally supportive of the coup and of the strike which preceeded it - with it being alleged they went as far as censoring later demonstrations which were held to restore Chavez to power. I am not aware of any prosecutions for these actions.
- Foriegn journalists still operate in Venezuela and foriegn media companies are still based in Venezuela. These include employees of Reuters, the BBC, CNN and others.
Overall, I'd say no - there is not a media blackout. There are (for now) a host of sources of news on the country, both from NGOs, independent journalists, the opposition press, CNN and it's local offshoots, etc. A great many of these are critical of Chavez. However there are certainly serious restrictions of the freedom of the press which form part of a wider pattern of human rights abuses inside Venezuela (many related to Chavez). Are thay unacceptable? Absolutley. Could these get worse? Sadly yes. Are nations which are allies of the United States guilty of worse? Yes. Does this excuse Chavez? No, of course not.