A United States unclassified intelligence report says that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is aggressively silencing his media critics, including bloggers. He has proposed a law that would make it a crime to report on anything the government finds objectionable.  -DB

Open Source Center
Analysis
August 3, 2009

President Chavez’s government is moving forcefully to silence critics by introducing a Media Crimes bill that would give it sweeping authority to jail journalists, media executives, and bloggers who report on anything that the government considers to be harmful to state interests.
It is simultaneously moving to shut down more than 200 radio stations, impose broadcasting requirements on RCTV International, and position itself to take over opposition news station Globovision.  Tightening control over opposition outlets could make it more difficult for Chavez to blame his favored scapegoat of the media for the country’s problems, however.

Introduced at the National Assembly by Prosecutor General Luisa Ortega, the Media Crimes bill significantly expands the government’s ability to punish media critics for any action or omission that it finds objectionable.

• The bill makes it illegal to report on anything deemed “harmful to public mental or
moral health” or to “the interests of the state,” or anything that would “incite violence” or “create panic.” It also penalizes outlets for not reporting on events or situations that would violate “the people’s right to information.” The bill targets journalists, media executives, and even bloggers.

• Unlike the Radio and Television Social Responsibility Law, under which stations can
be fined or lose their broadcast license, the new bill sets prison sentences of six months to four years for violations, and also applies to print media.  Outlets with convicted workers or owners cannot comment on the conviction in any fashion beyond posting a notice (Noticias24.com, 30 July).
• The bill is almost certainly targeted at the government’s long-standing media critics.  The government has regularly claimed that Globovision is “harming public health,” and has accused dailies El Universal and El Nacional of misrepresenting official actions, which could be considered against state interests (VTV, 12 July, 16, 15 January).

• The government also may go beyond its traditional targets.  State-owned news agency ABN has begun to complain about social networking sites, asserting that Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and blogs are new ways to communicate that “create terror” (1 August).

The government is also moving forcefully against radio stations and RCTV International, bringing Venezuela closer to a government monopoly on the media.

• Diosdado Cabello, who heads the National Telecommunications Commission
(Conatel), on 31 July announced the closure of 32 radio stations, the first of 240 the
government has vowed to close for allegedly not filing the appropriate Conatel
paperwork (VTV, 31 July; 4 July).  He added that another 120 stations have
problems with their licenses (VTV, 31 July).
• Chavez said that these frequencies would be “given to the people,” presumably
referring to new community radio efforts (VTV, 21 July).
• The government also recently imposed national broadcast requirements, including the mandatory live relay of Chavez speeches, on RCTV International, the cable-only
successor to formerly top-rated opposition station RCTV that Chavez took off the air in May 2007 (VTV, 9 July).
The government has repeatedly threatened to close Globovision, but appears to be positioning itself to take over rather than shut down the station.

• Cabello suggested that because one of the two owners listed on Globovision’s original cable concession is dead, the government has the right to reclaim his share (VTV, 16 June).10 If the station’s other owner is found guilty on charges unrelated to the station – – but widely viewed as another move to pressure the station—the government could take over his part of the concession as well, turning it into a government-owned entity.

• Chavez said that the government might drop its complaints if the station had “someone in the management who might think rationally” (VTV, 12 June).

• Globovision has four pending judicial proceedings.  One case has already been decided against it; the station could lose its license if found guilty a second time (El Universal Online, 17 May).

Outlook

The Media Crimes bill is the most blatant example of the government’s steady encroachment on media freedom in an effort to establish a media monopoly and stifle freedom of expression.

Silencing his critics would allow Chavez to completely control the media message, but it would also deprive him of his long-standing scapegoat of what he describes as the oligarchic media.

He may be willing to give this up in order to clamp down on the negative news

reporting and commentary, which have been hammering away at the country’s economic problems and Chavez’s increasing authoritarianism for the past year.

The government action against its media critics would also eliminate the only forums available to Chavez’s other domestic critics, including local opposition elected officials, political parties, and university students.

Copyright 2009 Open Source Center