News

Easy to See the Speck in the Other's Eye
By Diana Cariboni
Inter Press Service
May 30, 2007

MONTEVIDEO, May 30 (IPS) - People have been collectively tearing their hair out all over Latin America because of the Venezuelan government's decision not to renew the broadcasting licence of that country's most popular television station, RCTV.

Three former Panamanian presidents -- Mireya Moscoso, Guillermo Endara and Ernesto Pérez-Balladares -- are planning to lobby the Organisation of American States (OAS) to get its general assembly to discuss the case in its meeting next weekend.

And Peruvian President Alan García said, with respect to the decision not to renew the concession for RCTV, which has been on the air since 1956: "In Peru, something like this would never happen."

Something like what? he might well be asked. Many in Venezuela argue that RCTV (Radio Caracas Televisión) dug its own grave with its vociferous opposition to the government of leftist President Hugo Chávez, which went as far as backing the April 2002 coup that briefly toppled the president.

In neighbouring Colombia, which has been in the grip of civil war for nearly half a century, journalist Juan Gossaín with the RCN Radio station said in an interview with President Álvaro Uribe: "Your remarks on respect for freedom of the press lead me to suppose, for example, that you would not strip RCTV of its broadcasting licence."

To which the president responded: "I would not do that to anybody. Or rather, let them exercise journalism even without a licence; they can say whatever they want; they can operate wherever they want."

But the rightwing Uribe cannot shut down opposition TV stations for the simple reason that there aren't any, by contrast with Venezuela, where most privately-owned media outlets are openly opposed to the government.

Earlier, however, in October 2004, the Uribe administration closed the public Instituto de Radio y Televisión (Inravisión), which broadcast on three stations. Its programming included educational and cultural content, a daily interview programme on social movements, and documentaries that were often awkward for the government.

The president made the announcement about Inravisión on a Monday, and the following Thursday "the police came in and evicted the employees that same day," Milciades Vizcaíno, a sociologist by training who worked for nearly 27 years in educational programming, which was eliminated with that measure, told IPS.

The Colombian government argued that Inravisión was "inefficient."

"But the underlying problem was the strength of the union (of Inravisión employees)," said Vizcaíno, author of "University and the Media: From the Welfare State to the Market", which was published in April.

The book analyzes a process that was the mirror reflection of what is occurring now in Venezuela, where the privately-owned RCTV's broadcast frequency was assigned to a newly created public station.

Inravisión was replaced by Radio Televisión de Colombia (RTVC), which "outsources" activities by means of concessions and contracts, thus preventing the creation of an employees' union and cutting operating costs by 72 percent. The transmitters are operated by another company, Telecom.

During an October parliamentary debate led by Senator Gustavo Petro (leader of the main opposition party, the leftwing Democratic Pole) on the ties between the far-right paramilitary militias and politicians in the northern provinces of Sucre and Córdoba, the Canal Institucional (Institutional Channel), which is now run by RTVC and frequently broadcasts parliamentary hearings and debates, inexplicably went off the air in both provinces.

When faced with complaints, RTVC referred the issue to Telecom. But "no one there could explain why it happened," Hernán Onatra, the senator's press officer, told IPS.

"Not only the public TV station, but also cable stations briefly stopped broadcasting the Canal Institucional in some parts of Bogotá and in big cities like Cúcuta (in the northeast), without any explanation. We know that from reports from viewers themselves, during the debate or the day after," added Onatra.

In Honduras, meanwhile, President Manuel Zelaya ordered all TV and radio stations to broadcast 10 daily one-hour programmes during prime time, starting Monday, to counteract what he called "misinformation" on his administration provided by the press.

Honduran law stipulates that nationally broadcast messages (known as "cadena nacional") can only be used to call elections or in case of natural disasters or emergencies.

Zelaya's decision was reminiscent of the frequent use of national broadcasts in the 1970s, when the military held power, and has drawn fire from journalists' associations, the media, and even the president of parliament, Roberto Micheletti.

Political analyst Juan Ramón Martínez told IPS that the decision "is an attack on freedom of expression" and that "not even the military were as abusive as what the current government is announcing."



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