Published on Wednesday, May 30, 2007 by The Los Angeles Times Hugo Chavez
Versus RCTV
Venezuelas Oldest Private TV Network Played A Major Role In A failed 2002 Coup.
by Bart Jones
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavezs refusal to renew the license of Radio
Caracas Television might seem to justify fears that Chavez is crushing free
speech and eliminating any voices critical of him.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Committee to Protect
Journalists and members of the European Parliament, the U.S. Senate and even
Chiles Congress have denounced the closure of RCTV, Venezuelas oldest private
television network. Chavezs detractors got more ammunition Tuesday when the
president included another opposition network, Globovision, among the enemies
of the homeland.
But the case of RCTV like most things involving Chavez has been caught up
in a web of misinformation. While one side of the story is getting headlines
around the world, the other is barely heard.
The demise of RCTV is indeed a sad event in some ways for Venezuelans.
Founded in 1953, it was an institution in the country, having produced the
long-running political satire program Radio Rochela and the blisteringly
realistic nighttime soap opera Por Estas Calles. It was RCTV that broadcast
the first live-from-satellite images in Venezuela when it showed Neil Armstrong
walking on the moon in 1969.
But after Chavez was elected president in 1998, RCTV shifted to another
endeavor: ousting a democratically elected leader from office. Controlled by
members of the countrys fabulously wealthy oligarchy including RCTV chief
Marcel Granier, it saw Chavez and his Bolivarian Revolution on behalf of
Venezuelas majority poor as a threat.
RCTVs most infamous effort to topple Chavez came during the April 11, 2002,
coup attempt against him. For two days before the putsch, RCTV preempted
regular programming and ran wall-to-wall coverage of a general strike aimed at
ousting Chavez. A stream of commentators spewed nonstop vitriolic attacks
against him while permitting no response from the government.
Then RCTV ran nonstop ads encouraging people to attend a march on April 11
aimed at toppling Chavez and broadcast blanket coverage of the event. When the
march ended in violence, RCTV and Globovision ran manipulated video blaming
Chavez supporters for scores of deaths and injuries.
After military rebels overthrew Chavez and he disappeared from public view
for two days, RCTVs biased coverage edged fully into sedition. Thousands of
Chavez supporters took to the streets to demand his return, but none of that
appeared on RCTV or other television stations. RCTV News Director Andres Izarra
later testified at National Assembly hearings on the coup attempt that he
received an order from superiors at the station: Zero pro-Chavez, nothing
related to Chavez or his supporters
. The idea was to create a climate of
transition and to start to promote the dawn of a new country. While the
streets of Caracas burned with rage, RCTV ran cartoons, soap operas and old
movies such as Pretty Woman. On April 13, 2002, Granier and other media
moguls met in the Miraflores palace to pledge support to the countrys
coup-installed dictator, Pedro Carmona, who had eliminated the Supreme Court,
the National Assembly and the Constitution.
Would a network that aided and abetted a coup against the government be
allowed to operate in the United States? The U.S. government probably would
have shut down RCTV within five minutes after a failed coup attempt and
thrown its owners in jail. Chavezs government allowed it to continue operating
for five years, and then declined to renew its 20-year license to use the
public airwaves. It can still broadcast on cable or via satellite dish.
Granier and others should not be seen as free-speech martyrs. Radio, TV and
newspapers remain uncensored, unfettered and unthreatened by the government.
Most Venezuelan media are still controlled by the old oligarchy and are
staunchly anti-Chavez.
If Granier had not decided to try to oust the countrys president,
Venezuelans might still be able to look forward to more broadcasts of Radio
Rochela.
Bart Jones spent eight years in Venezuela, mainly as a foreign correspondent
for the Associated Press, and is the author of the forthcoming book Hugo! The
Hugo Chavez Story, From Mud Hut to Perpetual
© 2007 The Los Angeles Times
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8 Comments so far
PJD May 30th, 2007 2:48 pm
Overall good article.
But Mr. Jones fails to mention that RCTV actively participated in the coup,
with planning meetings held in their corporte offices. Therefore, if it had
happened in the US, the RCTV executives would also have been chargable with
high treason under the US Constitution, detention with charge or legal council
under the Military Comissions Act, and a death sentence under Clintons
Anti-Terrorism and effective Death Penalty Act. All of this carred out in
secrecy, using torture, under the general ongoing US disregard of the US
Constitution, Geneva Conventions and various UN conventions.
So, who is the dictator?
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