[Media Lens critically examine mainstream UK and U.S. media coverage of the Venezuelan government's decision not to renew the public broadcast licence of Radio Caracas Television (RCTV). --Ed]
MEDIA ALERT: CHAVEZ AND RCTV - TILTING THE BALANCE AGAINST 'THE BAD GUY'
By Media Lens
June 13, 2007
As we have previously reported* Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has long been demonised by the Western media as a "leftist firebrand" (The Independent), “Venezuela's demagogue” (Washington Post), and as a “militaristic strongman“ (Financial Times).
No surprise, then, that Chavez’s decision not to renew the licence of Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) has elicited outrage across Britain and America. In an article titled, ‘”He is losing the country's respect”,’ Catherine Philp wrote in the Times:
“The move has fuelled accusations that Mr Chavez is moving towards an increasingly authoritarian rule and is quashing dissent against his ‘socialist revolution‘.” (Philp, ‘”He is losing the country's respect”,’ The Times, May 29, 2007)
The Washington Post described the action as an attempt to silence opponents, supplying further "proof" that Chávez is a "dictator". (FAIR, Media Advisory, ‘Coup Co-Conspirators as Free-Speech Martyrs - Distorting the Venezuelan media story,’ May 25, 2007; http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3107)
One might think from these comments that Chavez is indeed behaving like a stereotypical “strongman”. So why is he refusing to renew the licence?
According to CNN reporter TJ Holmes the motive lies in the fact that RCTV "has been critical of his government" (Ibid). The Associated Press also stressed that RCTV "has been critical of Chávez". (Ibid) A Guardian headline carried the same emphasis: “Chavez silences critical TV station - and robs the people of their soaps.” (Rory Carroll, The Guardian, May 23, 2007) A Financial Times news report was titled: “Chavez pulls plug on dissenting TV station.” (Benedict Mander, Financial Times, May 9, 2007)
These and similar claims have given the impression that Chavez is simply crushing dissent. An Independent leader came closer to the truth:
“President Chavez has long detested RCTV, accusing it of helping to incite a coup against him in 2002.“ (Leader, ‘A show of intolerance,’ The Independent, May 30, 2007)
As this suggests, the problem with RCTV does not revolve around political differences with Chavez; it revolves around RCTV’s attempts to overthrow the democratically elected government of Venezuela.
A consistent theme of media reporting has been to ascribe this "accusation" to Chavez personally. Thus the Independent wrote of the “station, which Mr Chavez believes was plotting against him”. (‘Anti-Chavez protesters clash with police,’ The Independent, May 29, 2007)
The Times reported: “President Chavez withdrew its licence, accusing the network of ‘coup plotting‘”. (Philp, op. cit)
Likewise the Financial Times: “Chavez has repeatedly alleged that it supported the [2002] coup...” (Richard Lapper, ‘TV channel axed in latest Chavez drama,’ Financial Times, May 26, 2007)
And the BBC: “He [Chavez] says they were involved in a coup that nearly toppled him five years ago.” (James Ingham, ‘Venezuelans protest over TV issue,’ BBC Online, May 27, 2007; http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/ fr/-/1/hi/world/americas/6695769.stm)
These media reports thus all distort the truth by attributing a mere “claim” to Chavez, someone they have all previously demonised as an authoritarian “strongman”. This earlier demonisation acts to undermine the credibility of the charge against RCTV in readers’ minds, so reinforcing the bias of ostensibly balanced reporting against the Venezuelan government. Robert McChesney and Mark Weisbrot explain:
“This is a common means of distorting the news: a fact is reported as accusation, and then attributed to a source that the press has done everything to discredit.” (McChesney and Weisbrot, ‘Venezuela and the Media: Fact and Fiction,’ Common Dreams, June 1, 2007; http://www.commondreams.org/ archive/2007/06/01/1607/)
Consider, for example, that the BBC's Ben Brown said of Saddam Hussein:
“He claims UN sanctions have reduced many of his citizens to near starvation - pictures like these [of a malnourished baby and despairing mother] have been a powerful propaganda weapon for Saddam, which he'll now have to give up.” (Brown, BBC News, June 20, 1996)
And ITN's John Draper:
“The idea now is targeted or ‘smart’ sanctions to help ordinary people while at the same time preventing the Iraqi leader from blaming the West for the hardships they're suffering.” (Draper, ITN, 22:30 News, February 20, 2001)
And the Observer:
“The Iraqi dictator says his country's children are dying in their thousands because of the West's embargoes.” (John Sweeney, 'How Saddam "staged" fake baby funerals,' The Observer, June 23, 2002)
Viewed from the perspective of honest reporting, the opinion of Saddam Hussein - a thoroughly demonised and non-credible source - was irrelevant to an analysis of the effects of sanctions. A range of very credible reports from the United Nations, aid agencies and human rights groups all blamed mass death in Iraq on sanctions. These were the views that mattered for anyone who cared about the truth.
Likewise, it is a simple fact, not a claim, that RCTV was deeply complicit in the 2002 military coup - and the views of the West’s Venezuelan bete noire should be placed front and centre only if we are content for media demonisation to undermine this truth.
A Climate Of Transition - Overthrowing Chavez
In a rare example of media honesty, the Los Angeles Times reported last month that RCTV had initially been focused on providing entertainment:
“But after Chavez was elected president in 1998, RCTV shifted to another endeavour: ousting a democratically elected leader from office.” (Bart Jones, ‘Hugo Chavez versus RCTV - Venezuela's oldest private TV network played a major role in a failed 2002 coup,’ Los Angeles Times, May 30, 2007; http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe- jones30may30,1,5553603.story?ctrack=1&cset=true)
Controlled by members of the country's ruling elite, including station chief Marcel Granier, the channel saw Chavez’s "Bolivarian Revolution" in defence of Venezuela's poor as a threat to established privilege and wealth.
Thus, for two days before the April 11, 2002 coup, RCTV cancelled regular programming and instead ran constant coverage of a general strike aimed at ousting Chavez. A stream of commentators delivered fierce criticism of the president with no response allowed from the government. RCTV also ran non-stop adverts encouraging people to attend an April 11 march aimed at toppling the government and broadcast blanket coverage of the event. When the march ended in violence, RCTV ran manipulated video footage falsely blaming Chavez supporters for the many deaths and injuries.
On the same day, RCTV allowed leading coup plotter Carlos Ortega to call for demonstrators to march on the presidential palace. After the overthrow appeared to have succeeded, another coup leader, Vice-Admiral Victor Ramírez Pérez, told a journalist: "We had a deadly weapon: the media. And now that I have the opportunity, let me congratulate you." Another grateful leader remarked: "I must thank Venevisión and RCTV." (Fair, op. cit)
RCTV news director Andres Izarra later testified at National Assembly hearings on the coup attempt that he had received clear orders 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." (Bart Jones, op. cit)
While the streets of Caracas erupted with public outrage against the coup, RCTV turned a blind eye and showed soap operas, cartoons and old movies instead.
(click here to view entire article)
Wow. Talk about manipulation of fact. 95% of the media "fiercely opposed" to Chávez. These guys are in la-la-land. They seem to equate "private ownership" to "fierce opposition". Presumably, Venevisión, Televen, The Daily Journal, Diario Vea, to quote a few examples, are "fiercely opposed" because they are all privately owned. Yet Venevisión (the coupmongers of 2002 who are now "nice" and had their license renewed, while RCTV's was revoked), Televen, and The Daily Journal are now bland, fangless media, while Diario Vea is government propaganda.
The closure of RCTV was arbitrary, because it was selective. Their role in 2002 was an excuse, among others. They were also accused of "pornography". The government changes the tune depending on the audience.
Posted by: Henry | June 18, 2007 at 02:33 PM