[IPS' Diana Cariboni argues that while 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, they have ignored the media situation in the rest of Latin America. --Ed]
It is Easy to See the Speck in the Other's Eye
By Diana Cariboni* - IPS
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.
(click here to view entire article)
So, let me see if I get this. The European Parliament, the presidency of the European Union, Reporters Without Borders, the Spanish government, former presidents from Brazil and Costa Rica, the current presidents of Chile and Perú, as well as a host of NGOs and oher foreign governments, are a bunch of hypocrites, who don't care about freedom of speech at all. Or, rather, they don't care for freedom of speech unless they denounce every other violation of free speech in Latin America. But wait, that's precisely what Reporters Without Borders do, to mention just one case.
Ms. Cariboni writes: "Dissidents, who are labelled 'mercenaries on the payroll of the empire' (the United States) by the socialist government, have no access to the media."
No, she is not talking about Venezuela, she is talking about Cuba. And yet, this is EXACTLY the course that Chávez's government has taken regarding student protests against RCTV's closing: to label students "mercenaries on the payroll of the empire". Most TV/VHF stations in Venezuela are now influenced or owned by the government (something that Chávez's Légion étrangère never mentions, or rather, they lie and claim the exact opposite). Needless to say, protesters in those stations are shown as "enemies of the state" or, at best, as misguided dupes of imperialism.
Posted by: Henry | June 01, 2007 at 01:45 PM