Red Pepper's Venezuela Blog

RCTV and Freedom of Speech in Venezuela

[Venezuelanalysis.com editor Gregory Wilpert provides a detailed examination of the arguments used to criticise the Chavez government's decision not to renew RCTV's broadcast license. Do any of these arguments have merit? A few might, but the bottom line is that they end up defending the privileges of the country's elite. For a Spanish version of this article click here.] 

Chavez Dismisses International Disapproval of Venezuela’s Media Policy

[Venezuelanalysis.com's Gregory Wilpert reports on how several hundred thousand Chavez supporters rallied in Venezuela’s largest avenue on Saturday. At the rally, President Chavez rejected all international interference with his decision not to renew a television station’s broadcast license. Referring to the Marxist theorist Antonio Gramsci, Chavez also spoke at length about how private media maintains a cultural hegemony that must be broken. --Ed]

Venezuela and the Media: Fact and Fiction

[In a piece for CommonDreams.org, Robert W. McChesney and Mark Weisbrot argue that regrettably, the US media coverage of Venezuela’s RCTV controversy says more about the deficiencies of the US' news media than it does about Venezuela. It demonstrates again, as with the invasion of Iraq, how the US news media is far too willing to carry water for Washington than to ascertain and report the truth of the matter. --Ed]

Zero Hour for Venezuela's RCTV

[MRZine's George Ciccariello-Maher argues that the sovereign decision of the Venezuelan government not to renew RCTV's concession has prompted claims that freedom of speech is somehow under threat in Venezuela. But many discussions of freedom of speech rely on a fundamentally flawed assumption: that existing media outlets in some way embody "freedom."  The debate surrounding RCTV is no exception. --Ed]

A supporter of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wears a hat with a ribbon reading 'RCTV You're Going' during a demonstration in Caracas May 27, 2007. Credit: Jorge Silva/Reuters

Lessons in Media Manipulation: Lula, Chavez and RCTV

[Justin Delacour, editor of the Latin America News Review blog, argues that it's no surprise that none of the major English-language news wires ran a story about Lula's position of non-interference in the RCTV case. In other words, a story that doesn't fit the Washington establishment's divide-and-conquer strategy is curiously absent from the major English-language press. --Ed]

Venezuela President Hugo Chavez, left, talks with his Brazilan counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as they attend the opening ceremony of the South American Summit, Friday, Dec. 8, 2006 in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Credit: Martin Mejia/AP

Legislators Present Evidence that Politicians Are Behind Venezuelan Student Protests

[Venezuelanalysis.com report on the release of recorded telephone conversations of Venezuelan opposition leaders by several Venezuelan National Assembly Members which show that these opposition political party leaders are the real actors behind recent student protests against the government. The Oil Wars blog has pictures of the opposition protests. To see them click here. --Ed]

WOLA and RCTV: A Question of Priorities

[The Borev.net blog argues that while the Washington Office on Latin America has released a statement on the RCTV case, they have failed to comment on actual abuses of freedom of speech and suppression of the media that have taken place in Latin America. --Ed]

RCTV Case: Venezuela's Ambassador to the UK Reponds to The Guardian

[In a letter to The Guardian, Venezuela's ambassador to the UK, Alfredo Toro Hardy, points out that a recent article by the newspaper's Latin America correspondent, Rory Carroll, fails to mention that President Chávez did not "close" RCTV, but simply did not renew its licence upon expiry. Toro Hardy argues that the case is not dissimilar to the non-renewal of the Thames Television licence in 1992, after 24 years of service. --Ed]

Venezuelan Civil Society Groups Accuse U.S. of Fomenting Destabilization

[Venezuelanalysis.com's Chris Carlson reports on how organisations, journalists, students, activists and intellectuals in Venezuela have accused the national and international media of waging a campaign against Venezuela and of supporting destabilisation plans that have been carried out in the country in the past few days. For an account of this news in Spanish click here.  --Ed]

It is Easy to See the Speck in the Other's Eye

[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]