Venezuela’s Supreme Court ruled that Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) needs to cease broadcasting temporarily by this Monday. Though the Court refused to hear a legal challenge by RCTV last week, the tribunal acceded to hear a separate appeal to decide the permanent fate of the television network.The Venezuelan government’s controversial decision not to renew RCTV’s broadcasting license has further divided Venezuelans. Tens of thousands of RCTV supporters marched in Caracas over the weekend clamoring for “free independent media.” Conversely, critics call RCTV “hypocritical” after the network backed the failed 2002 coup against Hugo Chavez.
Sources CNN, Guardian UK, BBC News
Image- Guardian UK (Pro-RCTV protestor)
5 comments:
As far as I know, RCTV is not shutting down. They are losing their current lease on a portion of the public airwaves (think abc, nbc, cbs, etc in the US). It looks like they will continue broadcasting on cable, like a Venezuelan version of Fox News. Of course the comparison would be more apt had Fox News used its broadcast to openly foment (using outright lies) and support a coup against then-president Bill Clinton...something I don't think even they would do!
There is an interesting article on this topic on the CommonDreams website: (http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/05/23/1405/). Basically, the reporter speaks with some of the various press freedom groups and asks if a similar situation as with RCTV occurred with a network in the US or the EU, "would RCTV have had its license renewed in the United States or Europe?"
While they mostly declined to answer the question directly, basically Reporters without Borders said that US and European governments would probably stop short of not renewing the license, instead pushing for new management because of the fate of the 3,000 employees at RCTV. Human Rights Watch leans towards a non-renewal in a similar situation, though saying it would be decided in court as a violation of the terms of the contract. The Committee to Protect Journalists spokesman suggested that the license would likely not be renewed in the US, though also mentioning that it was hard to translate the situation to the US.
Take a look at the article, it's a good primer on the actual situation.
Thanks for the link, matias.
I liked reading the article, though I find myself wondering what constitutes a "similar situation" outside of Venezuela? The control Chavez has over institutions and the political climate seem unique to Venezuela.
Interesting article Matias. Was anyone from RCTV brought up on charges after the sponsoring the coup? I dislike these articles and reporters that begin writing the story with a set agenda. He obviously didn't get what he wanted from the press freedom groups, as they correctly pointed out that the abstracted question "would this happen in other democracies" was erroneous from the start because the renewel process would be sorted out through protocol and law... Somehow this article concludes that it is evident that it WOULD be the same situation in U.S.A and France. I don't get that.
Sounds like Chavez is using a flawed loophole installed before him to get his way, and silence one of his biggest critics. I thought his mission was to avoid using all the flawed laws of the past...
tfunk:
I'm not sure if any have been charged. I do know that approximately 400 or so suspected participants/conspirators in the coup were being investigated by state prosecutor Danilo Anderson when he was assassinated. I'm unsure of the current status of those investigations.
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