Report on 236 closures, revocations and non-renewals of radio and TV licenses in 21 countries, including the USA and the European Union 

Presently, we are witnessing an intensification of attacks on the Venezuelan government rooted in the claim that Venezuela is a country where freedom of the press does not exist. This claim is based on the government's decision to not renew the open signal broadcasting license of TV channel Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV), but these attacks ignore the fact that Venezuela is one of the few countries where no severe sanctions have been imposed on any TV or radio stations. No license of any media outlet has been revoked since Chávez has been in office.

The present investigation attached below, still in progress, has been conducted over the past several weeks by a team of people who have compiled a list of cases of revocations, non-renewal, temporary suspensions of licenses or severe fines levied against broadcast media outlets in a number of countries. Interestingly, some of these countries� governments are now clamoring against infringements of freedom of speech in Venezuela because of the RCTV case. If anyone would like to contribute or correct the information in the investigation, we express our gratitude in advance. And please send your opinions to libertaddeopinion@yahoo.com.

It should be noted that Venezuela is one of the few countries with a clear policy of democratizing the airwaves, under which financial support is provided to community or free radio stations. Such a policy is unheard of in the rest of the so-called "free world," where community radio and TV stations are routinely shut down and fined for "pirate broadcasting."

On December 28, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez announced that the government had decided not to renew the RCTV enterprise's license to use several open channels on the public airwaves (though the decision does not affect cable broadcasting). The announcement included a series of political judgments: "No new license will be granted to a TV station that plots coups." In response, Marcel Granier, head of the 1BC group, who controls tens of radio stations and television channels nationwide and owns RCTV, denounced what he called a violation of the channel's rights. "This policy is illegal, it violates rights and attacks freedom of speech and human rights", he said. Nevertheless, the law of the Venezuelan state, just like that of all other countries, stipulates that broadcast signals belong to and are administered by the state, which has the right to grant licenses, whereas the infrastructures, materials and premises of broadcast media may be private property.

Numerically, 78% of the VHF broadcast spectrum system is operated by private enterprises, and similar figures prevails in UHF spectrum, where private firms control 82%; in AM radio, it's 77%  and in FM radio, 68%.

Almost all private channels are in the hands of the opposition. This is an opposition that has denied the validity of all 8 electoral processes conducted since 1999. Faced with positive reports issued by international organizations monitoring the elections, a part of the opposition acknowledged Chávez' victory in the presidential elections of December 3, 2006.

In these years, the work of the political opposition has consisted of many practices considered normal in democracies throughout the world. However, the difference in Venezuela is that much of the content broadcast by private media include repeated calls to sabotage the government, to break laws, to use violence as a political tool, including the assassination of the Head of State. In all countries, such practices are penalized by the bodies regulating the airwaves, resulting in the revocation of tens of licenses and the levying of fines in North America, Europe, and Latin America (as shown in the attached document (1)). Venezuelan legislation identifies a number of severe infractions as grounds for revoking a radio or TV station's license. Nevertheless, not a single TV or radio station has been closed since the beginning of Chávez's time in office. As a matter of fact, the premise of the charge is incorrect: in recent years, the only communication media shut down in Venezuela was the state-owned TV station channel 8, (Venezolana de Televisión, VTV) during the failed coup d'état perpetrated by the opposition, on April 11, 2002.(2)

Historically, the TV channel RCTV has an ample record of code violations, and prior to the Chávez government it underwent several temporary closures owing to failure to comply with regulations. Its participation, at least in terms of media coverage, in the coup d'état of 2002 is well known, yet the channel suffered no sanctions. Having decided to stand in fierce opposition to President Chávez, RCTV then immersed itself in programming style of sensationalistic and impact-oriented showmanship, with the routine use of news demagoguery, while it fired anyone who dissented from such TV practices. Despite public complaints, nothing happened to RCTV while its license was still in force. Now that its license is expiring, no one should be surprised that the government has decided not to renew a permit to broadcast on the public airwaves of a chain with such practices in the production of TV programming, and that it would rather seek to replace it with a TV station in the public service.

The complete report on the 236 closures of broadcast media outlets is available as PDF file in Spanish at: http://www.rebelion.org/docs/47853.pdf

J. David Carracedo is member of the editorial collective of Diagonal, a bi-weekly newspaper in Spain providing critical coverage of current-affairs : www.diagonalperiodico.net

Notes:

(1) T.n.: As already mentioned by the author, the investigation is still in progress, comprising so far a total of 21 nations listed here in order shown in the draft: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Dominican Republic, Uruguay, Canada, USA, Spain, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Russia, and Iraq. The preliminary results provide information about a total of 77 cases of closures of TV channels in 14 countries, and 159 cases of closures of radio stations in 14 countries, distinguishing between TV or radio stations; the respective governmental body responsible for the decision; date and reason for closure, revocation, non-renewal or fines levied; source(s) consulted by the researchers to corroborate given case; and, where available, an e-link to the respective proceedings.

(2) T.n.: The case of Catia TVe, which is, however, not generally known outside Venezuela needs to be considered in the same context: In mid-July, 2003, precisely when the opposition was loudly campaigning against the government's Law of Social Responsibility in Radio and Television(Ley RESORTE), the alternative community TV broadcaster Catia TVe was raided and shut down by order of then Caracas Chief Mayor Alfredo Pena, a supporter of the attempted coup d´état of April 2002. As the Call for Solidarity issued by the Venezuelan National Community Media Network, ATTAC-Venezuela, the National Association of Free and Alternative Community Media in Caracas and others emphasized:

"But this is not one of the commercial TV monopolies in Venezuela that virulently oppose the reforms enacted by President Hugo Chávez" The Media outlet today censored is one of the main community TV stations in the country. And it was not shut down by President Chávez, but, rather, one of his fiercest opponents: The Caracas Mayor and former journalist, Alfredo Pena".

(3) T.n.: RCTV's license expires on May 27, 2007.

Original Source in Spanish: Venezuela: Sobre la no renovaci�n de la se�al en abierto a RCTV

Copyright 2007 by AxisofLogic.com (Translation copyright)

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Iris Buehler and James Hollander are members of Tlaxcala, the network of translators for linguistic diversity. This translation can be freely reproduced provided its author, its translator, its revisor and the source are mentioned.

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