Chávez denies TV license, stoking censorship debate

by Simon Romero

President Hugo Chávez's decision not to renew the broadcast license of RCTV, one of this country's oldest television stations and a frequent critic of his government, has fueled a fierce debate over whether he is stifling dissent in Venezuela as he strengthens his control of the broadcasting industry.

Senior officials in Chávez's government moved quickly to react to growing international and domestic criticism of the decision.

Reporters Without Borders, the Paris-based news-media freedom group, said that the move, which Chávez announced in a speech before military officers last week, was a "serious attack on editorial pluralism." The group asked Chávez's government "to reconsider its stance and guarantee an independent system of concessions and renewals of licenses."

The vice president, José Vicente Rangel, said the decision was not political retaliation but a "right of the state for reasons that are justified." Others officials, however, made it clear that the decision was a reaction to RCTV's editorial policies, particularly in relation to a coup in April 2002 that briefly removed Chávez as president.

"RCTV's determining role during the events of the 2002 coup must be remembered," Willian Lara, the communications minister, said at a news conference Friday. "That irresponsible attitude hasn't changed at RCTV."

The actions of RCTV and other private broadcasters during the chaotic days of the coup are at the heart of their tension with Chávez's government. Several of the broadcasters appeared to support the coup, substituting coverage of the coup's collapse and Chávez's return to power with reruns of American movies and Walt Disney cartoons.

Since then, Chávez has accused the broadcasters of waging a "psychological war" against his administration, describing the country's main channels, Globovision, Televen, Venevision and RCTV, as "horsemen of the apocalypse." His re-election this month to a six-year term has not tempered his disdain for the traditional media elite and for RCTV in particular.

"This decision can only be seen as a control strategy and an abuse of power," said Ewald Scharfenberg, executive director of the Institute for Press and Society, a group here that examines news- media freedom issues.

Through elections and personnel changes over the past eight years, Chávez and his supporters have consolidated power across Venezuela's political institutions, controlling Congress, the Supreme Court and every state government but two. The privately controlled media are one of the areas of society, along with private enterprise, religious institutions and professional sports, outside of Chávez's control.

Teodoro Petkoff, editor of the opposition-aligned newspaper TalCual, described Venezuela's political system as an "autocracy" advancing toward "light totalitarianism."

With their vociferous criticism of Chávez and his policies, private newspapers, television stations and radio broadcasters, along with Internet bloggers, offer daily evidence that freedom of expression still exists here.

Still, pro-Chávez legislation has enhanced the government's ability to clamp down on critics through legal action or threats of prosecution, creating a "climate of self-censorship," according to Human Rights Watch. A 2004 law subjects television and radio stations to heavy fines or suspension of their licenses for broadcasts deemed to "condone or incite" public disturbances.