Attacks on the Press - Committee to Protect Journalists

attacks on the press in 2009americas: venezuelaremaining critical television broadcaster, Globovisión. In the country’s interior,an outspoken government critic was jailed, and an investigative reporter wasslain in direct reprisal for his work.Assailed by Chávez as an instrument of the oligarchy engaged in “media terrorism,”Globovisión was the target of a barrage of investigations. In September,the National Telecommunications Commission (CONATEL) opened an administrativeprobe after accusing the network of inciting rebellion for airing a viewer’stext message calling fora coup. In July, CONATELbegan an inquiry into allegationsthat Globovisión wasairing messages that couldcreate “anguish, anxiety, andfear.” The broadcaster hadrun an advertising campaigndefending private property(at a time when the administrationwas nationalizing majorindustries, including telecommunications,electricity,t o p developments»»Regulators strip licenses from criticalbroadcasters.»»Government wages politicizedinvestigations into Globovisión.key statistic34Private radio and televisionstations pulled from the air.and some food production). Yet another inquiry was opened in May, on chargesof “inciting panic and anxiety in the population,” after Globovisión reported onan earthquake that shook Caracas. During the broadcast, Globovisión DirectorAlberto Federico Ravell urged viewers to remain calm and accused authoritiesof failing to inform Venezuelans in a timely way, according to international newsreports. The broadcaster, known for its strident antigovernment views, also hadtwo pending investigations from 2008. A sanction in any one case could meansuspension of up to 72 hours; a second sanction could result in the revocation ofthe broadcaster’s license.The government threatened to take other steps. In June, just hours afterChávez warned Globovisión to cease its critical coverage or face closure, CONA-TEL requested that the Attorney General’s office investigate whether the privatebroadcaster was criminally liable for violations of the telecommunications law.CPJ called it a “serious escalation” in tactics. No criminal investigation had beenstarted by late year.Globovisión was also victim of a violent attack in August, when a group ofmore than 30 armed individuals on motorcycles stormed its Caracas offices, setoff tear gas canisters, and injured a local police officer and two employees. Accordingto video footage later aired by the broadcaster, the assailants were members ofthe pro-Chávez political party Unión Patriótica Venezolana (UPV). Authoritiesarrested UPV leader Lina Ron days later and charged her with “conspiring tocommit a crime,” according to a statement from Minister of Interior and JusticeTarek El Aissami. Ron, released in October, was being tried in late year.CONATEL used the regulation of broadcast licenses as pretext to silenceindependent and critical voices, pulling 32 privately owned radio stations and twoTV stations off the public airwaves in early August. The broadcasters, CONA-TEL alleged, had failed to update their registration papers by a June deadline.According to the regulator, the stations were operating illegally because their licenseshad been granted to “natural persons,” while the 2000 Law on Telecommunicationsrequired they be turned over to “legal persons.” The broadcasters appealed,and many presented evidence that they had filed documents to conformto the change. They remained off the air in late year.The regulator had threatened earlier to revoke as many as 154 FM and 86AM radio licenses. In a July letter, CPJ urged Minister of Public Works andHousing Diosdado Cabello to ensure that broadcast licensing be conducted in anunbiased and transparent manner.The Chávez administration moved aggressively to curtail media freedom byintroducing restrictive legislation. In July, Attorney General Luisa Ortega Díazsubmitted a bill that would punish “press crimes” with prison terms. The goal,she said, was to confront “new forms of criminality created by the abusive exerciseof freedom of information and opinion.” The initiative defined “press crimes” asactions that threaten the “social peace, the security, and independence of the nation,the stability of state institutions, mental health or public ethics, and actionsthat cause a state of impunity.” The measure vaguely said it would “prevent andpunish actions or omissions displayed through the media that constitute a crime,”and would sanction “any person who releases false news in the media that causesserious public disorder, fear and anxiety among the population, or damages tostate institutions.” After an international outcry, the bill was shelved by the NationalAssembly in August. (In January 2005, the National Assembly drasticallyincreased criminal penalties for defamation while expanding the number of governmentofficials protected by defamation provisions.)The legislature approved an education bill with provisions prohibiting thedistribution of material that could incite “hate, aggressiveness,” “unruliness,” orcause “terror in children.” After the bill’s approval on August 13, a dozen journalistsfrom the Caracas-based dailies Ultimas Noticias, El Mundo, and RadioLíder—owned by the private media conglomerate Cadena Capriles—stageda street protest against provisions they believed hindered free expression. Thatsame afternoon they were struck and kicked by people the journalists identifiedas state employees who accused them of being “oligarchs” and “enemies of the people,”according to CPJ interviews. No one was seriously injured, but the episode9 89 9