FOCUS ON THE AMERICAS - International Press Institute

According to different evaluations, these
media are clearly biased politically, as indicated
by two studies conducted by the Instituto
de Investigaciones de la Comunicación
de la Universidad Central de Venezuela (IN-
INCO-UCV), in 2004 6 and in 2007 6 .
Reporters Without Borders has stated that
the Venezuelan government uses the radio
and television spectrum “excessively and
discretionally”. Between February 2, 1999,
and December 31, 2008, President Chávez
has spoken in nationwide government
broadcasts for a total of 1,179 hours, which
equals 49 continuous days. During these
“nationwide broadcasts”, the entire country’s
radio and television system (private,
state and community) is forced to transmit
one exclusive message 8 .
It has also been stated, that the official
policy of moving towards the communicational
hegemony has two objectives: on
the one hand, to establish an excessive
communication machinery conducted by
the State and, on the other, to close or
neutralize the independent media in different
ways 9 .
In this sense, a case which had broad international
repercussions was the dismissal
of an open signal concession granted to the
channel RCTV, which was interpreted as
punishment for its critical editorial line.
The executive power’s decision to revoke
the licenses of 34 radio stations, allegedly
because they did not comply with the regulations
of the Law of Telecommunications,
can be read in a similar light.
Amnesty International suggested that the
decision was in reality linked to the editorial
line of these media 10 . According to recognized
international organizations, the
Venezuelan government harasses, intimidates
and threatens all independent journalists
and media 11 , and in doing so helps
promote self-censorship, while negatively
impacting journalistic pluralism
IPI Contributor
Andrés Cañizález is a researcher at the Centre of
Communication Research at the Catholic University
Andrés Bello (UCAB) in Venezuela, and the academic
coordinator of the Program for Advanced
Studies in Freedom of Expression and the Right to
Information – also at UCAB. He is a Level II researcher
in the FONACIT (Venezuela) Program of
Researcher Promotion, and was the director of Comunicación
magazine (edited by the Gumilla Centre)
from 2000 – 2006. He founded the Venezuelan
chapter of the Press and Society Institute
(IPYS), an organization that he directed from 2002
– 2005. Currently, he is the director of Temas de
Comunicación magazine.
1 Inter-American Court of Human Rights, consultative
opinion OC-5/85, par. 30, 32 and 33.
2 Joint declaration of 26 November 1999, available
in Spanish in HYPERLINK
"http://www.cidh.oas.org/relatoria/"http://www.
cidh.oas.org/relatoria
4 European Parliament resolution on the risks of
violation, in the EU and especially in Italy, of freedom
of expression and information, Resolution of
April 22, 2004.
5 For example, a high official linked to the Government
has pointed out that: “The non-renewal to
the concession of RCTV and the purchase of CMT
by Telesur (…), the new strategic scene set out, the
struggle within the ideological field is related to a
battle of ideas for people’s hearts and minds. A
new plan must be designed, and the one we propose
is aimed at the State’s communicational and
informative hegemony. Interview with Andrés
Izarra (President of Telesur and former Minister
of Communications), Diary El Nacional, Caracas,
January 8th, 2007, p. A/4.
6 Petkoff, T. (2010). “Miedo a los medios”, Tal Cual
Newspaper, February 2nd, 2010. page 1-2.
7 Cañizález, A. (2008). “Venezuela: El lejano servicio
público”, In Albórnoz, M. B. y Cerbino, M.
(Comp.), Comunicación, cultura y política, Quito,
Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales
(FLACSO), pages 67-78.
8 Hernández, G. (2007). “Gubernamental TVES”,
Comunicación: Estudios venezolanos de comunicación,
N° 139, pages. 26-31
9 Reporteros sin Fronteras (2009). Referéndum
constitucional: un paisaje mediático ensombrecido
por la polarización y el exceso de alocuciones
presidenciales. February 13th, 2009:
http://www.rsf.org/Referendum-constitucionalun.html
10 Amnistía Internacional (2010) El estado de los
derechos humanos en el mundo. page 419.
11 Idem.
Notes from the Field: Latin America
Press Freedom:
Latin America in Perspective
By Patricia Santa Marina
Latin America currently faces two
profound problems that directly affect the
work of the press in the region. The way
they combine, interact and are perceived
by their societies produce different political
outcomes, but ultimately press freedom
is diminished. The main issues are fear, and
the discrediting of the press as a direct consequence
of organized crime and certain
government actions.
The statistics of violence towards journalists
speak for themselves. Since 1987, there
have been a total of 361 murders and 21
disappearances. So far, Mexico and Colombia
head the list, and portray the most terrible
examples of the cruelty and violence
that organized criminals are capable of
using to silence the media. Assassinations
seem to be unstoppable, and at the same
time there is another consequence of the
violence: self-censorship.
Self-censorship is a very damaging effect of
the fear of the actions and threats of organized
criminals. It has been reported that
“many news correspondents in rural
Guatemala, mainly in areas where there is
a strong presence of drug traffickers, are
threatened if they cover stories about drug
seizures or armed clashes between drug
cartels and the armed forces”, according to
the Inter American Press Association
(IAPA) report of 2010. The same report says
“the Mexican press has increased its levels
of self-censorship and in some parts of the
country it does not report on violent acts in
which organized crime is involved”.
It appears that violence and impunity are
becoming permanent problems in Mexico.
The federal government, in spite of its rhetoric,
has not been able to implement measures
that actually stop crimes related to
journalism, nor even to clearly investigate
murders or attacks. While 65 journalists
have died since 2000 at the hands of organized
criminals; since 2005 a total of 12
journalists have been reported missing;
there have been 16 attacks on news
media buildings.
In Colombia, the Foundation for Freedom
of the Press reported that from March to
October, 2010, there were 30 threats, 22
cases of aggression against journalists and
three assaults against the media infrastructure.
“The Foundation has observed that in
the past years the number of murders of
journalists because of their job has diminished,
but the self-censorship among them
has increased.”
Against this backdrop, the future of independent
journalism is unclear. Pursuit of
the truth is being completely discouraged.
Whether governments fail to do
enough, or are not capable of properly addressing
the problem, violence is suppressing
the voice of journalists by taking lives
and the very spirit of journalism. And the
situation will not change unless drastic
measures are taken.
The other issue deeply harming press freedom
is the consequence of the continuous
verbal attacks on media. Some governments
regard the press as a hostile enemy,
make aggressive public statements against
independent media, and threaten the press
in various ways. Usually, they opt to discredit
the media organizations and challenge
their role. This seems to be a fashionable
trend in Latin America.
Despite all their differences, several countries
in the region share a common trait:
tense relations between the government
and the press. The government of
Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia have serious
problems in their relationship with
the media.
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