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Free Speech is Alive and Well in Venezuela

By Greg Grandin, AlterNet
Posted on June 22, 2007, Printed on June 22, 2007


The government of Venezuela decided not to renew a
broadcast license for RCTV, one of the oldest and
largest opposition-controlled TV stations in the
country, when its 20-year term expired on May 27. The US
media, in keeping with its reporting on Venezuela for
the last 8 years, has seized upon this opportunity to
portray this as an assault on "freedom of the press."

It's not clear why a TV station that would never get a
broadcast license in the United States or any other
democratic country should receive one in Venezuela. But
this is the one question that doesn't seem to come up in
any of the news reports or editorials here.

RCTV actively participated in the U.S.-backed coup that
briefly overthrew Venezuela's democratically elected
President Hugo Chavez in 2002. The station promoted the
coup government, reported only the pro-coup version of
events. It censored and suppressed the news as the coup
fell apart.

Even ignoring RCTV's role in the coup, its broadcast
license would have been revoked years ago in the U.S.,
Europe, or any country that regulates the public
airwaves. During the oil strike of 2002-2003, the
station repeatedly called on people to join in and help
topple the government. The station has also fabricated
accusations of murder by the government, using graphic
and violent images to promote its hate-filled views.

The whole idea that freedom of expression is under
attack in Venezuela is a joke to anyone who has been
there in the last eight years. Most of the media in
Venezuela is still controlled by people who are
vehemently (sometimes violently) opposed to the
government. This will be true even after RCTV switches
from broadcast to cable and satellite media. All over
the broadcast media you can hear denunciations of the
president and the government of the kind that you would
not hear in the United States on a major national
broadcast network. Imagine Rush Limbaugh during the
Clinton impeachment, times fifty, but with much less
regard for factual accuracy.

Pick up a newspaper -- El Universal and El Nacional are
two of the biggest -- and the vast majority of the
headlines are trying to make the government look bad.
Turn on the radio and most of what you will hear is also
anti-government. Television now has two state-run
channels, but these only counterbalance the rest of the
programming that is opposition-controlled. Venezuela has
a more oppositional media than we have in the United
States.

In fact, if the government carries through on its
promise to turn RCTV's broadcast frequency over to the
public, for a diverse array of programming, then this
move will actually increase freedom of expression in
Venezuela - rather than suppressing it, as the media and
some opportunistic, ill-informed politicians here have
maintained.

Sadly, some human rights officials here have also,
without knowing much of the details, jumped on the media
and political bandwagon. In a press release this week,
José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights
Watch, said that "The move to shut down RCTV is a
serious blow to freedom of expression in Venezuela." (Of
course RCTV will not be "shut down," since it can
continue to distribute its programs through cable and
satellite media). But in an interview the same week
Vivanco gave a different view, criticizing "those who
claim that the fact that the Chavez government is not
renewing the license for RCTV, per se implies a
violation of freedom of expression. That is nonsense. .
. you are not entitled, as a private company, to get
your contract renewed with the government forever." So
why is a station that has repeatedly violated the most
basic rules of any broadcast license entitled to another
20-year state-sanctioned franchise?

It is not surprising that a monopolized media here would
defend the "right" of right-wing media moguls to control
the airwaves in Venezuela. Still it would be nice if we
could get both sides of the story here - like
Venezuelans do from their major media, which is right
now saturated with broadcasts and articles against (as
well as for) the government's decision. Then Americans
could make up their own minds about whether this is
really a "free speech" issue. Is that really too much to
ask from our own "free press?"

Greg Grandin teaches Latin American history at New York
University and is the author of a number of books,
including the just published Empire's Workshop: Latin
America, the United States, and the Rise of the New
Imperialism.