Globovisión's most recent poisoning of the population had involved reporting on an earthquake near Caracas an hour before the Government reported it. According to El Presidente,
Globovisión:
stirred panic [by] . . . reporting an earthquake before the government announced it. ''We're not going to tolerate a crazy man with a cannon shooting it at the whole world,'' Chávez said on his weekly television and radio show Sunday, referring to Alberto Ravell, the Globovisión general manager. "Enough! . . . This has to end or I'll stop calling myself Hugo Rafael Chávez Frias.''Globolvisión:''You are playing with fire, manipulating, inciting hate and much more. All of you: television networks, radio stations, papers,'' he said. ``Don't make a mistake with me.''
Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro followed up Monday by charging that Ravell had terrorized Venezuelan women and children with his 5:21 a.m. report. ''Globovisión and Alberto Federico Ravell incited panic and anxiety within the population,'' Maduro said. ``We will not permit that.''
said that it had restricted its coverage in the immediate wake of the earthquake to data trawled from the United States Geological Survey. Globovisión Director Alberto Federico Ravell had appeared to call on the public for calm. This was what government ministers were doing not very much later on.According to one of the few remaining opposition voices in Venezuela, a blog, El Presidente is also using the sorry state of the Venezuelan economy to silence Globolvisión, by imposing substantial fines and forfeitures and confiscating its assets. The blog article observed,
if you upset Chavez your property will be seized by either plain robbery or legal robbery through fines and "back" taxes. A few more months of that and Globovisión will be closed.The United Nations and the Organization of American States have expressed worry about this and other efforts of El Presidente to destroy the vestiges of a free press in Venezuela. Venezuela has rejected these concerns; the Venezuelan ambassador to the OAS stated that foreign observers passing judgment on Venezuela are beholden "to the interests of the private media."
El Presidente Chávez has made substantial changes to the educational system in Venezuela, and has tried mightily to ensure that all students are provided an ideologically correct education. These steps have been praised by "a guy" in President Obama's Chicago neighborhood, William Ayers, who has also expressed appreciation of el Presidente Chávez's reforms in other areas.
This is my fourth visit to Venezuela, each time at the invitation of my comrade and friend Luis Bonilla, a brilliant educator and inspiring fighter for justice. Luis has taught me a great deal about the Bolivarian Revolution and about the profound educational reforms underway here in Venezuela under the leadership of President Chavez. We share the belief that education is the motor-force of revolution, and I’ve come to appreciate Luis as a major asset in both the Venezuelan and the international struggle—I look forward to seeing how he and all of you continue to overcome the failings of capitalist education as you seek to create something truly new and deeply humane. Thank you, Luis, for everything you’ve done.
Article comments
1 - Joanne Huspek
I can only think of one word to say: scary.
2 - Dan(Miller)
The beatings will continue until Globovisión dies and morale improves.
Dan(Miller)
3 - Dan(Miller)
Here is an update on the intentions of El Presidente Chávez concerning the one remaining broadcast voice in Venezuela which disagrees with him.
Perhaps he will go too far with his version of a "fairness doctrine."
Dan(Miller)
4 - Dan(Miller)
Here is some recent stuff on El Presidente's media crackdown. It seems that two major newspapers, 86 AM stations and 154 FM plus a few TV stations are being targeted by the Government for failing to adhere completely to the party line. According to the article,
Notitarde and Carabobeño, have been attacked one after [t]he other by red shirt hordes, directed at least one by nothing less than Valencia mayor, just as Los Teques mayor was directing the painting of swastikas on the walls of Miranda's governor's office.
It seems that the pressure on free media is not going to ease anytime soon. In fact, since recent polls show that Chavez personal popularity is going down as more and more people are finally starting to put the blame for bad things on him, we can expect the government to act once and for all and risk closing down a few media/paper outlets to see if the rest will tone down.
Dan(Miller)