Hugo Chavez- darling of the left.

While Chavez scores political points every time he has a piss and a moan about George Bush or Tony Blair, his country is suffering under a media crackdown, with the mainstream left turning a blind eye (a b-grade example is Antony Loewenstein. The failed trainee, who tries to represent himself as some kind of media expert, conveniently ignores the true Chavez government to avoid de-legitimising his anti-American ally).

Pasted below are a few highlights (rather- lowlights) from an article by Roger Atwood, recently published in the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, showing the extent to which Chavez is ruining press freedom in his country. If you’d like a PDF copy, send us an email (preferably to Stewie, at his ‘new_student1986’ address).

New, so-called insult laws (...) have already blunted some of the harshest criticisms of the government among opinion writers (and) created a pernicious climate of self-censorship among reporters that has begun to affect the quality of coverage and public debate”. Page 26.

The new restrictions have come into force in a context of growing intolerance of dissent by the government (…) Page 26.

Virtually every prominent public official in Venezuela is now legally entitled to seek redress for any speech or text deemed offensive or disrespectful, whether true or not. Page 27.

By enshrining the ability to challenge opinion in court with heavy fines for offenders, the law seems aimed at creating a climate inimical to the airing of any critical opinion. Page 27.

The Supreme Court is dominated by Chavez appointees. Page 27.

New legislation, introduced by the Chavez government, threatens jail (sic) of up to ten years for any public act that raises the ‘danger of a serious accident (siniestro), a vague and completely subjective definition that could include causing traffic jams. Page 27.

If the goal (of the Chavez government) was to encourage news organizations to silence anti-government rhetoric without resorting to the unpalatable task of taking them to court, it would seem to be succeeding. Page 28.

Hector Faundez, a media law expert at the Universidad Central in Caracas, points out that the kinds of attacks that Tony Blair faced daily during his campaign for reelection as British prime minister would be illegal in Venezuela. A televised debate between Chavez and his election opponents seems impossible because television stations would be liable for any offensive statements uttered by the challengers about Chavez. The reverse, however, would not be true. Pages 28 to 29.

One journalist was charged with violating state secrecy laws by reporting on documents given to her by a source, while an investigative reporter for El Universal was arrested on what appeared to be trumped-up charges of financial fraud. In addition, a television news channel, Globovision (…), has been hit with huge fines from the national telecommunications authority, CONATEL, for a variety of supposed infractions since 2002. Given these examples, it is reasonable to conclude that the government has embarked on a systematic campaign of legal harassment against media whose coverage it does not like. Page 29.

Another arrow in the government’s fast growing quiver of ways to manipulate news coverage is its frequent use of mandatory national broadcasts (…). On an almost daily basis, the government requires all stations, public and private, to break into their regular programming and transmit information as ordered by the government. This happens often while private stations are showing prime-time news broadcasts. Sometimes the information has news value, such as a speech by Chavez, but more often it is simply a commercial for a government initiative or event (one such superfluous broadcast was of Chavez attending Fidel Castro’s birthday party, the two presidents looking like Don Quixote and Sancho Panza as they toasted each other.) Page 30.

State-run television channels (…) remain abject propaganda services for the Chavez government, regularly attacking the president’s designated enemies and opposition figures in news reporting while excluding dissenting opinions. Page 31.

Chavez supporters are nothing more than a leftist flock of dodos, singing a pro-socialist, anti-American tune. Atwood’s, brave, full article puts it best (heh, heh), however, rather than these snippets we’ve offered.