Venezuela: eat the press

Venezuelan observer James Jordan recently pointed out, that RCTV broadcast calls for the Opposition to march on the presidential palace at the height of tensions - under the guise of reclaiming democracy. It also hosted golpistas on its programs after Chávez was kidnapped. Jordan writes:

There is no doubt, and no dispute, that RCTV and the three other largest corporate television stations (Globovisión, Venevision, and Televen) aided and abetted the ensuing coup throughout the three-day period it was being carried out.

Furthermore, according to Jordan, Andres Izarra - an ex-producer with RCTV who now works with TeleSur - has been quite candid about the machinations of RCTV in terms of the footage they were told to black out. Jordon notes that when asked about what should happen with RCTV due to its past actions, Izarra replied, "I think their licenses should be revoked".

Five years after the coup, the Caracas administration did just that.

Was there another solution to this matter? Well, perhaps. One argument is that the Chávez Government should have taken RCTV and Globovisión to court after April 2002. This position sounds reasonable except for one thing: the lack of independence of the Venezuelan judiciary shortly after the coup. Four months after the coup d'état, the golpistas were acquitted by Venezuela’s judicial system in a decision which defied all evidence and logic.

Having escaped justice, most of these military leaders continued their calls to violently overthrow the President. Only when new judges were inaugurated and the military was purged of golpistas did the coup leaders become worried, eventually fleeing to Colombia and Miami.

If this is the treatment the coup participants received under Venezuela’s old courts, what could one expect them to do to a few managers and journalists who also had their hands dirty?

After April 2002, the embattled government attempted to reconcile with the Opposition. Pursuing RCTV, Globovisión and Televen for their actions during the coup would hardly have been proof of Chávez's sincerity. To make matters worse, towards the end of 2002 and into 2003, much of Venezuela was paralysed by a crippling strike - a managers' lockout to be precise - and the administration in Caracas was again under siege by these stations.

So, should the Venezuelan government have renewed RCTV's broadcasting licence in 2007? My answer is yes.

If we are to follow through the argument put forth by the Venezuelan government that it has not renewed the broadcasting license of RCTV for its participation in the April 2002, then by this measure, it should apply the same standards to Globovisión, Venevision, and Televen, as well as newspapers El Universal and El Nacional among others. So far, this has not happened.

While only a cursory look at the actions by RCTV's managers and journalists would have them in prison for decades in most democracies under the charge of treason, there is the question of why an entire network should pay the price for the actions of some of the people working there. Were the silicon telenovela actresses, technicians and coffee boys of RCTV in constant contact with the coup plotters as well? Surely not.

A more appropriate action the Venezuelan government could take is to start new judicial proceedings against all the television and print editors, journalists and managers (and yes owners), which closely collaborated with the April 2002 coup plotters. Now that Venezuela has judges that take the law a little more seriously, the Caracas administration has a very strong case. While Chávez would still receive a lot of heat for this move, he could invite numerous international legal and human rights observers to view the proceedings.