Media representation of Hugo Chávez

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The media representation of Hugo Chávez involves the portrayal of the current President of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, in both the Venezuelan and international media.

Contents 1 In Venezuela 1.1 Private media 1.1.1 Overview 1.1.2 Coverage of the 2002 coup 1.2 State-owned media 1.2.1 Aló Presidente 1.2.2 TeleSUR 2 International media 3 See also 4 Notes

[edit] In Venezuela

[edit] Private media

[edit] Overview

Even before the April 2002 coup, owners, managers, commentators, and other personnel affiliated with the five private mainstream television networks and most major mainstream newspapers have stated their opposition to the Chávez administration. These media accuse the Chávez administration of having intimidating their journalists using specially dispatched gangs. Chávez has in turn alleged that the owners of these networks have primary allegiance not to Venezuela but to U.S. interests and to the advancement of neoliberalism via propaganda. Private media’s most prominent political commentators have reported that, among other things, Chávez is mentally ill and that he harbors a “sexual obsession with Castro” ^[1].

[edit] Coverage of the 2002 coup

Private media coverage of the 2002 coup only exacerbated these tensions. During the April 11th opposition demonstrations leading up to the coup, Chávez took over the airwaves shortly before gunfire broke out. The private TV stations defied the president by showing his address and the protest simultaneously, via a split-screen presentation. Chávez then ordered them to be taken off the air in a forced blackout which lasted until several stations started rerouting cable TV signals in order to continue covering the protest. On the first morning after the 2002 coup, many of the new Carmona government’s highest-ranking members appeared on-air to offer their appreciation to the private media for their support. Once the counter-coup was launched by Chavistas and loyalist elements of the Palace Guard, these five stations censored any reporting on the events. Private media owners and managers instead chose to broadcast classic films and sitcom reruns.

See also: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (documentary)

[edit] State-owned media

[edit] Aló Presidente

For more details on this topic, see Aló Presidente.

Chávez currently hosts the live talk show Aló Presidente. Of variable format, the show broadcasts each Sunday on state-owned television. The show features Chávez addressing topics of the day, taking phone calls from the audience, and touring locations where government social welfare programs are active.

[edit] TeleSUR

For more details on this topic, see TeleSUR.

In 2005, Chávez announced the creation of TeleSUR, a proposed pan-American homologue of Al Jazeera that seeks to challenge the present domination of Latin American television news by U.S.-based CNN en Español and Univisión. With this addition, the Venezuelan government now possesses four state-owned television stations: Venezolana de Televisión (VTV), Asamblea Nacional TV (ANTV), ViVe, and TeleSUR. In retaliation, the United States Rep. Connie Mack IV (R-FL) made an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2006 Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill (H.R. 2601) to authorize the Broadcasting Board of Governors 30 minutes a day of American broadcasts to Venezuela, in addition to Voice of America broadcasts. The amendment was approved by the United States House of Representatives, and the bill presently awaits the review of the U.S. Senate upon return from recess.

[edit] International media

Many have made the accusation that international media coverage of Hugo Chávez, and the Bolivarian Revolution, has severely distorted the reality in Venezuela. Much coverage has typically been given to anti-Chávez protests in the country, and have presented the image of an overwhelming opposition to the Chávez government, but little media coverage is typically given to pro-Chávez demonstrators, which represent a clear majority of the population.^{[citation needed]}

Many media outlets in the United States, and in other parts of the world, have consistently suggested that Hugo Chavez is a "dictator" or is "headed in that direction",^[2][3] in spite of the fact that he and his party have won numerous national elections certified by international observers, and confirmed by independent international polling companies.^[4]

After the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, and with preparations for war in the U.S., Latin America could not compete for international media coverage. Moises Naim, a former Venezuelan Minister of Trade and Industry and editor of Foreign Policy magazine, argued in early 2003 that the world could no longer afford to ignore Venezuela's deterioration. He stated that Washington had mattered little in the Venezuelan crisis, and that "Fidel Castro's Cuba ... (had) been far more influential in Caracas than George W. Bush's mighty US", with sustained and effective attention towards its goal of keeping Chávez in power.^[5]

The media watchdog FAIR has criticized the New York Times' coverage of Chavez' administration, for instance for its February 25, 2007 article titled "Venezuela Spending on Arms Soars to World’s Top Ranks" ^[6]. FAIR media watchdog reported that the article did not indicate that the source of this claim came from the USAID governmental organization (which has been accused of being involved in the 2002 failed coup against Chavez ^[7]). Furthermore, it stated that

"The article also used a confusing and highly misleading measure of arms expenditures. When it uses the phrase "Venezuela's arms spending," it does not mean the amount Venezuela spends on arms, but the amount that it spends buying arms from other countries. If one is interested in the military threat posed by a particular country, its total spending on its military is a more relevant statistic... In Latin America, according to figures compiled by the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation, Argentina spends almost twice as much on its military as Venezuela, Colombia spends more than three times as much, and Brazil spends about 12 times as much... The United States, as the world's biggest military power, has a military budget roughly 500 times the size of Venezuela. None of this crucial context made it into Romero's piece, though the article does note, in the 19th of 26 paragraphs, that Brazil's army is far larger than Venezuela's... But the article may be inaccurate as well as misleading... The Times' numbers on Venezuelan military spending don't seem to add up... " ^[8]

On 13 March 2007 the Ontario Press Council upheld a complaint that a series of articles published in the Toronto Star in May 2006 lacked balance due to the absence of comment from Venezuelan government representatives and did not attribute figures about murder rate, poverty and unemployment to opposition sources.^[9][10]

In May 2007, international media coverage of the events surrounding the non-renewal of the opposition television channel RCTV's broadcast license was almost universally reported as a "shut down" or "closure" of an "independent" voice, when, in fact, RCTV was never closed down and continues to broadcast by cable and satellite in Venezuela and neighboring countries. The events were given wide coverage in the international media, creating the image that there was widespread chaos and unrest in the country, when nearly all of the major protests took place in only a few middle and upper-class neighborhoods of Caracas. Many media outlets in the United States portrayed the government decision to not renew the broadcast license as a "dictatorial" act that was "muzzling opposition voices" and "attacking the media." Fox News in the United States gave especially distorted coverage of the events, claiming that Hugo Chavez had "shut down the media all across the country"^[11] when in reality RCTV was the only channel to lose its broadcast license. Many other opposition media outlets continue to operate in Venezuela, including the major newspapers and TV channels, making up the clear majority of the Venezuelan media. ^[12]

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page.(March 2008) Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved.

In December 2007, Venezuela held a national vote on a proposed constitutional reform that would have made a large number of changes to the Venezuelan political structure. Among the proposed changes was the elimination of presidential term limits, a change that would have allowed Hugo Chávez to run for reelection in 2012 when his current term ends. While there are many countries in the world that do not have term limits for national leaders, including the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Germany, and others, the constitutional reform in Venezuela was widely reported in international media as a change that would "make Chavez president for life." Media outlets called the reform a "power grab" on the part of Chávez, and presented the image of a country "heading toward dictatorship," when, in reality, Chávez would only be able to continue as the president of Venezuela if he were reelected by the people in national elections.

On December 3, 2007, the reform was voted down, and the proposed changes were not made to the Venezuelan constitution. International media reported that Chávez had accepted the results "grudgingly" and only after pressure from the high military command. Military commanders immediately released statements denying that Chávez had been pressured to accept the results, but this went unreported in most international media outlets.

[edit] See also

v • d • e Hugo Chávez Biography Early life · Military career · Presidency Political events Coup attempt of 1992 · Coup attempt of 2002 · Recall referendum of 2004 · Putative coup attempt of 2004 Elections Presidential election of 1998 · Presidential election of 2000 · Presidential election of 2006 Governance Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas · Bolivarian Circles · Bolivarian Revolution · Bolivarianism · Cabinet · Chavismo ·  · Constitution · Foreign policy Bolivarian Missions Barrio Adentro · Guaicaipuro · Hábitat · Identidad · Mercal · Miranda · Piar · Plan Bolivar 2000 · Ribas · Robinson · Sucre · Vuelta al Campo · Vuelvan Caras · Zamora Reactions Criticism · Media representation · ¿¡Revolución!? · The Revolution Will Not Be Televised · Súmate

[edit] Notes