Self-censorship in Venezuela
By John Germany | Reason Over Might
10.12.04 | It's official: the Venezuelan president has, as was expected, signed the gag law (official title: "Ley de Responsabilidad Social en Radio y Televisión")
into effect. What's it all about? Under the guise of caring for more
"socially responsible" TV and radio programming, the government
formulated and passed a law defining in great detail which sorts of
transmission are to be allowed and which will not be tolerated.
For
instance, with few exceptions, all programmes must be transmitted in
the Spanish language; advertising for alcohol, tobacco products, drugs,
and games of chance (except for charity) is prohibited; images and
sounds depicting violence or sexual content are regulated; every
broadcaster has to make available 10 minutes of programming per day to
the state; every unencrypted broadcaster must dedicate 1.5 hours of
educational programming per day to children, plus 1.5 hours to
adolescents; 60% of prime-time programming has to be produced within
Venezuela, as must all advertising; radio stations that play music have
to play at least 3 hours of Venezuelan music plus 1 hour of Latin
American music per day; all stations must play the Venezuelan national
anthem daily, and must mention the authors, melody, and lyrics.
The
new law provides for savage sanctions against broadcasters found in
violation of its articles. This is the case especially for article 29,
which is the scorpion's tail: an all-purpose paragraph that can be
applied almost at will by a partisan regulator. It determines that any
broadcaster promoting, apologising for or inciting to war, changes in
the public order or crimes; threatening the security of the state; or
broadcasting anonymous messages can be taken off the air for 72 hours.
High fines are also imposed and the broadcasting license can be revoked
for up to five years. Obviously, Chávez and his pack will have few
qualms about interpreting any criticism of their conduct as threatening
the security of the state.
As was to be expected, Venezuelan
media have begun censoring themselves rather than run the risk of
simply being eliminated. Miguel Octavio, in his excellent blog The Devil's Excrement, describes how this process became visible yesterday: Globovision, which to date
has been the premier source of live news for many Venezuelans, did not
broadcast violent unrest in the centre of Caracas that left several
people injured as street vendors confronted the police. Obviously, the
news images would have shown violence, which is prohibited between 5:00
a.m. and 11:00 p.m.; so rather than risk the wrath of the powers that
be, Globovision kept mum. (The news still spread through the Internet
and newspapers, though, which are not regulated by the new law. Any
bets on how long it will take before this loophole is closed?)
Obviously, what is happening here is very serious indeed. International organizations ranging from Human Rights Watch
("This legislation severely threatens press freedom in Venezuela," said
José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. "Its
vaguely worded restrictions and heavy penalties are a recipe for
self-censorship by the press and arbitrariness by government
authorities.") to the Inter American Press Association
("What is under discussion is the right of all citizens to be duly
informed and not only about what the government wants them to know, as
happens in Cuba.") to Reporters Without Borders
(Reporters Without Borders said it was "extremely concerned" by a
"vaguely-termed" new law about the "social responsibility" of the
Venezuelan media that "might be used against those that did not agree
with the government.") have criticised the new law, as has Spain's
foreign minister Moratinos.
The situation is not pretty. At the
moment Venezuelans' hopes rest on the Internet (those that have access
to it) and newspapers (as long as they remain relatively free -- we'll
ignore threats against and attacks on journalists for the moment). I
predict a strong resurge of irony in the months ahead, something like
the church service scene in Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life".
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