FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS IN
Elisa Bermudez
Journalism Seminar: Foreign Correspondence
Professor Nick Daniloff
One of the most important lessons learned during the journalism seminar is that democratic and authoritarian governments alike always try to control and/or manipulate the media. As an example of this, I intend to raise the issue of a more complex case: a democratically elected government turning into an authoritarian one, the beginning of self-censorship and repression, and corporate media major mistakes. Within that frame, I will specifically address the issue of how the new Ley de Responsabilidad Social en Radio y Televisión (Law of Social Responsibility in Radio and Television), also know as “Ley Resorte,” and as “Ley Mordaza” (The Gag Law) by the political opposition parties, could interfere with the work of foreign correspondents in Venezuela.
Many voices have already expressed concern regarding not only the threat to democracy that the government of Hugo Chavez poses, but more recently about his measures to control the media. Obviously, most of these cases involve local reporters, photographers, editors, etc. But there are very few publications treating in-depth the danger this regime might pose specifically to foreign correspondents as well as local and international audiences.
Moreover, there also seems to be a different relationship between the government and foreign correspondence, which makes the foreign media a key player in
Since President Chavez has, for a few years now, invested time and money in lobbying overseas, through an American public relations firm (Marcano & Barrera, 2005), at home, he seems to be lobbying with foreign correspondents. This is resulting in foreign correspondents having more access to information from a government source, leaving local reporters behind. So far most foreign correspondents have been critical and balanced about Chavez. But what would happen if they violated one of the articles in the Ley Resorte? Have they been threatened already? How do they go about their work without been being censored? I will try to answer some of these questions, but unfortunately, some will have to remain unanswered due to lack of testimonies.
History
In a nutshell,
However, during the early years of democracy, the government, backed by the CIA, had to deal with a guerrilla movement that flourished after the overthrown of Pérez Jímenez. Left-wing militants were unhappy with the rest of the center-left and center-right parties who ignored the key role communists had in bringing back democracy. Finally, in 1969, then President Rafael Caldera pardoned and invited guerrilla leaders, who had fled to other countries, to return to
The 70s were much better years because of the nationalization of the oil, iron and steel industries. Also,
The 1980’s and 1990’s could be described as the down fall of
In 1992, Lieutenant Colonel Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías finally carries out a coup plot he had planned for 15 years. The coup attempt failed and he was imprisoned. Then, President Caldera (elected for a second time) pardoned him in 1994. Afterwards, he formed the Movimiento Quinta República party (MVR – Fifth Republic Movement) and later won the presidential elections in 1998.
Ley Resorte
The presidency of Hugo Chavez is full of controversy and radical changes. Chavez has promised that he will help the poor with his Bolivarian Revolution. As soon as he arrived to office he changed the name of the country, re-wrote the constitution, and has ruled by decree twice (for 18 month each). His future plans are a one-party system and indefinite presidential terms.
One of Chavez most controversial measures has been the Ley Resorte, which was supposedly created to protect children and teenagers from being exposed to violent, vulgar and obscene content in radio and television. Most of the articles in this law seem to work for that purpose, however, a few of them are certainly suspicious for two reasons. First, some of them have nothing to do with protecting children and teens from violence, vulgarity or obscenity in television and radio; and second, some of the articles of this law have been enforced against newspapers and the arts. A case is the law suit against filmmaker Jonathan Jakubowicz and his feature film “Secuestro Express.” A secuestro express (kidnapping express) is a fairly new modus operandi to steal large amounts of money by kidnapping the target for 24 hours or less. Usually, the criminals will roam around the city with the target forcing him/her to use their money to buy expensive items that can be sold later. Usually, targets lose large sums of money and some of them are injured or killed. The lawsuit against Jakubowicz was for defamation against the persons who were in the
The first article that raises eyebrows in the Ley Resorte is in Chapter I, Article 3, in a section titled “General Objective.” The article reads, “To promote the effective enforcement and practice of human rights, in particular, those regarding the protection of honor, private life, intimacy, public image, confidentiality, and reputation, as well as access to opportunistic, versatile, and unbiased information.” This is the Article used against the director of “Secuestro Express.”
Also in Chapter I, Article 5 (Type of program), section 4, it defines violence type “E” (from A to E - E being serious violence) as “Images or graphic description that represent real or dramatize violence…” This description has been allegedly used to repress TV networks from showing violence often encounter in protests.
Mariangela Lando, editor of international news at the newspaper El Universal, said that protecting children and adolescents from violent, vulgar and obscene content in radio and television is an “apparent” motivation.
“In reality, the intention is to avoid that the private networks inform about the violence generated due to crime, the political crisis, and government mismanagement. They do not avoid verbal violence of TV programs such as ‘La Hojilla’ (The Razor Blade), which is shown by the government-sponsored Venezolana de Televisión (VTV) and it rudely and vulgarly attacks those who do not agree with the government policies,” Lando said.
In addition, Article 10, in Chapter II, a section titled “The State free and compelled access to air time,” it states that the government has unlimited access to air time and even the private networks are obligated by this law to present messages from the government at anytime. As said before, what does this have to do with protecting children and adolescent from violent, vulgar, and obscene content?
The next one is Article 29, Chapter VII, which talks about sanctions. According to a report released on April 2003 by Reporter Without Borders, the sanctions stated in this law are first of all not related back to the articles preceding it, and, second, they qualify sanctions being “minor,” “medium,” “serious,” or “very serious” offenses but it is not specific as to what kind of sanction members of the media could receive.
This changed last year when the Reforma del Código Penal (Reform of Penal Code) was introduced and later approved by the National Assembly (the equivalent of a Congress). The Código Penal not only specifies prison time and amount of fines, but it also stresses the used of Article 3 (against defamation).
Recent cases include Miguel Salazar, editor of the weekly Las Verdades de Miguel (The Truths of Miguel), who is a “Chavizta” (a Chavez sympathizer). Salazar has criticized the government of Guárico state of allege corruption and human rights violation. Salazar was sued by government officials of aggravated defamation (Reporters Without Borders, 2007) and received a fine of the equivalent of $320,000, Benoít Hervieu, of the Americas Desk for Reporters Without Borders, said during an phone interview.
Other cases include the fine imposed to the daily Tal Cual, also for allege defamation. Comedian Laureano Márquez wrote a letter addressed to Rosaines, President Chávez’s youngest daughter, asking her to make her father re-think about his actions. The letter was published in the editorial section of Tal Cual and Márquez, being a comedian, intended to address a serious political issue with humor. Also, President Chávez has firmly said that the government will not renew the license of the oldest private TV network in
The media, political, economic, and social crisis
As explained by Hervieu, the political crisis started to intensify in a different arena (the media), creating what is called “the media’s war.” Simply, the political opinion of media members had radicalized to the point that they have actively participated in recent political events with the opposition or the government. As a result, this has turned into preventing audiences from vital information. Channels VTV (sponsored by the government), Venevisión and RCTV among others (privately owned) showed only partial information of the pro-government or opposition protests that eventually clashed with National Guards and the Metropolitan Police around the Palacio de Miraflores (the presidential palace) on April 11. This event was of much confusion since, until this day, nobody knows who started the shootings and both political groups blame each other.
Regarding the media, both opposition and government used their resources for political interests, to incite people to violence, and to misinform. VTV never showed the opposition protest, while some of the private channels didn’t show the pro-Chavez protest around Miraflores after President Chávez allegedly resigned and was taken away. There is in fact, footage from of some of RCTV reporters and media assistants hiding in tat the channel’s headquarters in center city as Chávez supporters were vandalizing the building. Such claim makes sense since Chávez seems to direct his aggression against local reporters and is more friendly to foreign correspondents. Lando confirms this version saying that the situation was so dangerous that even some newspapers had to send their reporters home. However, CNN’s Otto Neustland was covering all the events going on around the presidential palace, as well as the AP, the BBC, and Univisión and other news afencies. Then the question is, why did RCTV, Venevisión (along with other networks) were showing soap-operas and
Such behavior, instead of avoiding more repression from the government, might have accelerated it.
Reporters Without Borders confirms that most of the privately-own media has a share of responsibility on the consequences of the events that day. In fact, Andrés Izarra, a former news producer for RCTV, resigned that very same day after he was told by his supervisors not to show any “Chavizmo” on TV, meaning that they were not going to go to cover the pro-Chavez demonstration unfolding in Miraflores. (“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”, 2003). Interestingly, Izarra is now part of a group who formed TeleSur, a TV network sponsor by the governments of Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil and other South American countries.
In such situation, foreign correspondents must find a way to do their job. They have not yet being repressed by the Ley Resorte or any other legal measure directly. Only one minor incident occurred during the early years of President’s Chavez first term in office when Chávez supporters invaded the office of The Associated Press to complain about an article published by the news agency. The details of this event are not, however, described in detail (Cristina Marcano & Alberto Barrera, 2005).
Nevertheless, some reporters and scholars have written about clever ways in which they manage to cover pro-Chávez demonstrations such as wearing a red beret or a red T-shirt (the typical uniform of the Bolivarian Revolution), passing as supporters of Chávez.
Chávez seems to be friendly to foreign correspondents for two reasons. First, he is perhaps using foreign correspondents to circulate his political propaganda overseas. Second, as explained by Hervieu, the foreign media has focused more on feature stories rather critical news. Third, when making a critique they are typically careful to provide all sides of a story. Unfortunately, as mentioned before, this friendly attitude towards foreign media in Venezuela results in better access to information for them, but neglecting information to the local media.
“The BBC is indeed subject to Ley Resorte as our signal is broadcast via cable into households there. The golden rule is never to broadcast statements which can be interpreted as defamatory, in other words you can’t just say Mr Chavez is a liar without having firm evidence, or evidence that will stand up in a court of law. In other words use
journalistic common sense as in any other country,” Greg Morsbach, former BBC correspondent to Venezuela, said.
He also recognized that foreign correspondents have much better access to government information that the local media.
“Foreign correspondents were given better access to government officials than pro opposition media outlets. We were and still are seen as less biased than domestic media. The BBC has an international reputation as being very professional and so that gives us easier access to many sources.”
Morsbach also mentioned that what it is increasingly difficult is to gather testimonies from people regarding the government because they are afraid to speak out.
“The foreign media will enjoy freedom in the next few years. But as Mr. Chavez increases his grip on power he will start to scrutinize more closely reports by foreign reporters who may have their credentials revoked if they are found to be too anti-Chavez. The local media is already starting to feel that its freedoms are being curtailed or restricted. One example is RCTV – its license will not be renewed beyond May this year. CMT another TV channel has been bought up by pro-government TeleSur and there will be further attempts by the state to buy up and control private media” Morsbach said.
Foreign correspondents certainly have to watch their backs from the so-called Ley Resorte and other legal measures they government might come up with. Regardless, they have played an important role in keeping audiences inform since most of them don’t have a direct political or business interests as some of the local media might have. Sadly, unlike the local TV station that can easily project their signals all over the country, cable TV is only accessible to the middle and upper classes, which represent an average of 20% of the population, according to most travel books on Venezuela
Having said this, Venezuelans need to be careful when gathering the news since most of it, with a few exceptions, would be either pro-Chavez or anti-Chavez. Perhaps, not only news agencies would be a good source of information but also small, community newspapers. Other good sources would be perhaps El Universal and Tal Cual.
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Interviews:
· Benoít Herviu, Americas Desk, Reporters Without Borders.
· Mariangela Lado, International News Editor, El Universal.
· Greg Morsbach, former BBC correspondent to Venezuela.
· Francisco Urraiztieta, Univisión correspondent to Venezuela. Urraiztieta initially agreed to an e-mail interview, but never answer the questions.
· The Associated Press in Caracas rejected the interview stating that their management office in New York City has prohibited them from taking part in any academic and/or scholar work.
· VTV and the Consulate of Venezuela in Boston never answered any requests of a phone or e-mail interview.
