01/02/2005
stampa
invia
It is going to be called “TeleSul – Vive TV”, with a hyphen. A simple name to
help try and solve a tricky problem that might be summed up by the following question:
how can a theoretically free and sovereign state defend itself against market
censorship?
The answer is obvious enough: by setting up its own TV stations, precisely as they are trying to do over in Caracas, Venezuela, by redistributing the advertising. Chavez’s Venezuela is a real paradox, a president much loved by the people but hated by the powers that be. A paradox that has been analysed and explained here in Porto Alegre at a special Forum set up in one of the five theme sections of a Social Forum, the one dealing with information. The paradox lies in the fact that the Government needs to protect itself against censorship and being constantly blacked-out by the main communications channels, all strictly in the hands of a few private enterprises.
In a land like South America, so accustomed to dealing with governments and politicians
quick to censor or send in the army, this is something new but not unique of its
kind. Brazilian journalists are making the same complaints. There is no public
television network in Brazil, and no newspapers in the hands of mass organisations
or associations letting ordinary people have their say. Everything is controlled
by powerful families. This inevitably results in carefully monitored information
telling only one side of the story.
Chavez’s idea has been taken up by a group of young Venezuelan television reporters, who have used a small amount of money at their disposal to set up a project for a satellite TV station, Tele Sul, which will begin broadcasting in April. “To begin with there will only be eight hours of programmes, but we soon aim to broadcast 24 hours-a-day – so Gabriela Gonzales Frente explained, a speaker at the Forum who also works for TeleSul – we will let people and organisations have their say, we will inform people about what is happening in Venezuela breaking the existing monopoly on information.”
So the news will come from the streets and the movements representing ordinary Venezuelan society. The hope is that this will not only let people inside the country know what is going on, but also make it known abroad that Chavez is changing Venezuela with the firm backing and hearty approval of lots and lots of people. “I would like to tell you about something that happened – so Gabriela went on to say – connected with the job we do. Some time ago a law came out on information, which was presented to the rest of the world as a way of censuring journalists and reporters. In actual fact it was a reform forcing television channels, which are all privately owned, to broadcast at least five hours-a-day of public service programmes. Both at home and abroad the impression people have of my country is quite wrong. You know there are actually racist attacks against blacks on television, even though we are almost all – as in Brazil – mixed race, there is at least a bit of black blood running through every family’s veins.”
Part of the project is also what we might call “Bolivarian”, decidedly in line
with Chavez’s politics. TeleSul is in fact planning to accommodate and work with
journalists, reporters and televisions networks from all over Latin America, starting
with Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. This, so Gabriele tells us, is to unite these
countries, “letting each tell its own tale and explain its own problems. Why should
a Venezuelan reporter explain what is happening in Argentina? That is an Argentinean’s
job. It is a question of real first-hand awareness of the issues at hand and the
right face to talk about them.”
stampainvia
Venezuela: where the Government cannot even air its views
from our correspondent
Raffaele Crocco
Raffaele Crocco
It is going to be called “TeleSul – Vive TV”, with a hyphen. A simple name to
help try and solve a tricky problem that might be summed up by the following question:
how can a theoretically free and sovereign state defend itself against market
censorship?
The answer is obvious enough: by setting up its own TV stations, precisely as they are trying to do over in Caracas, Venezuela, by redistributing the advertising. Chavez’s Venezuela is a real paradox, a president much loved by the people but hated by the powers that be. A paradox that has been analysed and explained here in Porto Alegre at a special Forum set up in one of the five theme sections of a Social Forum, the one dealing with information. The paradox lies in the fact that the Government needs to protect itself against censorship and being constantly blacked-out by the main communications channels, all strictly in the hands of a few private enterprises.
In a land like South America, so accustomed to dealing with governments and politicians
quick to censor or send in the army, this is something new but not unique of its
kind. Brazilian journalists are making the same complaints. There is no public
television network in Brazil, and no newspapers in the hands of mass organisations
or associations letting ordinary people have their say. Everything is controlled
by powerful families. This inevitably results in carefully monitored information
telling only one side of the story.Chavez’s idea has been taken up by a group of young Venezuelan television reporters, who have used a small amount of money at their disposal to set up a project for a satellite TV station, Tele Sul, which will begin broadcasting in April. “To begin with there will only be eight hours of programmes, but we soon aim to broadcast 24 hours-a-day – so Gabriela Gonzales Frente explained, a speaker at the Forum who also works for TeleSul – we will let people and organisations have their say, we will inform people about what is happening in Venezuela breaking the existing monopoly on information.”
So the news will come from the streets and the movements representing ordinary Venezuelan society. The hope is that this will not only let people inside the country know what is going on, but also make it known abroad that Chavez is changing Venezuela with the firm backing and hearty approval of lots and lots of people. “I would like to tell you about something that happened – so Gabriela went on to say – connected with the job we do. Some time ago a law came out on information, which was presented to the rest of the world as a way of censuring journalists and reporters. In actual fact it was a reform forcing television channels, which are all privately owned, to broadcast at least five hours-a-day of public service programmes. Both at home and abroad the impression people have of my country is quite wrong. You know there are actually racist attacks against blacks on television, even though we are almost all – as in Brazil – mixed race, there is at least a bit of black blood running through every family’s veins.”
Part of the project is also what we might call “Bolivarian”, decidedly in line
with Chavez’s politics. TeleSul is in fact planning to accommodate and work with
journalists, reporters and televisions networks from all over Latin America, starting
with Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. This, so Gabriele tells us, is to unite these
countries, “letting each tell its own tale and explain its own problems. Why should
a Venezuelan reporter explain what is happening in Argentina? That is an Argentinean’s
job. It is a question of real first-hand awareness of the issues at hand and the
right face to talk about them.”The challenge has been taken up. The Brazilians for their part are going to try and sell the project in their own country, and see what happens. They want the Government to back this kind of enterprise, possibly using state-financed advertising to back smaller stations and those not connected to the major networks owned by powerful families. It remains to be seen whether the Government will accept the idea, but in the meantime they can console themselves by tuning into TeleSul.
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