Chávez is no enemy of free speech

Hugo Chávez let Radio Caracas Televisión continue to air for five years after the station supported a coup attempt.

from the June 4, 2007 edition

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After military rebels overthrew Chávez and he disappeared from public view for two days, RCTV's biased coverage edged fully into sedition. Thousands of Chávez supporters took to the streets to demand his return, but none of that appeared on RCTV or other television stations. RCTV News Director Andrés Izarra later testified at National Assembly hearings on the coup attempt that he received an order from superiors at the station: "Zero pro-Chávez, nothing related to Chávez or his supporters…. The idea was to create a climate of transition and to start to promote the dawn of a new country." While the streets of Caracas burned with rage, RCTV ran cartoons, soap operas, and old movies. On April 13, 2002, Mr. Granier and other media moguls met in the Miraflores palace to pledge support to the country's coup-installed dictator, Pedro Carmona, who had eliminated the Supreme Court, the National Assembly, and the Constitution.

Would a network that aided and abetted a coup against the government be allowed to operate in the United States? The US government probably would have shut down RCTV within five minutes after a failed coup attempt – and thrown its owners in jail. Chávez's government allowed it to continue operating for five years and then declined to renew its 20-year license to use the public airwaves. It can still broadcast on cable or via satellite dish.

Granier and others should not be seen as free-speech martyrs. Radio, TV, and newspapers remain uncensored and unthreatened by the government. Most Venezuelan media are still controlled by the old oligarchy and are staunchly anti-Chávez. If Granier had not decided to try to oust the country's president, Venezuelans might still be able to look forward to more broadcasts of "Radio Rochela."

• Bart Jones spent eight years in Venezuela, mainly as a foreign correspondent for the Associated Press and is the author of the forthcoming book "Hugo! The Hugo Chávez Story, From Mud Hut to Perpetual Revolution." ©2007 Los Angeles Times Syndicate.l

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