In the 1990s, Venezuelan journalist Jose Vicente Rangel hosted a television talk show whose aggressive style and muckraking led to the downfall of President Carlos Andres Perez. Now, after eight years as President Hugo Chavez's deputy, Rangel is back on television, interviewing and breaking news on "Jose Vicente Today."But instead of airing the bare-knuckles journalism for which he was once known, Rangel's program on privately owned Televen is decidedly supportive of many of Chavez's policies. Rangel has even defended Chavez's decision not to renew the license of an influential and stridently anti-government television station, RCTV, which went off the air Sunday.
"It's up to the state to renew or not renew," said Rangel, 77, who was vice president until January. "This is not an issue of freedom of expression. The issue is the sovereignty of the state."
Among Venezuelan broadcasters, Rangel is not alone in his support of the president's move, even though it has been condemned by international press freedom groups. The reason, government critics say, is clear: Chavez increasingly controls what gets printed and aired, regardless of whether a media outlet is private or public.
Buffeted by harsh coverage in its first four years, the government has made amplification of its voice a cornerstone of its communications strategy in the past four years. The new reality is a far cry from 2002, when the biggest papers and television stations supported an opposition movement through a coup and a national strike intended to dislodge Chavez from power.
Outlets, particularly television stations, that were once aggressively anti-government have grown docile under threat of sanctions, say press freedom and human rights groups, while the government has used a windfall in oil revenue to start up newspapers and broadcast networks.
"In 2002, you had highly critical media, four private television stations and a state media apparatus that was very weak," said Carlos Lauria, an Argentine journalist who led a delegation that studied the RCTV case for the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. "Now, you have a state communications apparatus that is much stronger, with heavy propaganda and media outlets that echo each other..."
Two-and-a-half years ago, Venezuela passed a law stipulating that the news media cannot put out reports that endanger national security or incite disruption of public order. The criminal code was also amended so that insulting authorities became a crime.
In television broadcasting, only Globovision, a 24-hour cable station seen in the Caracas area, and RCTV have remained hard-charging government opponents.
Tough, independent radio stations, such as Union Radio in Caracas, still broadcast. And influential newspapers such as El Universal and El Nacional continue to investigate the government, unraveling stories about bloated bureaucracy and official incompetence. The government says that independence is proof that the state is not trying to censor coverage.
