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by Charles Hardy in Caracas / January 18th 2007

Who owns the air?

A battle is raging because Venezuela's President Chávez has announced that the license of the television channel RCTV will not be renewed when it expires in May of 2007.

For almost two months, in December 2002 and January 2003, the major television channels in Venezuela carried no advertisements.  They were participating in an attempt to overthrow the democratically elected government of Hugo Chavez.  The only spots seen during the twenty-four hour day of programming were anti-government and were repeated frequently.

One day, someone threw a rock through the window of RCTV, a TV channel whose origin dates back to 1953.  The images of that event were broadcast around the world as an example of government abuse of the private mass media, even though no government official had anything to do with the event.

But one mother asked me if the rock throwing was an act of serious violence.  She said that for weeks the commercial channels were entering her living room and telling her children that they should hate the president she had helped elect.  Had they not violated the sanctity of her home?  Was that not a greater act of violence?

Today a battle is raging in Venezuela because President Chávez announced on December 28 that the license of television channel, RCTV, would not be renewed when it expires in May of 2007.

Before Chávez was elected in 1998, his opponents were already saying that he would take away the freedom of the press.  Eight years later, that hasn’t happened.  There has never been such freedom of expression as that which exists today in Venezuela—a freedom that doesn’t exist even in the United States, whose constitution supposedly guarantees such.

But there is a difference between freedom of the mass media and abuse on the part of the mass media.  In Venezuela the mass media has been abusive of its freedom.

It was the mass media that urged people to march to the presidential palace in April 2002 to oust Chávez and that celebrated the overthrow of the government.  But no channel was taken off the air afterwards.  (The only time television or radio stations have been shut down since Chávez’s election in 1998 was when the opposition shut them down during the two days that they took power.)

11th April 2002

And after the people put Chávez back into power, what did the mother’s children see a few months later in December 2002 and January 2003?  One spot said, “There’s room for everyone in Venezuela—except you.”  It referred to Chávez and was sponsored by the “Democratic Coordination.”  Another showed a child pitching a baseball to an adult.  He strikes the batter out.  The man walks away from home plate.  Chávez is known for his like of baseball. Again, sponsored by the “Democratic Coordination.”  But no channel was taken off the air after the so-called “strike” against the government failed.

Recently, during the coverage of the presidential elections a few weeks ago, the RCTV studio was totally decorated in blue.  Chávez supporters tend to wear red; Rosales supporters, blue.  Was the studio blue chosen by chance?  I doubt it.  It would have been too much to expect RCTV to be impartial in their coverage, but blue, blue, blue seemed to me to be going too far on election day when no political campaigning was to take place.  But there was no censorship of the channel that day.  (I found it enjoyable seeing the sour look on the faces of the RCTV announcers when Chávez’s victory was announced.) 

Minister of Communication and Information William Lara has been very clear in saying that the channel is not being shut down and there is no reason for them to release any of their employees.  Very simply, their license to continue using the frequency for another twenty years is not being renewed.  They can go on producing programs and if they wish to continue as a channel they can broadcast on cable.  What is in question, is their right to continue to use the airwaves for their transmission.

This brings us to the question of who owns the air.  I think it is a mistake to see this as an action taken by isolated government officials in retaliation for the behavior of RCTV.  It is, rather, an action desired by a large part of the population who are tired of being bombarded by propaganda they are not interested in seeing or hearing, over airwaves that belong to them.  That is the crux of the matter:  the air belongs to the people and not to the wealthiest person who can buy the use of it.

To understand what is happening in Venezuela today, it is important that people throughout the world stop thinking in terms of “him,” meaning “Chávez,” and start thinking in terms of “them,” meaning “the people.”  It is the people who are saying, “The air belongs to all of us.”  Yes, we are dealing with a decision reserved to the government, but shouldn’t a government represent the will of the people?

Those who live outside of Venezuela and who have never been here have little right to criticize what is happening here, without having experienced what has been happening and what is going on.  Their time would be better used in asking what is the situation of the mass media within their own countries.  This would include the General Secretary of the Organization of American States, José Miguel Insulza.  As President Chávez mentioned in his inaugural address, Insulza wasn’t here when people were being killed on the streets, motivated to be there by the mass media.  He wasn’t here when Chávez was kidnapped for two days with the blessing of the media magnates.  The owners of the mass media here are no saints.  They have been picking a fight for years.  The battle has just begun and it is one that should prompt others throughout the world to ponder who owns their air also.

by Charles Hardy ©

Charles Hardy is author of a forthcoming book on Venezuela to be published in April by Curbstone Press http://www.curbstone.org.  Other essays by Hardy can be found on his personal blog http://www.cowboyincaracas.com.  You may write him at cowboyincaracas@yahoo.com.