Venezuela's Chavez Moves to Tighten Control Over Private Media

By: Darcy Crowe at darcy.crowe@dowjones.com - CARACAS - President Hugo Chavez's administration is moving to tighten its grip over Venezuela's media industry by expanding its oversight of private broadcasters, pledging to take off the air 154 FM radio stations and threatening to shut down cable-television providers. It's the latest step in Mr. Chavez's decade-long battle with the country's private media that has already cost one of the country's most popular television networks its broadcasting license and could take Venezuela's only nationwide private 24-hour news channel, which is critical of the president, off the airwaves. Public Works Minister Diosdado Cabello, who is also head of the government's broadcasting regulator, announced Thursday the government's new blueprint for the media industry. The new regulations will bring under government oversight private Venezuelan channels that only broadcast through private cable providers. The new law is sure to hit the RCTV network, which locked horns with Mr. Chavez and saw its broadcasting license expire without renewal in 2007. Since then, RCTV has survived through cable broadcasts. Now RCTV, like other cable channels with 70% or more locally produced programming, will likely be required to carry Mr. Chavez's nationwide TV appearances, just like other channels and radio stations. Mr. Cabello, one of Mr. Chavez's top aides, also targeted cable providers, warning that the government would seize them if they interfere with broadcasts by state-run news channels. Mr. Cabello accused some of the cable systems of boycotting the state news network and Telesur, a regional news channel financed by Venezuela. "The national government, through the ministry, will take over these companies" if the broadcasts by these channels are interrupted, Mr. Cabello said. Telesur has become a key public and foreign relations tool for Mr. Chavez: the state-run news channel broadcasts throughout the region with a decisive leftist tilt. The government will also take off the air 154 FM radio stations for failing to submit the required paperwork to keep the broadcasting licenses up to date. Mr. Cabello's plans to "democratize" the airwaves involve turning over the frequencies to community groups that back Mr. Chavez. A trade group representing the broadcasting industry said that taking the stations off of the air was "an extreme and disproportionate" response to any bureaucratic problems they may be facing with the regulatory body. They labeled the measure as a "direct attack on freedom of expression." Another media outlet that is being targeted by the government is the Globovision news channel, the last television network over public airwaves that is still openly critical of the government. The Chavez administration accuses Globovision of "media terrorism," and is mounting a legal offensive against the network to revoke its license before it expires in 2015. "The country can't tolerate that channel any longer," Mr. Chavez said recently during a nationwide broadcast. "It's a matter of public health," he explained. "That channel poisons the mind."