Talk:Media representation of Hugo Chávez

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Articles for deletion This article was nominated for deletion on 21 May 2006. The result of the discussion was keep.

I question the POV of this article. It seems mostly anti-Chavez, rather than "fair and balanced."

Contents

[edit] no links?

What do you think about adding a sample of ten links to media coverage about chavez? Ideally group the references into camps or select representative points of view. I assume that class struggle would be the main division. {rich vs poor) I found this article (href=http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=52184) to be interesting. It contains a video link and a rebuttal to the video. A reference to The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (documentary) I think would be something you'd want to have here. (This section seems to be so well planned out that I hesitate to "jump in".) (MartinGugino 07:34, 31 March 2006 (UTC))

[edit] Outside Venezuela

Why is this article limited to media representation in Venezuela only? It could be profitably expanded. Self-Described Seabhcán 17:58, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Sources

This article really needs some sources. I'll tag the sections in due course.--Zleitzen 23:58, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

The whole thing is seriously neglected, and needs a major expansion. There is volumes of literature on the topic, and I just don't have time to get to all of it. It would be nice if some of the many other editors would construct rather than deconstruct :-) Sandy 01:01, 29 August 2006 (UTC)
I'll try and concentrate on this article over time. As it has some interest to me! --Zleitzen 01:03, 29 August 2006 (UTC)
OK, I'll go through my sources and post anything here that might help you. I'm not good at using El Universal's Spanish search engine, though. Sandy 01:09, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Some sources

Some items to help in your research:

Chavez controlled the air waves — even before he passed laws which gave him even more control — through cadenas; he took over the airwaves far more than any other president, and used the two government-owned stations as his own to a level never before seen in Venezuela, even before he launched the new stations to spread his "revolution". His supporters say the media was against him, but he had more control over the airwaves than Venevision, et al. through cadenas and the government media. Need sources on the cadenas, I know he had a record number.

Absurd, hours long ramblings every week on Alo Presidente, contributing to his control of air waves. This is a factor that needs to be discussed: need sources.

He has passed a series of laws which restrict criticism of him in particular and freedom of the media in general. Notice that none of the El Universal articles have reporter bylines. If you follow El Universal daily, knowing that they can't truly report and criticize, you can get a sense of the extent of the issue. Their articles are exceedingly vague, short, and you have to read between the lines or wait for the international media to report.

Naim points out that the international media wsn't paying attention (that was my sense, having recently left Venezuela); they didn't start paying attention until around the end of 2004, 2005. Now, of course, Chávez commands the media's attention daily. Juan Forero, of the NYT, was reporting, as was the BBC, and their reporting was relatively pro-Chavez early on. (During the largest protests in Venezuela's history — against Chavez, and which you can see pictures of throughout these articles — the Times ran a picture with a Forero story of *one* protestor with a flag in front of a building.) I don't understand the statements that existed in older versions of these articles about international media being against Chávez, but they were unsourced opinion.

On the other hand, Chavez has had a very effective PR machine, both domestically and abroad. I've seen numerous references to the amount he spends on US PR, would have to find sources.

[edit] General sources

There are two sources that may help you locate reliable sources: VCrisis.com on the pro-democracy side, and as I've learned from Flanker, Venezuelanalysis on the pro-Chávez side. Neither are reliable sources, but searching through their content might point you towards reliable sources. For example, VCrisis carries a reprint of an old Naim article, which gives a very good overview of the factors that led to Chavez (material that is missing in the Chavez articles) [1].

ElUniversal.com has a search engine in English and in Spanish, but I don't know the names in Spanish of the laws passed by Chavez, so I haven't searched on them.

Some of what I have at hand:

Page 9 of the Noriego Senate testimony discusses laws restricting TV stations: [2]

Amnesty International, see Freedom of expression: [3]

Human Rights Watch, Senate testimony: [4]

HRW has numerous articles about manipulation of the press, curbs on freedom of expression, and the media laws: [5]

The Shifter article is an overview: [6] It discusses the changes in laws on page 48. Foreign Policy has another overview, which discusses the media laws: [7]

Thor Halvorssen's Chavez vs. the Media: [8]

Another Halvorssen article, and responses to Halvorssen from the liberal Larry Birns and Mark Weisbrot, of cepr.net (Weisbrot and Birns are consistent Chávez defenders, Halvorssen is a critic.) [9] I have not been able to use any of the liberal rebuttal material there, because it is a letter to the editor, rather than hard news, but it will give you some leads for research.

At one point, Chavez's currency controls caused newspapers to run low on newsprint. That was a Toothaker, Christopher, Associated Press report from March 19, 2003: I don't have an online copy. The opening sentence is "President Hugo Chavez is using currency controls to limit press freedom by denying Venezuelan newspapers the dollars needed to import newsprint, a newspaper director said Wednesday. ... The government published a list this week of 6,000 imported items, such as medicine and food, that will be eligible for private dollar purchases at a date to be announced. Newsprint is not on the list, although the government says it may be in the future."

Sandy 02:20, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Media reports

Sandy 03:20, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Abuse of cadenas

Sandy 03:50, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

An overview from Veneconomy (PDF), highly-respected economic group in Venezuela. Sandy 13:25, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

Chavez and Mercosur on media controls: Mercosur rejects Venezuelan proposal on media. Sandy 00:17, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

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