User:Spaceriqui/Project Crit Chavez

NPR Story

Between April 9 and 11, the government required all radio and TV stations to transmit numerous speeches by President Chávez, other government officials, and other programming favorable to the Government, even shutting the signals of the stations who refused, in an attempt to block coverage of the demonstrations and ensuing violence.

According to the International Press Institute:

''During the protests, the government pre-empted broadcasts from the local television stations Televén, Venevisión, Globovisión and Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV) for a message from the president. After the stations decided to split the screen in two and show their coverage of the general strike alongside Chávez’s address, the government – citing article 192 of the Telecommunications Act, which allows the authorities to requisition air-time on all TV and radio stations – shut them down altogether. ''

According to CPJ:

'' Events in April underscored the dangers for journalists covering the political crisis. On April 11, following three days of opposition protests, the government pre-empted broadcasts from local television stations for a message from President Chávez. During the address, private stations split the screen to continue covering the protests. Upset by this decision, Chávez ordered the stations closed and accused them of conspiring to overthrow his government.''

According to Reporters Without Borders:

''The government used its powers under article 192 of the telecommunications law to requisition all radio and TV stations to broadcast its own addresses about 30 times on 8 and 9 April for an average of 15 to 20 minutes each time. Vice-President Diosdado Cabello said this was necessary to "defend the right of Venezuelans to accurate news." The government used these powers during an opposition general strike that was getting extensive coverage by the privately-owned news media. To sidestep the requirement, the TV channels began during the day of 9 April to broadcast their own news at the same time as the government addresses by splitting their screens.'' ''The government ordered the suspension of broadcasting by the privately-owned TV channels at around 4 p.m. on 11 April, shortly after they refused to carry a speech by President Chávez exclusively and used split screens to broadcast live pictures of a major opposition demonstration being broken up at the same time as the president’s speech. President Chávez had demanded that the TV channels run his speech at precisely the moment the crackdown on the protest began. Chávez said the complete suspension of broadcasting was necessary because the TV stations were waging a "campaign of defamation" and were "inciting violence" and because of their "irresponsibility." Only the state-owned Venezolana de Televisión was allowed to continue terrestrial broadcasting. ''

Background
On April 9, 2002, the Confederación de Trabajadores de Venezuela, the country's largest trade-union federation, called for a two-day strike. Fedecámaras joined the strike/lockout and called on all of its affiliated member businesses to shut down for 48 hours.

The opposition general strike was getting extensive coverage by the privately-owned news media. During this time, the government used its powers under article 192 of the telecommunications law to requisition all radio and TV stations to broadcast numerous speeches by President Chávez, other government officials, and other programming favorable to the government. To sidestep this requirement, the television channels began to broadcast their own news at the same time as the government addresses by splitting their screens.

On April 11, 2002, after three days of demonstrations, anti-Chávez and pro-Chávez demonstrators clashed at the Miraflores Palace. The government ordered the suspension of broadcasting by the privately-owned TV channels Televén, Venevisión, Globovisión and RCTV at around 4 p.m., shortly after they refused to carry a speech by President Chávez exclusively and used split screens to broadcast live pictures the opposition demonstration being broken up at the same time as the president’s speech. President Chávez had demanded that the TV channels run his speech at precisely the moment the crackdown on the protest began. Only the state-owned Venezolana de Televisión was allowed to continue broadcasting.

After several shooting deaths, elements of the Armed Forces deposed President Hugo Chávez, whom they held responsible. Commander of the Army, Lucas Rincón Romero, reported in a nationwide broadcast that Chávez had resigned his presidency, a charge Chávez would later deny. Chávez was taken to a military base while Fedecámaras president Pedro Carmona was appointed as the transitional President of Venezuela. RCTV reported these actions as a victory for democracy and conducted friendly interviews with leaders of the movement.

During this period, RCTV and Venevisión were specifically thanked by at least one coup leader for their assistance. Footage of this statement appeared in the Irish documentary The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.

Subsequently the new government rapidly unraveled, after Carmona issued a decree that established a transitional government, dissolving the National Assembly and the Supreme Court, and suspending several Chávez appointees. While his own coalition wavered, large sectors of the armed forces moved into the Chávez camp, linked up with a mass popular uprising from the barrios, and restored Chávez to office. RCTV declined to report any of these events, preferring to broadcast reruns of Looney Tunes and the film Pretty Woman. According to the Chicago Tribune, RCTV and other broadcasters supported the failed coup "by directing marchers and then failing to inform the public that the coup had failed".

Chávez was restored to power on April 13 2002. Over the following months, and again in the wake of the 2002 lock-out and general strike, he stepped up his criticism of the country's private media companies, accusing them of having supported the coup. On his weekly television program Aló Presidente and in other forums, he regularly referred to the leading private media owners as "coup plotters", "fascists", and "the four horsemen of the apocalypse". He reminded them that their concessions operated at the pleasure of the state and that if they "went too far", their concessions could be canceled at any time.

Independent observers concur RCTV participated in and supported the coup of April 11, 2002. RCTV encouraged pro-coup protests, celebrated when Chávez was temporarily removed from power, and broadcast false reports that Chávez had renounced his presidency. In addition, when Chávez returned to power, RCTV did not report the news but rather broadcast entertainment programs such as the movie Pretty Woman. Columbia University professor John Dinges said that "What RCTV did simply can't be justified under any stretch of journalistic principles…. When a television channel simply fails to report, simply goes off the air during a period of national crisis, not because they're forced to, but simply because they don't agree with what's happening, you've lost your ability to defend what you do on journalistic principles." FAIR said that "by refusing to cover such a newsworthy story, the stations abandoned the public interest and violated the public trust that is seen in Venezuela (and in the U.S.) as a requirement for operating on the public airwaves."

Events leading up to the coup
The first hints of disturbance emerged when Venezuela Air Force Colonel Pedro Vicente Soto and National Reserve Captain Pedro Flores Rivero led a small rally protesting the Chávez government's allegedly undemocratic and authoritarian practices. They were sent home in uniform and placed under investigation by a joint civilian and military board.

On April 9, 2002, the Confederación de Trabajadores de Venezuela (CTV) – the country's largest trade-union federation, traditionally affiliated with the opposition Democratic Action (Acción Democrática) party, led by Carlos Ortega – called for a two-day strike. Fedecámaras joined the strike/lockout and called on all of its affiliated member businesses to shut down for 48 hours.

thumb|400px|right|Mass demonstration leading to the coup against ChavezTwo days later, amid rapidly escalating tensions, an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 people marched to the PDVSA headquarters in defense of its recently-dismissed management board. Unexpectedly, the organizers decided to re-route the march to Miraflores, the presidential palace, where a pro-Chávez demonstration was taking place. The march was re-routed without consultation with the Police, who legally had to approve the changed route, and in spite of protests from organisers from the pro-Chávez march who feared a confrontation. Twenty people were killed and more than 100 wounded, with victims on both sides.

There is no consensus as to who was responsible for the deaths on April 11, 2002, and this remains one of the most controversial issues in Venezuelan politics today. Several private television channels in Venezuela showed footage of people shooting from the pro-Chávez countermarch being held on Puente Llaguno, an overpass that crosses one of central Caracas's busiest avenues. These shooters were four pro-Chávez political activists identified as Rafael Cabrices, Richard Peñalver, Henry Atencio, and Nicolás Rivera. They were captured by the police and jailed for one year as they awaited trial, but charges were dropped before the trial began. Rafael Cabrices subsequently died from a heart attack on August 30 2005.

The anti-Chávez commercial stations repeatedly showed only a small part of the scene (see still shot), of pro-Chávez supporters firing, claiming they were firing at unarmed demonstrators. However an amateur cameraperson captured footage that revealed the gunmen were not firing at any demonstrators, since the street below was empty except for an armoured police vehicle which had previously been firing at the bridge. This footage was included in the documentary The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. Cabrices, Peñalver, Atencio and Rivera argue that they were, in fact, returning fire at unknown snipers firing towards them. A very thorough reconstruction of the events is the basis for the film Llaguno Bridge: Keys to a Massacre which vindicates this version of events.

Several times in the early afternoon, Chávez took to the airwaves in what is termed a cadena (from the Spanish verbal phrase, "estar en cadena"), or a commandeering of the collective public and private media airwaves to broadcast public announcements and addresses. Some of the broadcasts asked protesters to return to their homes, while others featured lengthy pre-recorded discourses led by the president. The last of these cadenas began just minutes after shots were fired at the crowds of protesters and continued throughout the massacre. The private television stations, defied the cadena by splitting the screen between the president's address and scenes of bloodshed. Chávez then ordered private outlets to be taken off the air in a forced blackout. The measure managed to block coverage of the crisis in Caracas only, as the private television stations continued to broadcast in the rest of the country and via satellite.