Chávez Looks at His Critics in the Media and Sees the Enemy

CHÁVEZ LOOKS AT HIS CRITICS IN THE MEDIA AND SEES THE ENEMY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Simon Romero]
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is talking tough about both protestors and any media organizations that oppose him. Analysts say such statements reflect a savvy reading of Venezuela’s polarized politics that has enabled him to withstand acute challenges to his government. On Sunday, the government closed the dissident station, Radio Caracas Televisión, or RCTV, describing the action as a regulatory decision based on the network’s support for a brief coup in 2002. Opponents say the decision is evidence that Mr. Chávez’s definition of the enemy has been enlarged to include news media outlets that are critical of his government. Otherwise, say detractors like Teodoro Petkoff, the editor of the small opposition newspaper Tal Cual, Mr. Chávez would have also decided not to renew the licenses of Venevisión and Televen, networks whose coverage similarly supported the 48-hour coup in 2002. Those networks have become far less critical of Mr. Chávez, while RCTV has maintained its criticism. Indeed, watching television here this week has become a lesson in how Mr. Chávez is extending his control beyond political institutions to include the broadcast media. It is a marked shift from the early years of his presidency, when he faced vitriolic criticism from most news organizations, which were owned by the country’s moneyed elite. With Chávez loyalists controlling the National Assembly, the Supreme Court and the federal bureaucracy, and with RCTV off the air, coverage of the protests by every television broadcaster except a small cable news network, Globovisión, fell into ideological step with the coverage by Mr. Chávez’s expanding state-controlled broadcasting interests.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/01/world/americas/01venez.html
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