Employees: Last anti-Chavez TV station to be sold

[Bacchus4.0]

http://news.yahoo.com/employees-last-anti-chavez-tv-201959774.html

..CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Employees of the last remaining opposition television channel in Venezuela say it is being sold to a businessman friendly to the government.

They say Globovision's editorial line is sure to change, and many sobbed Monday when informed of the sale, certain some would lose their jobs.

The employees said the sale would occur after April 14 elections, which Hugo Chavez's hand-picked successor is favored to win.

One employee present at a meeting convened by Globovision President Guillermo Zuluaga quoted him as saying the buyer is Juan Domingo Cordero, president of the insurance company La Vitalicia.

The employee says Cordero is friendly with officials such as National Assembly speaker Diosdado Cabello.

[David__77]

1. Oh but were it Fox News here...

...then, I would celebrate.

[joshcryer]

7. I wouldn't classify them as Fox News level.

They're more CNN level, imo. Just go to their site and read their stories, they're not that damn controversial or propagandistic.

But they are the only over the air TV station that has reporters which are present at opposition rallies and which cover opposition speeches. Without them the opposition has no over the air TV voice.

Whenever the President would give a big speech and Fox News wouldn't cover it, or whenever the Democrat would give a speech and Fox News would tune into something banal instead, we're rightly peeved at them for ignoring the event. That's what the chavista owned or boligarch controlled TV stations do.

[David__77]

8. I'm not arguing that they're like Fox News.

But I will always cheer the collapse of my opponents' informational outlets. I don't know this entity's editorial line. Selfishly, I wish it were Fox collapsing instead.

[joshcryer]

11. Fair enough.

One thing I can say you're consistent.

I have mixed feelings on that one. It'd be nice to see Fox News go under, Clear Channel, and the like. It's hard for me to swallow the idea of them needing to exist. I'd rather the markets or the people oust them through disinterest as opposed to the government, though. In that vein let them run their propaganda endlessly for all I care.

[David__77]

12. I can agree with that.

People have agency and I'd prefer that they exercise it and remold society, rather than be passive subjects. Sadly, I think we're a few centuries away from that, on the optimistic side. I hope for economic development, minimization of polarization, and hopefully peace to bide the time.

[Catherina]

2. Premature wailing

Venevisión, owned and presided over by Venezuelan billionaire Gustavo Cisneros, is still around though ostensibly trying to appear neutral.

One of two Venezuelan billionaires, Cisneros was born into a rich family that parlayed their sole distributorship of Pepsi into a fortune that allowed them to control a sizeable chunk of all Latin American media. The subsequent capital flight, based on "diversification" and moving 80% of the family investments outside of Venezuela, resulted in Venezuela's crawling to the blood-suckers at the International Monetary Fund for help. One could point out that the personal enrichment of Cisneros was one direct cause of Hugo Chavez's later rise to power.

Cisneros-owned Venezuelan TV network Venevision controlled coverage of the US-backed 2002 coup on the populist Chavez. Some claim Cisneros was one of the principal backers of the coup- his family being longtime representatives of US interests. It certainly doesn't help Cisneros' case that he ordered a ban on footage of the resulting counter-coup consisting of tens of thousands of the citizenry seeking to reinstate Chavez. Cisneros' network instead aired classic cartoons and golden age movies. The US State Department's chief Latin America handler (and one-time Ambassador to Venezuela) Otto J. Reich later confirmed that during the 2 day coup he had spoken with Cisneros "two or three times".

Cisneros married into a family that owned another Venezuelan media empire. He and his wife Patty Phelps were overnight guests of Ronald Reagan at the White House, around the same time US Customs agents confiscated 50 grams of cocaine from a Cisneros family airplane. US Customs declined to file charges for some reason.

As one of the 100 richest people in the world, Cisneros is a classic case of a big fish in a small pond, causing comparisons such as "the Rupert Murdoch or Silvio Berlusconi of Venezuela". Speaking of fishing (and of cocaine and coups), Cisneros is a sometimes-fishing companion of former US president George H.W. Bush.

Member of the Board of Barrick Gold (2003-)
Member of the Board of Univision (2003-07?)
Council on Foreign Relations International Advisory Board
Americas Society International Advisor

http://www.nndb.com/people/766/000135361/

All this wailing about the demise of "last anti-Chavez TV station" is a bit premature. Televen is still around too and only time will tell if it keeps its 2004 promise to neutrality after its disgraceful performance during the 2002 coup

[Bacchus4.0]

3. they changed their programming to compply with the Chavista guidelines n/t

s

[Catherina]

4. A few cosmetic changes does not reforms make n/t

[Bacchus4.0]

5. looks like the went Chavista

Lately, Venevisión has been criticized by the Venezuelan opposition and Anti-Chávez groups. Since the Presidential election in 2006, Venevisión has quieted its opposition to Chávez, similar to rival Televen after the 2004 recall referendum. For the presidential election, Venevision devoted 84% of its coverage to Chavez's positions, and only 16% to the opposition.[1] Many in the opposition and the other anti-Chávez TV networks, RCTV and Globovisión, saw it as a betrayal, and accused Venevisión to submitting to Chávez. The criticism of Venevisión by the opposition increased during the closure of RCTV by the Chávez government. RCTV was the most watched channel in Venezuela, and Venevisión was second. Many viewed Venevision of secretly supporting the closure since it would benefit itself. Cisneros, however, said he expected only around a 5% increase in advertising revenue, after accounting for inflation.[1]
----------------------------

Globovision was not going to receive a digital broadcasting license from the government so they were doomed. JoshCryer and Marks are Venezuelan and/or live there so they can probably fill in more details.

[joshcryer]

6. I'm not Venezuelan, I just follow it closely.

And that's another poster who has me on ignore, so it's pointless. The ignorance of fly by nighters about Venezuelan politics is amusing though.

With Globovision gone there will be no platform for any opposition to have a voice on TV.

That is a big deal.

Think about that for a minute. What if our media never allowed Democrats to speak? They already downplay third parties. But what if there existed no platform where the Democrats could get a voice?

That's what the neo-Trots/Stalinists want. They want that to actually be a reality. It's insanity.

Anyone who decried the US media not allowing, eg, a third party candidate at Presidential debates or who decried the US media not covering speeches by third party candidates is a hypocrite if they are supportive of the media being owned completely by chavistas in Venezuela.

[David__77]

9. "Chavistas" is not a homogeneous group.

In fact, it's a wide, wide ideological array - very eclectic. As far removed as "Stalinists" and "neo-Trots," which is pretty far indeed.

[joshcryer]

10. I was speaking of Chavista supporters.

When someone says "they're censoring X" or "the opposition ballot was messed with" they actually relish things like that. "Opposition supporters got murdered." "At least they didn't get car bombed."

[David__77]

13. I have mixed feelings about Chavez.

I know that you have a negative assessment. He was infected with the principle of jefetura - the singularity of leadership, leadership as an end in itself. He did not pay proper attention to consolidating the economics foundations. That said, I appreciate greatly his resounding opposition to the "TINA" ("there is no alternative&quot forces - those who proclaim that the neoliberal model is the best model, forever. The neoliberal forces are just as unimaginative and dogmatic as the worst, most wooden Brezhnevite ideologue of yesteryear.

From my view, which is not so important, his merits outweight his demerits.

[joshcryer]

14. "his merits outweight his demerits"

That goes without saying.

I only inject criticism into the conversation because 1) it's practically non-existant on DU except for a handful of posters, all of whom are maligned as right wingers and 2) the outrage when people get it just so wrong on Chavez is delicious and entertaining.

[David__77]

15. I believe that most posters who care to express a view on Chavez have an opposition standpoint.

It was not always so. When Bush was president, Chavez was viewed more favorably on this board.