Venezuela launches probe of TV channel's coverage

[Bacchus39]

Source: AP

..CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's telecommunications agency has begun another investigation of the TV channel Globovision, this time for its coverage of a violent standoff at a prison.

National Telecommunications Commission director Pedro Maldonado says officials are looking at whether the channel violated a broadcast law by showing images that could generate anxiety or disorder.

He announced the investigation Thursday and showed some of the channel's footage from mid-June after troops stormed two prisons trying to disarm inmates.

Globovision takes a stridently critical stance of the government, and has been the subject of several government probes on such themes as its coverage of protests, an earthquake and remarks about President Hugo Chavez.
...

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/venezuela-launches-probe-tv-channels-coverage-214540260.html

[jefferson_dem]

1. Typical anti-free-press thuggery by the Chavez regime.

They've been after Globovision and other "independent" outlets for years. Sickening.

[Arctic Dave]

4. Hahahahaha. Yeah, you did the right thing by putting it in quotes.

I'm sure you are heading to Tennessee to protest them for doing the same thing with their "thuggery".

[UTUSN]

2. K&R #2 (until the crowd gets here) n/t

[EFerrari]

3. Good! K&R

[rabs]

5. More than good. Excellent. Kick. n/t

[EFerrari]

6. Venezuela no se deja. Venezuela doesn't take anything lying down.

And for that reason, has my respect. It's a shame we don't stand up to the propaganda as well. We will regret it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1391441

[Bacchus39]

7. Venezuela: the cure for anxiety

that prison situation really has worked out well. no disorder there.

p.s. lol

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

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[Bacchus39]

9. perfectly on topic, Venezuela law says broadcasting information that can cause anxiety and disorder

is illegal.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[hack89]

12. Have to hide the truth from the people? Why is that good?

are the people of Venezuela so delicate that the nanny state has to protected them from being upset?


Would you settle for this in America?

[jefferson_dem]

14. 'Cause the benevolent dictator knows best and shall not be questionned....

by some pesky non-state controlled media mouthpiece.

Besides...Hugo mocked Bush at the UN. That "sulfur" thing was such a hoot!

[Bacchus39]

19. right answer. and because he spouts anti-American rhetoric in general n/t

s

[joshcryer]

18. As I said before, the law has barely been enforced, it's a slippery slope.

They did arrest some twitter users over it (though they were manipulating markets, so that's more reasonable). They've yet to take it to its obvious ends, though.

It's effectively Venezuela's Patriot Act.

[joshcryer]

10. They've been rather reluctant to enforce this law, because of the implications.

It could be due to Chavez's absence that the hardliners are pressing to make the law have meat.

[hack89]

11. I can understand the government's distress

how pleased would you be to learn that your elected officials let gangs run the prisons?

[eridani]

13. That's the case in US prisons, and I'm not pleased at all n/t

[hack89]

20. So armed gangs have absolute control of US prisons?

I didn't know that.

[eridani]

22. Yes.

http://www.ngcrc.com/corr2006.html

See the above analysis of gangs in prison. Rape is the norm in men's prisons.

[hack89]

24. In Venezuela the guards don't even enter the prison

Like many prisons in Venezuela and across Latin America, El Rodeo is run by the prisoners themselves while guards simply keep the perimeter secure. Complex gang networks grow and, thanks to the corruption of prison guards and officials, are fed drugs and weapons. Heavy arms like AK-47 assault rifles are known to be circulating among El Rodeo prisoners, while YouTube videos of life inside even before June 12 show decapitations and gruesome disembowlments.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2079611,00.html#ixzz1QuebT5HT

And take a look at their prison death rate

While Venezuela’s per capital prison rate is lower than some in the region, violent clashes are commonplace; with figures from an Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) hearing that refer to 476 dead and 967 wounded in 2010 alone. A year earlier, the Venezuelan Prison Observatory (OVP) published their 2009 report placing the total number of prisoners killed and wounded that year at 366 and 635, respectively. While these figures are troubling, they can be considered an improvement if compared to prison violence in 2008 (422 dead, 854 wounded) and 2007 (498 dead, 1,023 wounded).

http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/6289

[eridani]

25. And how has this changed since 1998? n/t

[joshcryer]

26. Prison populations double, murder rate way up.

What, you expected differently?



:shrug:

[hack89]

27. Huge spike in violent crime

that's why the prisons are so crowded and violent.

[DirkGently]

15. Always surprised to see people here willing to support anti-democratic behavior from Chavez.

[joshcryer]

17. They want similar laws here.

Which is why I am an anti-authoritarian leftist and not "just" a leftist.

[hack89]

21. Anti-free speech laws have suprising support in America

so it doesn't surprise me at all.

[FLPanhandle]

23. Hypocrites can always rationalize their behavior

Chavez groupies are especially hypocritical.