Private Media and Venezuelan Government to hold Dialogue
Tuesday, Jun 22, 2004
By: Gregory Wilpert – Venezuelanalysis.com
Caracas, June 22, 2004—Venezuela’s Vice-President José Vicente Rangel told the media yesterday that the government and the private media would hold talks in order to achieve a greater balance in the media’s reporting and to reduce tensions between the government and the private media.
Rangel said that “a phase of dialogue will begin because among the agreement we signed with the opposition last year, we indicated that an informational equilibrium is very important and the way we enter into an electoral process is an important condition…”
Also yesterday, the Carter Center’s representative in Venezuela, Francisco Diez, confirmed that the government-private media dialogue would be facilitated by the Carter Center. The objective would be to create a climate free of conflict and violence in the time remaining before the August 15 presidential recall referendum.
Diez also told the news agency Reuters that the negotiation expert William Ury would be coming to Venezuela this week to help with the discussions. William Ury is director of Harvard University’s Project on Negotiation, he is the author of several books on negotiation and conflict resolution, and has had experience mediating conflicts in many different parts of the world, such as Sudan and Ethiopia. Ury will first meet separately with the directors of various media outlets and then with the president, to determine an agenda for the discussions.
Ever since Hugo Chavez was first elected as president, Venezuela’s private media have taken a strong oppositional role, going so far as to displace the traditional opposition parties in the political system, according to many political scientists. During the April 2002 coup attempt the four major private television stations took an active role in supporting the failed coup.
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http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1295