IAB warns about situation facing the media in Venezuela

[spanza]

The situation facing freedom of expression in Venezuela was termed the "most serious" in Latin America by the 39th General Assembly of the International Association of Broadcasting (IAB), which was held in Brasilia from September 28 through October 1


Politics
September 30

IAB meets with Lula; reports harassment of Venezuelan media
Luis Pardo, the president of the International Association of Broadcasting (IAB), and members of the IAB board, met privately on Monday, September 28 with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and voiced their concern about the situation faced by the press in Venezuela.

"We condemned the coup in Honduras. We categorically reject any threat against freedom of expression. We want the countries that have expressed criticism against the situation in Honduras also to condemn what is happening in Venezuela and other countries where the government violates the Constitution and freedom," said the Chilean president of IAB to Lula, according to the website Imprensa de Brasil.

Luis Pardo added that Venezuela is the country where there are more violations of freedom of expression, and there is "permanent persecution against those who dissent from the government."

October 1

IAB urges Venezuelan authorities to meet commitments
On Wednesday, September 30 during the 39th General Assembly of the International Association of Broadcasting (IAB), in Brasilia, the Venezuelan delegation urged both the international community and the hemispheric organization to request Hugo Chávez's government to meet its duties.

Oswaldo Quintana, an adviser of the Venezuelan Chamber of the Radio and TV Broadcasting Industry and legal representative of private TV channel Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV), as well as Nelson Belfort, the president of the Chamber, took the floor to present the case of Venezuela.

Quintana told reporters that they suggested calling for the international community to "demand the Venezuelan government to meet with its obligations under the Organization of American States (OAS), the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Democratic Charter."

October 2

IAB: Time is running out for free press in Venezuela
The situation facing freedom of expression in Venezuela was termed the "most serious" in Latin America by the 39th General Assembly of the International Association of Broadcasting (IAB), which was held in Brasilia from September 28 through October 1.

The broadcasters association expressed "solidarity" for the Venezuelan media and urged the international community to "take urgent action," because "time is running out to save free press" in Venezuela.

The IAB also condemned threats and harassment of the private TV news network Globovisión; it rejected the closure of private TV channel RCTV and asked the government to restore the open signal of the channel and return of its equipments.

The association also asked Venezuela to meet international obligations, particularly those related to the Inter-American Democratic Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights.


http://english.eluniversal.com/2009/10/02/en_ing_esp_iab-warns-about-situ_02A2831011.shtml

[Downwinder]

1. An obviously impartial group.

Here is their official statement on Honduras. " "
Sorry, I couldn't find one.

[Judi Lynn]

3. You're not going to believe who is on their "key AIB staff!" GOP dirty operator, Roger Stone.

Remember that scum?

Memory refresher:

Roger Stone

Roger Stone
Occupation Political consultant, Republican activist
Nationality American
Subjects Politics of the United States

Official website
Roger Stone is an American political consultant <1> and lobbyist who specializes in opposition research for the Republican National Committee in the United States.<2>

In 1990, The New York Times described him as a "renowned infighter"<3> and during the 2004 United States Presidential Campaign, CBS News described Stone as a "veteran Republican strategist" <4>. His own view of himself is as "a GOP hitman."<5>

Career, 1980-1992
Stone went on to serve as chief strategist for Governor Tom Kean's campaign for Governor of New Jersey in 1981 and for his re-election campaign in 1985.<7>

Stone, the "keeper of the Nixon flame",<11>, was an adviser to the former President in his post-presidential years, serving as "Nixon's man in Washington".<12> Stone was a protégé of former Connecticut Governor John Davis Lodge, who introduced the young Stone to then former Vice President Nixon in 1967.<13>

Jon Sears recruited Stone to work in Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign in 1980 and 1984, in which he served as Eastern Regional Political Director. Stone said that former McCarthyisyt Roy Cohn helped him arrange for John B. Anderson to get the nomination of the Liberal Party of New York, a move that would help split the opposition to Reagan in the state. Stone said Cohn gave him a suitcase that Stone avoided opening and, as instructed by Cohn, dropped it off at the office of a lawyer influential in Liberal Party circles. Reagan carried the state with 46 percent of the vote. Speaking after the statute of limitations for bribery had expired, Stone later said, "I paid his law firm. Legal fees. I don't know what he did for the money, but whatever it was, the Liberal party reached its right conclusion out of a matter of principle."<2>

Stone's 30th birthday party was given at the "21" Club by Roy Cohn.<9>

With partners Charlie Black and Paul Manafort, he formed Black, Manafort, and Stone<14><15>, a political consulting firm, described as "instrumental in the success of Ronald Reagan's 1984 campaign." Republican political strategist Lee Atwater later joined the firm.

According to Time, in George H. W. Bush's 1988 presidential campaign, Stone was involved with the controversial Willie Horton advertisements targeted against Democratic opponent Michael Dukakis.<16> Stone has said that he urged Republican political strategist Lee Atwater not to include Horton in the ad.<7>Stone denied making or distributing the advertisement, and said that was Atwater's doing.<7>

Life and career, 1993-2003
Stone and his wife Ann Stone divorced in 1991, shortly after they helped start Republicans for Choice.

In 1995, Stone was the president of Republican Senator Arlen Specter's campaign for the 1996 Republican Presidential nomination. <17> Specter withdrew early in the campaign season with less than two percent support.

Stone was for many years a lobbyist for Donald Trump on behalf of his casino business <18> and was also involved in opposing expanded casino gambling in New York State, a position that brought him into conflict with Governor George Pataki.<19>

In 1996, Stone resigned from a post as a volunteer spokesman in Robert Dole's campaign for president after The National Enquirer wrote that Stone had placed ads and pictures in racy publications and a website seeking sexual partners for himself and his second wife, Nydia. Stone denied the report.<9><8> On the Good Morning America program he said: "An exhaustive investigation now indicates that a domestic employee who I discharged for substance abuse on the second time that we learned that he had a drug problem is the perpetrator who had access to my home, access to my computer, access to my password, access to my postage meter, access to my post-office box key."<8> Stone has since admitted that the ads were authentic.<7>

Stone claimed Secretary of State James Baker recruited him to oversee the Miami-Dade County recount in the disputed 2000 Presidential election.<7> Stone has been credited with setting up street demonstrations in Florida to protest the recounts held after the 2000 presidential election; he was also accused of organizing the so-called "Brooks Brothers riot" where Republican congressional staff members protested outside an office where ballots were being recounted, a claim Stone denies.<20>

In 2002, Stone was associated with the campaign of businessman Thomas Golisano for Governor of New York State<19>.

2004 elections
During the 2004 US Presidential campaign, Al Sharpton responded to accusations that Stone was working on his campaign, stating "I've been talking to Roger Stone for a long time. That doesn't mean that he's calling the shots for me. Don't forget that Bill Clinton was doing more than talking to Dick Morris" <21> Critics suggested that Stone was only working with Sharpton as a way to undermine the Democratic Party's chances of winning the election. Sharpton denies that Stone had any influence over his campaign.<22>

In the spring and summer of 2004, two 527 groups associated with Stone sent out mailings attacking Winston-Salem City Councilman Vernon Robinson during the primary race. Other mailings from one of the 527 groups promoted then-State Senator Virginia Foxx, who ultimately won the race.

In this election, a blogger accused Stone of responsibility for the "Kerry-Specter" campaign materials that were circulated in Pennsylvania. <23> Such signs were considered controversial because they were seen as an effort to get Democrats who supported Kerry to vote for then Republican Senator Arlen Specter in heavily Democratic Philadelphia.

Career since 2004
In 2007 Stone, a top adviser at the time to Joseph Bruno (the majority leader of the New York State Senate), was forced to resign by Bruno after allegations that Stone had threatened then gubernatorial candidate Eliot Spitzer.<20> Stone was accused on an episode of Hardball with Chris Matthews on August 22, 2007 of being the voice on an expletive-laden voicemail threatening Bernard Spitzer, father of Eliot, with subpoenas.<24><25> Stone has consistently denied the reports. Thereafter, however, he resigned from his position as a consultant to the New York State Senate Republican Campaign Committee, at Bruno's request.<20>

In January 2008, Stone founded Citizens United Not Timid, an anti–Hillary Clinton 527 group with an intentionally obscene acronym. <26><27>

Style and opinions
Stone's Rules
According to a 2007 magazine profile of Stone by Matt Labash, the consultant "often sets his pronouncements off with the utterance 'Stone's Rules', signifying listeners that one of his shot-glass commandments is coming down, a pithy dictate uttered with the unbending certitude one usually associates with the Book of Deuteronomy." Stone's Rules can be about fashion, food or strategy: "Unless you can fake sincerity, you'll get nowhere in this business." "Politics with me isn't theater. It's performance art. Sometimes, for its own sake." "Always praise 'em before you hit 'em." "Admit nothing, deny everything, launch counterattack."<2>

Examples:

"Unless you can fake sincerity, you'll get nowhere in this business." (one of Stone's favorites)<2>
"Politics with me isn't theater. It's performance art. Sometimes, for its own sake."<2>
"Don't order fish at a steakhouse,"<2>
"White shirt + tan face = confidence,"<2>
"Undertakers and chauffeurs are the only people who should be allowed by law to wear black suits."<2>
"Hit it from every angle. Open multiple fronts on your enemy. He must be confused, and feel besieged on every side."<2>
"Always praise 'em before you hit 'em."<2>
"Be bold. The more you tell, the more you sell." (attributed to advertising guru David Ogilvy)<2>
"Losers don't legislate." (from Richard Nixon)<2>
"Admit nothing, deny everything, launch counterattack." ("Often called the Three Corollaries", Stone says of this rule.)<2>
"Nobody ever built a statue to a committee."<2>
"Avoid obviousness."<2>
"Never do anything till you're ready to do it."<2>
"Look good = feel good."<2>
"Always keep the advantage."<2>
Personal style and habits
Stone has long been noted for his "flamboyant personal style" as one New York Times article noted, and Stone has been called "flamboyant" in Newsday and The New York Observer.<28>

The notability of his personal style has extended to his fashion choices. As another article from The New York Times put it, he "has a reputation for sartorial elegance". (The same New York Times article also reported that when Stone stopped wearing socks during "Ronald Reagan's 1980 Presidential campaign, Nancy Reagan fastidiously brought this to her husband's attention.")<29> His flashy style partly involves good food and good clothes. "A dandy by disposition who boasts of having not bought off-the-rack since he was 17 ... taught reporters how to achieve perfect double-dimples underneath their tie knots", according to Labash.<2> Washington journalist Victor Gold has noted Stone's reputation as "one of the capital's smartest dressers".<30>

His longtime tailor is Alan Flusser, author of Style and the Man. A Flusser associate has said Stone knows enough about men's clothing to work in Flusser's establishment. As of 2007, Stone declared single-vent jackets the sign of a "heathen" and pleated-waist pants an atrocity: "Pants today are like a little church in the valley — no ballroom". Stone says he owns 100 silver-colored neckties and has 100 suits in storage. He despises cowboy boots worn with suits. Fashion stories have been written about him in GQ<2> and Penthouse.

As of 1999, according to a New York Times article that year, "e always wears suspenders, but never red ones. 'People with blond hair do not look good in red,' he said. 'And you shouldn't call them suspenders. It's more accurate to call them braces.'" At that time he was sporting a "silver watch fob, spread-collar shirt and wide-striped double-breasted suit tailored to accentuate his bodybuilder's silhouette". He had only started wearing blue jeans when he met his second wife, he said. He credited his youthful good looks to "decades of following a regimen of Chinese herbs, breathing therapies, tai chi and acupuncture," according to the Times.<9> Others have noted that he wears a diamond pinkie ring in the shape of a horseshoe, in 2007 he had Richard Nixon's face tattooed on his back,<2> he owned five Jaguars as of 2007, and he also owns five Yorkshire Terriers.<2> He has said of himself: "I like English tailoring, I like Italian shoes. I like French wine," he told a reporter for Newsday. "I like vodka martinis with an olive, please. I like to keep physically fit."<31> His office in Florida has been described as a "Hall of Nixonia" with framed pictures, posters and letters associated with Richard Nixon. Exceptions are a poster of a stripper and a photo of him standing by a pool with porn star Nina Hartley, both in bikinis.<2>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Stone

~~~~~~~~~~
About Us: Key AIB staff

Simon Spanswick
Gunda Cannon
Roger Stone
Alison Seary

http://www.aib.org.uk/newsNodes.asp?node_id=27,112

http://archive.southcoasttoday.com.nyud.net:8090/daily/09-96/09-13-96/advisor.jpg

Roger Stone

Dole aide denies sex allegations
By The Associated Press
NEW YORK -- Now it's the Republicans' turn to see one of their own in a tabloid sex tale.
Roger Stone, a volunteer adviser with Bob Dole's presidential campaign and onetime chairman for Sen. Arlen Specter's short-lived White House bid, yesterday denied allegations that he visited a sex club with his wife and placed X-rated ads on the Internet and in magazines.
The allegations appear in the New York Post, which cited upcoming editions of the supermarket tabloids National Enquirer and Star.
"While it is my instinct not to respond to specific allegations against my wife and me, I feel compelled to do so simply by saying that for several years we have been aware of various advertisements placed in publications and on the Internet by a sick and disgruntled individual," Mr. Stone said.
He said he believed these actions grew out of his "acrimonious divorce five years ago. We have been aggressive in our efforts to remove this material from various publications and the Internet when we have become aware of them," he said.
The tabloids claim that Mr. Stone and his wife, Nydia, placed messages on an X-rated Internet site and ads in sex magazines seeking male and female partners. They said photographs of a shirtless Stone and his wife in a sexy black lingerie also appeared in one magazine.
Said Mr. Stone: "The tabloids offer a published photo of me in an amateur bodybuilding contest in which I competed three years ago and a decade-old photo of my wife from her professional modeling career.
"We deny this vile caricature that is being peddled to destroy our lives."
The Post quoted Mr. Stone as conceding that the bills for the postings on the Internet site were paid for with his credit card. He told the newspaper the post office box number listed on the Internet site belonged to him, but had been improperly obtained.
In June, Mr. Stone was named to the Dole campaign's "Clinton Accountability Team" of surrogates to help make Mr. Dole's case against the Democratic incumbent.
The allegations come two weeks after Dick Morris, an adviser to President Clinton, was forced to resign amid tabloid accusations that he divulged presidential secrets to a prostitute.

http://archive.southcoasttoday.com/daily/09-96/09-13-96/a04wn026.htm

You may recall he was also suspected of having been involved, with his South Florida right-wing Cuban "exile" wife, Nydia, in the scam against Dan Rather at CBS regarding the tampered letter he was given which led directly to his firing.



~~~~~~~~~~
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BROADCASTING (IAB)

Countries of presence

Europe and North America

ITALY
SPAIN
SWITZERLAND
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
VATICAN

Latin America and the Caribbeans

ARGENTINA
BRAZIL
CHILE
COLOMBIA
COSTA RICA
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
ECUADOR
EL SALVADOR
GUATEMALA
HONDURAS
MEXICO
NICARAGUA
PANAMA
PARAGUAY
PERU
URUGUAY
VENEZUELA

http://erc.unesco.org/ong/en/directory/ONG_Desc_portal.asp?mode=pp&code=701

[struggle4progress]

5. The "International Association of Broadcasting" and the "Association for International Broadcasting"

seem to be different organizations

[Judi Lynn]

2. Helpful comments from author Mark Weisbrot, well known to most of us.

Free press? Venezuela beats the USOf course Chávez's new media law is bad. But it won't make a dent in the huge amount of press freedom in Venezuela

Mark Weisbrot guardian.co.uk,
Tuesday 4 August 2009 18.03 BST

Denis MacShane attacks the British left for defending Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan president, against an onslaught from the media, "new cold warriors", and rightwing demagogues throughout the world. His rhetorical trick is to tar the left with a new media law currently being debated in the Venezuelan congress, which he says "would impose prison sentences of up to four years for journalists whose writings might divulge information against 'the stability of the institutions of the state'."

Of course this is a bad law. There are a number of bad laws on the books in Venezuela, and in fact numerous countries in the region have desacato (pdf) laws that make it a crime to insult the president. Do MacShane's targets – he mentions Ken Livingstone and Richard Gott – support such laws? I would bet serious money that they do not. So his main line of attack is misleading if not downright dishonest.

MacShane also misrepresents the reality of press freedom in Venezuela. In fact, there is a much more oppositional media in Venezuela than in the US, and a much greater range of debate in the major media. This can be seen simply by looking at the most important media in both countries. In the US, for example, not even the most aggressive rightwing commentators such as Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity would present the idea that the president should be lynched. But Globovision, one of the largest-audience TV networks, had a show where a guest did just that.

This is not an isolated example in Venezuela. Its media routinely broadcasts reporting and commentary that would not be allowed under FCC rules in the US. And the vast majority of the media in Venezuela is still controlled by the rightwing opposition. This fact was buried in a footnote in a highly prejudiced and misleading 230-page report by Human Rights Watch. The footnote acknowledged that RCTV, which lost its broadcast licence for a long list of offences that would have landed its owners in jail in the US, still has a cable audience that is bigger than all the Venezuelan state television combined.

If the US had a media like Venezuela's, Barack Obama could never have been elected president. That's because the majority of Americans would have believed, as those beholden to some rightwing sources do, that he is a Muslim who was not born in the US. Think of Fox News and the Washington Times as the vast majority of the US media – that is the reality in Venezuela, only the media is more political and less accurate than America's biggest rightwing outlets.

What happens when our major media threaten to step over the line and become political actors? They almost never do it, but in 2004, two weeks before the 2004 US election, the Sinclair Broadcast Group of Maryland, which owns the largest chain of TV stations in the US, decided to broadcast a film that accused candidate John Kerry of betraying US prisoners in Vietnam.

Nineteen Democratic senators sent a letter to the FCC calling for an investigation, and some made public statements that Sinclair's broadcast licence could be in jeopardy if it carried its plans through. Sinclair backed down and did not broadcast the film.

The Venezuelan media is not so restricted. Of course that does not justify this new proposed law, which is terrible. But neither does it justify the widespread misrepresentation of the reality of press freedom in Venezuela. (Even if this new law were to pass, it would have little or no effect, since it would not be enforced and would probably be ruled unconstitutional by the country's supreme court.) Venezuela is not Colombia, where journalists have to flee the country in fear of their lives when the president denounces them.

MacShane is taking advantage of the fact that after 10 years of media misrepresentation with no significant countervailing force, anyone can say anything about Venezuela and Chávez and it will not be challenged. A group of Latin America scholars recently bought a full-page ad in the Columbia Journalism Review to call attention to outright fabrications by the Associated Press.

My congratulations to the British left for not caving in to this crude McCarthyism. We need more courage like that in the world.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/04/venezuela-media-freedom-chavez

[ChangoLoa]

9. "The Venezuelan media is not so restricted. Of course that does not justify this new proposed law

which is terrible"

Confusing article!

[Judi Lynn]

10. Add one of your own, as a better choice. n/t

[struggle4progress]

4. Here's the organization's webpage:

http://www.airiab.com/

[Downwinder]

6. Are they more professional than the web site?

Looks like a work in progress, and definitely not progressing. Would you
say technology has passed them by?

[struggle4progress]

7. Like much of Latin America, they may have limited access to resources. Anyway, given such

a hyperventilating news story, I naturally want to see full quotes with full context -- but I haven't found much about the Brasília meeting, except a vague agenda

[Downwinder]

8. I went through 20 pages of altavista links without finding much.

[struggle4progress]

11. DECLARACIONES DE AIR

http://www.airiab.com/Informacion.htm

The last is DECLARACION DE GUAYAQUIL from 2001. So all we have right now is a vague annd unsubstantiated press report about a floor motion in Brazil, together with a vague report about a private meeting with the Brazilian president

[spanza]

12. There's a trojan in some of the links of the frontpage... strange

Don't open them

[struggle4progress]

13. Well, do feel free to suggest how we can verify the claims in your OP

I can't get most of the links on the front page to do anything anyway. But my virus scanner didn't identify any problems with the two files I examined from the frontpage. I ran the site through a detector and didn't find any iframes, and I don't seem to need JavaScript for much of the site. So I'm not sure what trojan you've found or think you've found

[spanza]

14. It' just my antivirus that started shouting when I tried to open one of their "declarations"

I think you speak spanish, struggle (?), so you've probably noticed the poverty of english news about latin america... not for eveything, but pretty frequently.

Actually, I found many links concerning AIR and Venezuela... none from them. I also saw their people declaring on TV. I'll put them here but before I want to ask a simple question.

How do some american people have so many security when they judge venezuelan TV? Do they get to see venezuelan national channels there or their only basis is "the revolution won't be televised? I ask this because their replies give me the feeling that they think people call for coups and assasination on TV... which is absurd considering what they risk if they do that. Do you know that the prosecution against Globovision is about a text message (sms) during a live broadcast? Even if I think it's a really bad channel, I don't think a channel should be closed for that...


There may be repetitions and I don't check the political affiliation of these journals from 4-5 latin american and spanish newspapers.
They don't seem to write anything themselves, never, they just declare.. which is a bit dumb.

3Sep
http://informe21.com/air/asociacion-internacional-radiodifusion-senala-chavez-no-respeta-democracia-ni-libertad-expresion

1Aug
http://www.eluniversal.com/2009/08/01/pol_ava_asociacion-internaci_01A2573203.shtml

2Sep
http://www.lahora.com.ec/frontEnd/main.php?idSeccion=926423&idRegional=1

28/5/08.. about RCTV
http://www.soitu.es/soitu/2008/05/28/info/1211950190_601717.html

29Sep
http://www.venetubo.com/noticias/AIR-analiza-caso-de-Venezuela-y-otras-naciones-R11590.html

28sep
http://www.diariocritico.com/venezuela/2009/Septiembre/noticias/175869/la-air-se-reune-en-brasilia-preocupada-por-las-amenazas-america-latina.html

About Correa and Chavez
http://www.expreso.ec/ediciones/2009/09/01/actualidad/asociacion-internacional-de-radiodifusion-critica-a-correa/Default.asp

01Oct
http://www.noticiasve.com/air-rechaza-censura-en-venezuela/