Word: media
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...heirs of Che Guevara discarding their democratic credentials for authoritarian fiat? Are they going Cuban in response to economic difficulties that could loosen their holds on power? The left hardly owns the market on intimidating the press in Latin America today, as evidenced by media-averse conservatives like Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and the Honduran coup leaders who ousted President Manuel Zelaya this summer. But "President Chávez and his bloc of allies all want to consolidate power, neutralize any opposition and remain in office beyond their elected terms," says Robert Rivard, editor of the San Antonio Express-News...
Andrés Eloy Ruiz, a humanities professor at Caracas' Central University and a spokesman for the Venezuelan education law that contains the new media rules, calls that nonsense. "This is not a 'Cuban' law," he says. Ruiz dismisses charges that the measure, which for the first time mandates bilingual education for indigenous children but also demands classrooms based on Bolivarian principles, will impose socialist instruction in schools. "There are no private schools or media in Cuba, but we guarantee their rights here," he adds. "We're simply requiring them to be responsible. The terrorist opposition wants to sow fear...
...opponents say the law's reference to irresponsible media is just code for anything he deems unacceptable - especially if it's printed or broadcast by media not aligned with his government. Last month, dozens of Chávez supporters attacked the Caracas studios of the Globovisión TV network, a loud critic of his regime, throwing tear gas and injuring three people. Chávez, who has threatened to revoke Globovisión's license, condemned the assault and its leader was arrested. But a week later, 12 journalists passing out leaflets criticizing the education law were hospitalized after...
...fare is often more politically gratuitous than journalistically professional, openly backed a 2002 coup attempt against Chávez (as did the RCTV network, whose license Chávez revoked in 2007). Chávez backers also insist the moves are meant to reduce Venezuela's traditional media monopolies and oligopolies...
...does allow more media criticism than his detractors acknowledge. But he has a history of handing annulled private broadcast permits to state or state-supporter media instead of to the kind of unbiased outlets that his fiercely polarized society needs. Argentina's increasingly unpopular Fernández, whose Peronist Party lost its majority in recent congressional elections, is also playing the anti-monopoly card - especially against her arch foe, the Clarín media conglomerate, whose directors she calls "multimedia generals" comparable to the right-wing military generals who ousted then President Isabel Perón in 1976. Fern...