[NYTr] Big Media and Venez Govt Square Off (Again)

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Venezuelanalysis - October 10, 2007
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/2714

Media Owners and Venezuelan Government Square Off (Again)

By Chris Carlson

Mérida, Venezuela - Editor and Owner of the Venezuelan daily El
Nacional, Miguel Otero, warned this week that independent media in the
country would "disappear" if the proposed constitutional reform is
approved. He also accused the Venezuelan government of preventing the
Inter-American Press Association from meeting in Caracas next March.
Venezuelan Communications Minister Willian Lara denied the accusations
and assured the constitutional reform will increase freedom of
expression.

Otero stated on Monday that the approval of the proposed constitutional
reform would be "a step toward the loss of private property," and
"independent media" in the country. He announced that he would be
denouncing the constitutional reform at the meeting of the
Inter-American Society of Press next week in Miami.

"With the constitutional reform independent media will disappear
because the changes are a step toward the loss of private property,"
said Otero at a press conference on Monday. "With the new text property
can be expropriated without the need for a solid case. In that way it
can be applied to the media."

Otero added that the imposition of a socialist state in Venezuela would
force the media to transmit "socialist values." He warned that the
media would be subject to new forms of community organization and
called this a "grave situation" that would lead to the "disappearance
of the media, which leads to the disappearance of democracy."

Venezuelan Communications Minister Willian Lara denied Otero's
allegations and assured that the constitutional reform would increase
press freedom in the country since the "inclusion of popular power in
the constitution will reinforce the participation of the whole society
in daily news-making."

According to Lara the new changes planned in the constitutional reform
will contribute to "the creation and distribution of opinions on
different topics of public interest and the production of radio and
television programs, as well as internet sites, newspapers and
magazines [that are] independent of the state, and of the major
economic groups."

Lara also denied Otero's charges concerning private property, stating
that the issue of collective interests over the interests of
individuals is a concept that goes back to the Venezuelan constitution
of 1961, which also allowed for the expropriation of private property
in certain cases.

IAPA Accuses Government of Hindering Annual Meeting

On Tuesday, the President of the Inter-American Press Association
(IAPA), Rafael Molina, accused the Venezuelan government of
"boycotting" the organization's conference that was planned for Caracas
in March of next year. The president of the organization accused the
government of "pressuring" hotels after several of the main hotels of
Caracas refused to make reservations for the conference.

The executive director of the organization said that they would decide
how to respond to the supposed "boycott" on the part of the Venezuelan
government. Otero, who is a member of the IAPA Board of Directors, also
denounced the supposed "government pressures" against the conference
and said the March meeting "will have to take place in Aruba, Panama or
in some other place."

Lara denied the accusations and stated that the Venezuelan government
does not pressure any hotel chains to refuse reservations from the
organization. The Chavez government has repeatedly criticized the IAPA
for being an "organization of capitalist media owners" that have a
strong adversity to the Chavez government. Lara assured that their
conclusions about freedom of the press in Venezuela "lack substance,
validity, and pertinence."

"We don't care about the rhetoric of the IAPA. That is the best
demonstration that there is full freedom of expression in the country,"
said Lara.