Venezuelan Government Accuses CNN and Globovisión of Inciting Violence
By Chris Carlson, Venezuelanalysis.com, 29 May 2007
At a press conference in the Attorney General’s office Lara showed a video of CNN coverage in which an image of Hugo Chavez appears next to the image of an Al Qaeda leader who was assassinated, and an image of protests in China. Lara said that experts who were consulted assured that the objective of this selection of images was to induce viewers to associate Chavez “with violence and death” and that it “breaks with the universal code of ethics in journalism.”
The minister stated that they are considering taking the case before international organizations in order to counter an international campaign to discredit and attack Venezuela. Lara accused CNN of having a political bias against Venezuela since the moment Chavez appeared on the political scene and of “blatantly lying” to deceive and manipulate their viewers.
The second video presented by Lara was of the private Venezuelan channel Globovisión, during a broadcast of the program Aló Ciudadano, in which RCTV president Marcel Granier was being interviewed. While cutting to a commercial break the network showed images of the 1981 assassination of Pope John Paul II, accompanied by a song by Panamanian singer Ruben Blades that says “have faith, for this doesn’t end here.” In light of the recent protests against the government, the minister concluded that the video has the purpose of “inciting the assassination of the president, and this is what we have asked the Attorney General to investigate.”
Venezuelanalysis has posted YouTube videos that include Globovisión showing footage of Pope John Paul II being shot as Ruben Blades sings, CNN En Espańol using footage of a protest in Mexico and claiming that it was an anti-Chavez protest in Venezuela, and CNN showing Chávez next to an al Qaeda leader.
The Ongoing Lessons by Meri Ranut, written in April 2002, provides a great introduction to the current situation.
Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales moderate a debate between Andres Izarra, former news manager at RCTV and current president of TeleSUR and Francisco Rodriguez, assistant professor of economics and Latin American studies at Wesleyan University, and former chief economist of the Venezuelan National Assembly. The DemocracyNOW! segment also includes a clip from The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, a documentary on President Chavez shot over the course of 3 months in 2002 by Irish filmmakers Kim Bartley and Donnacha O’Brien, which provides an absolutely scorching condemnation of RCTV’s behaviour during the coup. The film can be viewed on Google Video.