TOUGH TALK, BRAVE FACES, AND SELF-CENSORSHIP IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L CARACAS 000839

SIPDIS


NSC FOR CBARTON
HQ USSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/16/2015
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KDEM VE
SUBJECT: TOUGH TALK, BRAVE FACES, AND SELF-CENSORSHIP IN
VENEZUELAN MEDIA

Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ABELARDO A. ARIAS FOR REASON 1.4 (D)

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SUMMARY
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1. (U) Three months after President Hugo Chavez signed the
"Law of Social Responsibility in Radio and Television" (the
content law),the GoV phased-in the second tier of
requirements on March 7. Regulations have yet to be
published, and the telecommunications regulatory agency
(CONATEL) is finalizing the "technical norms" for the four
articles that are newly in effect. Most of the new legal
structures to monitor and regulate Venezuelan media are now
nonetheless in place. Media continue to complain about the
ambiguity of the law and lack of written regulations, while
agreeing that the GoV will use small infractions, not related
to news, to damage their companies financially. Aside from
the content law, some private media have been hit by
record-setting anti-trust fines and personal tax
investigations of their board members. Former Miranda State
Gov. Enrique Mendoza told the Ambassador March 11 that media
owners' opposition to Chavez has not changed, but they were
not willing to risk being shut down completely. End Summary.

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RULES NOT WRITTEN, BUT YOU BETTER NOT BREAK THEM
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2. (U) As of March 7, four more articles of Venezuela's 2004
Social Responsibility in Radio and Television Law came into
effect. These articles provide for: the enforcement of
schedule blocks for content (all-user, supervised, and
adult); government access to the broadcast spectrum;
"democratization" of the broadcast media (regulating the
nationality of programming and music); and advanced
publication of the broadcast schedule. Broadcasters who
transmit inappropriate content (for language, sexual content,
or violence) during all but the adult hours are subject to
stiff fines and, eventually, suspension of license.
Government television channels must also now be included in
all subscription television services. Additionally, the law
requires radio stations to play an as yet unspecified portion
of Venezuelan music between 7:00 am and 9:00 pm. The
majority of the law's remaining provisions are to be
phased-in at the six month (June) and nine month (September)
markers.


3. (C) Executives at three of the most important private
television stations (Venevision, RCTV, and Globovision)
called the law and the lack of regulations "ambiguous,
insecure, and arbitrary" to describe the language of the law
and its lack of regulations. They discount ineptitude or
lack of readiness on the part of state telecommunications
regulator CONATEL, instead seeing "design" in the vagueness
of the law. Several believe that CONATEL will either never
publish the regulations or publish them only after many
months of delay. In their opinion, the government's strategy
is to leave the requirements as vague as possible, thus
making it easier to "catch" and punish the stations for
violations of the law.

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REGULATING BODIES UP AND RUNNING
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4. (C) The GoV completed appointing the board which monitors
complaints lodged against the broadcast media February 17.
Representatives from the Ministries of Communication &
Information, Education & Sports, and Culture, the National
Commission on the Rights of Children & Adolescents, the
National Institute of Women, and the Institute for the
Protection & Education of Consumers) form the majority of the
Directorate of Social Responsibility. Two representatives of
the "user committees" (status approved by CONATEL) plus one
representative for the universities, and one for the
religious organizations represent civil society on the board.
The primary representative for the religious groups is from
the Union of Christian Churches (pro-Chavez and partially
funded by the GoV) while the substitute member represents the
Evangelical Church Light of the World.


5. (U) The selection of the ecclesiastical members was


preceded by several meetings of various Venezuelan churches,
under the auspices of CONATEL, according to press reports.
Absent from the final selections were representatives of
Judaism and the Roman Catholic church. The Jewish
representative sent a letter to the election meeting,
proclaiming that the Jewish community was confident the
gathered members would represent Jewish values. No
representative of the Muslim faith attended the meetings.


6. (C) Cesar Emilio Torres, the media director for the
Venezuelan Episcopal Council, told PolOff his church's lack
of participation in the Directorate should not be
over-interpreted. He explained that their representative
(who, along with him, had attended previous meetings) missed
the selection because he was caught in a traffic jam. He also
said that while not directly involved in the board's actions,
the Catholic church expects to have influence over the
decisions taken by the ecclesiastical representatives.
Torres said "The Catholic Church will not commit a sin of
omission. We will have a presence in governing boards, we
will try to influence the writing of the regulations, and we
particularly hope to convince CONATEL to change the static
religious representatives to a rotation."


7. (C) As of February 24, CONATEL reported the registration
of 360 User Committees. According to CONATEL director Alvin
Lezama, the committees' jobs are to "promote and defend the
communication rights of Venezuelans" before the appropriate
administrative bodies, and to participate in the process of
formulation, execution, and evaluation of public policy
relating to the broadcast media. One of their primary roles
is to file complaints with CONATEL regarding perceived
violations of the media law.


8. (U) CONATEL began accepting applications from radio and TV
producers for "National Independent" (NIP) status as required
by the media law in early February. The board which governs
the registration and management of the NIPs is the only body
created under the content law that includes a representative
of the broadcast media. Television executives noted that (as
with many other aspects of the law),the regulations
governing the composition of the NIP board are as yet
unwritten, and they are therefore unsure how their
representative will be chosen. They say the representative
would ideally be selected by a vote within the Venezuelan
Federation of the Television Industry (or a similar industry
association). They believe, however, it is possible that the
representative would be designated from state-owned VTV or
Radio Nacional. One of their chief concerns with the NIP
provision is that they will be assigned programming by
particular NIPs, rather than being able to choose from
CONATEL's NIP register.

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"WE ARE NOT SELF-CENSORING, BUT..."
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9. (C) TV executives say they are not and will not censor
their broadcasts to comply with the government. Nonetheless,
several high profile and controversial TV commentators have
left the airwaves in the months following the law's passage.
On March 8, CMT television canceled prominent opposition
personality Asdrubal Aguiar's four-year-old program, without
stating a reason. The week before, on March 4, Televen
canceled a political talk show hosted by provocative
opposition journalist Marta Colomina. Other politically
themed programs canceled recently include Napoleon Bravo's on
Cisneros-owned Venevision (replaced by a tarot card reader),
and Idania Chirinos' on CMT.


10. (C) Former Miranda State Gov. Enrique Mendoza told the
Ambassador March 11 that Aguiar's situation was a blow to
Chavez opponents. Aguiar's family has left Venezuela for
Argentina, and the one-time opposition spokesman will now
divide his time between the two countries. Mendoza asserted
that the media owners' opposition to President Hugo Chavez
had not changed, but they were not going to risk getting shut
down. Mendoza noted that the anti-trust fines levied against
Venevision and RCTV were a hard, warning blow (see paragraph
13). Separately, Venevision Vice President (and mother of
opposition mayor Leopoldo Lopez) Antonietta Lopez (protect)
told PolOff, "We are a business and have to survive. It is
better to stay out of trouble for now, to not allow ourselves


to be taken-over by the government or a private front
operation, and to remain alive and here for the day we are
needed. And we will be here."


11. (C) Outside Caracas in early February, a special CONATEL
commission accused Television Andina de Merida (TAM) of
violating the law by broadcasting images of bodies being
carried in flood waters caused by the carnival rains. TAM
broadcast the images "hot" -- that is not "live," but
unedited -- the moment the tape was brought in from the
field. According to TAM, CONATEL representatives agreed that
the scenes were appropriate, seemingly absolving the station
of violations, but refused to leave any proof of the finding
in writing. TAM believes this leaves the station vulnerable
to future accusations over the same event, and might be used
to threaten station management in the future.

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DEATH BY ONE THOUSAND CUTS
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12. (C) The heads of private broadcast media told Emboffs
they believe the GoV will not punish their companies for
violations related to news or criticism of the government
because it would be seen by the international community as a
violation of press freedoms. Instead, they said, the GoV
would fine them for entertainment, advertising, or technical
violations, whenever possible. For this reason, Venevision
executives say that those enterprises which feature a
mixed-format (entertainment and news) are more vulnerable
than all-news radio and TV stations. One radio commentator
told PolCouns he expected the GoV to hit on things such as
the failure to translate English titles of songs into
Spanish.


13. (C) In March, Procompetencia (the GoV's anti-trust
agency, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of
Production),hit Venezuela's two largest private TV stations,
Venevision and RCTV, with record-setting fines. The fines
stem from a complaint lodged by Televen in 2003, alleging
that the larger stations colluded to fix advertising rates.
Both stations claim the $11 million fine is disproportionate
to the size of their companies and to the alleged misconduct.


14. (C) Aside from the media law, the GoV has begun special
tax investigations of members of the boards of Globovision,
Venevision, and RCTV. The Directors have been asked to prove
the legitimacy of all assets, including homes and vehicles.
RCTV, the station most at odds with the government and least
willing to bend, recently experienced a week-long fire
inspection of their headquarters. The exhaustive search for
fire code violations covered every inch of the building,
according to executives. Company president Marcel Granier
reports being told by an embarrassed fire inspector that
their orders were to "find violations."

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COMMENT
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15. (C) Like other segments of the opposition, the owners and
managers of the private media regard one another and one
another's motives with suspicion. They do, however, concur in
several important beliefs, among them: that the law is
deliberately vague, that it will remain so for the
foreseeable future, and that the GoV will use the law to ruin
or take-over any station which fails to come to heel.
Brownfield


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2005CARACA00839 - CONFIDENTIAL