The National Telecommunications Commission (CONATEL) informed the privately-owned channel that following a meeting held on November 26 it had decided to undertake “administrative criminal proceedings … for alleged infringement of the Law on Social Responsibility in Radio and Television.”
CONATEL likely reviewed statements aired on Globovisión on the morning of November 24 by the governor-elect of Carabobo state, opposition politician Henrique Fernando Salas Feo, and based on them begun legal action “for apparent infringement of the obligations set out in Article 29, paragraph 1 of the Law by disseminating statements that may incite a breach of the peace.”
IAPA President Enrique Santos Calderón declared, “Clearly the official intent is to obstruct Globovision’s informative role, to keep it on edge and in a constant state of self-censorship. This degree of pressure carried out with the consent of the country's highest authorities cannot be defined as press freedom.”
Article 29, paragraph 1 states, “Those who provide radio and television services shall be punished with suspension of up to seventy-two consecutive hours when statements that are broadcast promote, defend or incite a breach of peace; promote, defend or incite crime; are discriminatory, encourage religious intolerance, are contrary to the security of the Nation, are anonymous or when those who provide radio or television or subscription services have been penalized on two occasions within the three years following the first penalty.”
This would be the second administrative proceedings against Globovisión in less than a month for alleged violation of the law. On October 16 CONTAEL initiated proceedings against the TV channel for allegedly broadcasting statements inciting a breach of the peace during its program “Aló Ciudadano” (Hi, Citizen).
Santos Calderón, editor of the Bogotá, Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, added, “We fear that Globovisión may suffer the same fate as RCTV” – which was ordered off the air in May last year.
In an October 13th interview broadcast on the program, the editor of the newspaper El País, Rafael Poleo, allegedly compared Venezuelan’s President Hugo Chávez with Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. The TV channel argued that it is not responsible for the contents of independently-produced programs, particularly in cases such as this in which the host did not allow the interviewee to talk further about the matter.
A decision in the case is expected from CONATEL in the next few days.
The announcement of new proceedings against Globovisión came shortly after celebration of the news channel’s 14th anniversary – it first went on the air on December 1, 1994 – when its president, Guillermo Zuloaga, declared that it had not broken any law and that any punishment of it would be a legal travesty. Globovisión’s director, Alberto Federico Ravell, expressed concern at the possibility of the channel being shut down given the new official investigation.
