Antonio Di Giampaolo has hosted his popular radio news program En el Aire, Spanish for “On the Air,” for nearly 40 years. On May 17, Di Giampaolo planned to broadcast an interview with opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González, but executives at the station Éxitos 93.1 FM in the western city of Maracay nixed the plan with no explanation, according to the journalist.
“I had already recorded the interview, but they told me it couldn’t be broadcast,” Di Giampaolo told CPJ, adding that it would have been the first radio interview with González since becoming the opposition’s front-runner.
Di Giampaolo believes the radio station, which is waiting for state regulator Conatel to renew its license, did not want to risk offending President Nicolás Maduro, who will face González at the polls on July 28 in a critical presidential election.
In a video posted to his social media accounts, Di Giampaolo announced that he had abruptly quit Éxitos 93.1 with “sadness and deep indignation,” and he published his conversation with González on his Instagram page. Speaking by phone from the city of Maracay, Di Giampaolo told CPJ that he “preferred to leave the station while standing than to remain there on my knees.”
The episode typifies how government control of the media and self-censorship has distorted election coverage in Venezuela and deprived voters of vital information about the presidential candidates, according to journalists and press freedom groups who spoke with CPJ.
They said that TV and radio stations that reach nearly every Venezuelan household provide a barrage of ruling party propaganda and Maduro campaign rallies while mostly ignoring the opposition. By contrast, news about González and his opposition partner María Corina Machado is largely confined to independent news websites, many of which are blocked in Venezuela, and to social media like X, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and WhatsApp.
Appearances by opposition politicians in the mainstream media are so rare that when González spoke to TV station Venevisión in April, the resulting commentary on social media ignored the candidate’s presidential plans and largely focused on the channel’s startling decision to broadcast the interview at all.
“This was treated like an extraordinary event when, in reality, it should be the obligation of a TV station to cover the opposition,” said Marco Ruíz, secretary general of the National Union of Journalists.
Yet for Ruíz and other veteran press watchers, none of this comes as a surprise. They point out that the Maduro government has spent its 11 years in power closing TV and radio stations, blocking news websites, confiscating newspapers, and fomenting fear and self-censorship.
The result is a kind of news desert. Indeed, the long-running attack on independent journalism has been so effective that the government has not felt the need to engage in a major media crackdown in the runup to this month’s election.
“The regime has closed 200 radio stations over the past two years, which means there are fewer stations that they need to close now,” Ruíz said.
According to a report by Venezuelan free press group Espacio Público, there have been at least 14 radio stations closed in the country this year. Additionally, at least 297 radio stations from 2003 to 2023 were forced to close for various reasons in connection with the renewal of their broadcast licenses.
Fredy Andrade, who founded Radio Minuto in 1989, in the western city of Barquisimeto, said he received no explanation when state regulator Conatel did not renew the station’s license, forcing it to shutter on April 26. But he pointed out that his daily news programs included reports about the opposition, including polls that showed González with a huge lead over Maduro.
“González is going to win this election, and I think the government feared we would go on the air on July 28 and announce an opposition victory,” Andrade told CPJ. “They wanted to silence us. This was a preemptive strike.”
There was no response from Maduro’s press office nor from Conatel to CPJ’s requests for comment.
Due to the closure of so many media outlets, budget problems for those that remain in operation, and the lack of visas for foreign correspondents, there are relatively few journalists covering this election, said Carlos Correa, director of Espacio Público.
Independent Venezuelan news sites such as Efecto Cocuyo and El Pitazo provide detailed coverage and analysis of both the Maduro and González campaigns. But these two sites and more than 40 others have been blocked in Venezuela by state and private internet service providers, according to the internet watchdog group Venezuela Sin Filtro.
Determined newshounds can circumvent the blocks and access these sites through virtual private networks (VPNs), but Ruíz said most internet users lack the know-how, patience, and money to set up VPNs.
As a result, nearly all the news about the opposition comes from social media. These sites are flooded with video clips of speeches and campaign rallies by Machado, the popular opposition leader who has been banned by the Maduro government from running for president, and by González, who has replaced her on the ballot.
“Social media does not compensate for government censorship but there is no other way to get news about the opposition,” said Ibis León, a former journalist who now works for the Caracas-based Venezuela Electoral Observatory.
But relying on social media brings a new set of challenges for accessing information in Venezuela.
Power outages are common, internet connections are slow and often unavailable in rural areas, and the service is expensive in a country where poverty has jumped amid a deep economic crisis. Moreover, with Maduro facing a battle for reelection, his government is inundating X, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp groups with propaganda and fake news.
“For the government, this is war,” said Marianela Balbi, director of the Caracas-based Institute for Press and Society. “State TV, Conatel, the Communications Ministry, the ruling party and the military are all getting involved in slandering the opposition.”
Last month, Machado denounced false reports posted on X by military officials that claimed the Venezuelan armed forces would be eliminated should the opposition take power.
In response to so much disinformation, Efecto Cocuyo has produced a chatbot to help readers weed out lies and distortions while they can also go to the factchecking website Cazadores de Fake News (Fake News Hunters).
Correa of Espacio Público warns that social media sites remain a poor substitute for curated election news that used to come from radio, TV, and newspapers, because most information is fragmented and lacking in context.
“What kind of a candidate proposals and debates can you have on WhatsApp?” he said. “These sites are just not the same as a national TV station dedicated to covering the election.”
Yet Correa admits that the flood of campaign information on X, Facebook, Instagram and other social media has helped the opposition offset the government’s dominance of traditional news media. Judging by Maduro’s poll numbers, it appears that fewer Venezuelans are being swayed by his propaganda.
“The government’s message is unconvincing,” Correa said. “But it remains unclear just how well-informed Venezuelan voters will be on election day.”
González, the opposition candidate, is promising to fully respect press freedom, which has inspired new hope among Venezuelan journalists. Speaking of a possible González victory, Di Giampaolo, the former Éxitos 93.1 journalist, said, “I hope better times are coming for journalism and for Venezuela.”