‘Suddenly,’ Chávez is on the radio (yet again)
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez Frías has used cadenas—nationwide radio and television addresses that preempt programming on all stations—to challenge the private media’s news coverage and amplify the government’s voice. In his radio and TV call-in program, “Aló, Presidente” (Hello, President), Chávez often lambastes critics in the media and the political opposition.
CPJ speaks to jailed Venezuelan journalist Gustavo Azócar
On Monday, Venezuelan Judge José Oliveros announced that he would begin a new trial against journalist Gustavo Azócar, an outspoken Chávez critic, who has spent two months in prison without being sentenced. Oliveros, the local press reported, also upheld a decision to hold the television host and blogger in custody throughout the new trial. The…
Controversy grows after assault in Venezuela
On August 15, Caracas authorities arrested Gabriel Uzcátegui in connection with a violent attack against a dozen local journalists who were protesting an education bill that critics fear will restrict press freedom in Venezuela. Uzcátegui is an employee of the government-owned broadcaster AvilaTV, the national daily EL Nacional reported.
Pro-Chávez militant arrested in Globovisión attack
At noon on Tuesday, Venezuelan authorities arrested pro-government activist Lina Ron and took her to Caracas’ military intelligence headquarters, according to an official statement by the Venezuelan Minister of Interior and Justice Tarek El Aissami. Ron, a founding and very public member of the far-left political party Union Patriótica Venezolana (UPV), appeared in footage of…
Press freedom in the news 1/21/2009
Agence France-Presse has coverage of our letter sent to Cameroonian President Paul Biya on January 16. The letter protested the jailing of four Cameroonian journalists, which makes the country Africa’s second-leading jailer of journalists. The reporters have been held since September on charges of criminal defamation. AFP quotes CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon: “The journalists…