Snip from a Variety article today:
In the wake of the controversial shutdown of Venezuela's oldest broadcaster, RCTV, on Sunday night, President Hugo Chavez's government is stepping up the pressure on other local webs and even rattling its saber at CNN for any hint of opposition to its strong-arm tactics.
Minister of Communications William Lara has cited two segments aired by CNN, one depicting crowds of protesters and another placing a photo of Chavez alongside that of a late Al Qaeda leader and of some demonstrations in China. Lara claims latter images were meant to "associate the image of Chavez with that of violence and death" while footage of a demonstration was in fact taken in Acapulco when people took to the streets after the killing of a journalist and was not, as CNN claimed, of protests against the closure of RCTV (Radio Caracas Television).
Lara claimed these images formed part of an international campaign to discredit and attack Venezuela, which would take its case against CNN to an international court.
Link.
That bit about suing CNN (or, perhaps, parent company Time Warner) in "an international court" intrigues me. Is there some global television justice tribunal I don't know about? Does Judge Judy preside? Can I file a complaint there about the person who decided that the Sopranos must sleep with the fishes, come June 10?
More on the dispute with CNN, and on protests in Venezuela related the Chavez government's recent media-related actions, in this Times UK story: Link.
Here's a CNN piece, with a response statement from the network: Link.
Previously on BoingBoing:
(posted on the road in central america / xeni)
Reader comment: RobW says,
It's perhaps only an amusing coincidence, but Otto Neustald worked for CNN. He was the CNN reporter in Venezuela who alleged that coup leaders gave a videotaped press-conference calling for Chavez's resignation because of the deaths of anti-Chavez protestors, hours _before_ those deaths had occurred, while requesting that the networks play the video at a later time.
This link is to the Journeyman documentary "Venezuela: Anatomy of a Coup" which includes Neustald's allegations and is in any case an excellent overview of events surrounding the coup attempt for people who can't get hold of "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised". The Journeyman doco was broadcast on Australia's second government network SBS in October 2002, first in two parts on their foreign news current affairs program "Dateline" then again by popular request in a single showing.
