CARACAS, VENEZUELA — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has made moves to tighten government control over national media, say critics who warn that the Internet and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter could be his next target.
Chavez recently announced that the government would review the licenses of and possibly close as many as 240 radio stations -- more than one-third of all AM and FM broadcasters. He has proposed rules that would limit the sharing of programming by stations, something that helps many stay economically viable.
Critics say it's a means of forcing independent station owners to sell out or go off the air, thereby shifting airwave dominance to Community Radio, the pro-government chain founded by Chavez. Since 2001, the government chain has grown to 238 local stations, which aren't included in the current review.
"If we recover I don't know how many stations, it won't be to give them back to the bourgeoisie. No, no. We have to create popular radio for the people," Chavez told a university audience Tuesday in Caracas, the capital.
Chavez has said the moves are part of his socialist plan of shifting media "hegemony" away from private ownership and to the people.
But critics say the license review and other measures taken by Chavez in recent weeks are designed to quash dissenting views. Two years ago, Chavez refused to renew the license of the nation's most popular TV network, RCTV, which broadcast commentary critical of Chavez's leftist policies.
Alfredo Keller, head of a Caracas polling firm, believes the actions are Chavez's response to a decline in his popularity, which hit a five-year low in May, according to Keller's quarterly poll. The decline has shaken Chavez because elections for the National Assembly are scheduled next year, he said.
Other ominous signs for free-speech advocates include legislation that Atty. Gen. Luisa Ortega Diaz will present to the National Assembly soon that would create a new category of "media crime," punishing those who broadcast or print opinion instead of fact.
"What I wonder is, who will define the crime and based on what criteria?" said Marcelino Bisbal, a professor at Central University of Venezuela and editor of Communication magazine. "The arbitrary way such a law could be applied is very worrisome."
