MEDIA-VENEZUELA: Young Journalists Debate Lost Objectivity

By Humberto Márquez Reprint | | Print |

Humberto Márquez

CARACAS, Feb 19 2003 (IPS) - A group of young print, radio and TV journalists in Venezuela, caught in the crossfire of the political conflict that is ravaging this South American nation, have come together to discuss problems like the loss of objectivity of the local media.

A group of young print, radio and TV journalists in Venezuela, caught in the crossfire of the political conflict that is ravaging this South American nation, have come together to discuss problems like the loss of objectivity of the local media.

”We emerged as an informal group that in these times of crisis will reflect on the role of the media, which are polarised like the entire country, and which sell a position rather than objectively reporting on what is happening,” Laura Weffer, a reporter with the El Nacional daily newspaper and the president of the new organisation, explained to IPS.

The group, Los del Medio (the name is a play on words: ”the media people” or ”those trapped in the middle”) ”was born out of the sense of anguish generated by the deafening silence of the media on Apr. 13, 2002,” Pedro Luis Flores, a journalist with the local Globovisión TV network and another of the group’s organisers, told IPS.

That day, Venezuela’s private radio and TV stations, which had earlier provided minute-by-minute coverage of a three-day general strike and demonstrations against President Hugo Chávez, as well as a coup d’etat that ousted him and replaced him with business leader Pedro Carmona, remained silent when sectors of the armed forces and civilian supporters restored the president to power.

Several newspapers in Caracas and the interior did not even come out on Apr. 14, even though they had provided detailed coverage of – and applauded – the coup that removed Chávez from office for two days.

The main argument given by the managers and owners of the media outlets was that they feared for the safety of their journalists, and decided not to report on street violence and looting in various parts of Caracas in order to avoid inciting further violence.

But the uneven coverage of the events of last April was just one chapter in the bitter confrontation between the Chávez administration and Venezuela’s privately-owned media, which are opposed to the left-leaning populist president and his ”social revolution”.

Making no pretence of objectivity, the media actively participated in the December and January general work stoppage with which the opposition attempted to force Chávez out.

The government, meanwhile, launched investigations of the four leading TV networks for the political role they openly espoused during the strike, and several stations were fined.

The ruling coalition legislators, who hold a narrow majority of seats in Congress, have introduced a ”law on social responsibility for the broadcast media”, which would set standards for the timing and content of programming.

The several dozen reporters who have come together in Los del Medio expressed their concern over ”the climate of heightened polarisation, and we are certain that sooner rather than later, we journalists will be judged, when public opinion evaluates our abandonment of the moral mandate of our profession” to provide objective reporting, said Weffer.

”It is ethics that is at stake. Neither the media nor our profession – with the bias that is obvious, and which has also been seen on the other side, in the state-run radio and TV stations – are at our best right now,” added Flores.

The other aim of Los del Medio is to protest and prevent the attacks on journalists that are committed by militants on both sides, but mainly by government supporters against reporters working for private media organs.

The most tragic case involved photo-journalist Jorge Tortoza, who was hit by a bullet and killed while reporting for the Caracas daily 2001 on the Apr. 11 opposition demonstration that turned into a shootout in which 18 were killed, followed by the coup. It is still unclear who pulled the trigger.

Journalists have also been the target of aggression by the security forces.

Verbal and physical attacks on journalists ”are so frequent that we counted 31 in January – an average of one a day in other words,” Gregorio Salazar, secretary-general of the National Union of Press Workers, which is affiliated with the International Federation of Journalists, commented to IPS.

”Reporters face risks everywhere. However, in Venezuela we are not in danger of being hit by a stray bullet, but sometimes are the actual targets,” said Félix Gerardi, a photographer with the Caracas newspaper El Universal.

”The new thing now is to cover demonstrations wearing anti-gas masks and bullet-proof vests,” he added.

Agencies forming part of the Organisation of American States (OAS) inter-American system and non-governmental organisations like the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) are on permanent alert regarding the situation of the press in Venezuela, while the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has demanded police protection for several reporters.

Weffer said that besides organising debates that have drawn as many as 200 participants in Caracas, Los del Medio has taken on the task of documenting attacks on journalists, in order to present reports to international organisations.

Although Los del Medio has no intention of taking the place of existing groups, like the National Union of Press Workers or Venezuela’s journalists’ association, ”we are acting because the vacuum left by those organisations in the current circumstances is more than obvious,” said Weffer.

”We in Los del Medio have not brought about significant changes in the media or the climate of aggression, but at least now we are starting to look at these problems from a different angle, based on a shared approach that is the product of discussion and debate,” said Flores.