Chavez Shuts Down TV Station
Charles Johnson
Sun May 27, 2007 at 10:22 am PDT • Views: 331
Almost unnoticed by mainstream media, Cindy Sheehan’s friend Hugo Chavez is shutting down a TV station opposed to his thuggish dictatorship: Caracas braced over TV protests.
Protests are expected in Venezuela’s capital Caracas as a TV station opposed to President Hugo Chavez prepared to be taken off the air at midnight.
Mr Chavez has refused to renew a licence for Radio Caracas TV (RCTV), saying the station has actively tried to undermine his government. It will still be available on cable, but losing its broadcast frequency will deprive it of most of its audience.
RCTV and rights groups say Mr Chavez is limiting freedom of expression. RCTV’s General Manager Marcel Granier said on Sunday that Mr Chavez was acting illegally.
“We haven’t lost hope that before midnight the president will react sensibly… he still has the opportunity to correct this abusive, arbitrary and illegal behaviour,” he said. After midnight, he said, “the fight continues, freedom is something you have to fight for permanently”.
Imagine if President Bush shut down the New York Times because it was “undermining the government.” (Which it is.) The screaming would be audible in the next galaxy. But when Chavez does it, the reaction from the media is, “Ho hum. Did you hear about Lindsay Lohan?”
Frank says: