Posted on 12/28/2006 5:22:32 PM PST by jdm
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said he will not renew the licence for the country's second largest TV channel when it expires in March 2007.
In an address to troops, Mr Chavez said he would not tolerate media outlets working toward a coup against him.
Radio Caracas Television, which is aligned with the opposition, supported a strike against Mr Chavez in 2003.
Correspondents say this is Mr Chavez' first significant political move since his re-election earlier this month.
Mr Chavez, who was returned to power by a wide margin on 3 December, said the head of the television channel, Marcel Granier, was mistaken in believing "that concession is eternal".
"It runs out in March. So it's better that you go and prepare your suitcase and look around for what you're going to do in March.
"There will be no new operating licence for this coupist TV channel called RCTV. The operating licence is over... So go and turn off the equipment," Mr Chavez said during a televised speech to soldiers at a military academy in Caracas.
'Violation of freedom'
Mr Chavez said the channel was "at the service of coups against the people, against the nation, against national independence, against the dignity of the republic".
The channel is among a number of private TV and radio networks that in recent years have strongly criticized Mr Chavez' government and favoured the opposition.
Many media outlets, including RCTV, supported a bungled coup in 2002 and a devastating general strike in 2003 that failed to unseat the president.
The press freedom campaign group, Reporters Without Borders, said the proposed move would be a grave violation of freedom of expression in Venezuela.
RCTV is one of the country's oldest channels and began broadcasting in 1953.
Check out the DUmmy link I posted in #21. These people are, at best, scary.
typical. The liberals will love him regardless. I read the DU link on this thread about this article. It's ok that 'Ugo shut down this TV station, because they advocated overthrowing the government. So does this now mean we can shut down the DU?
Thanks for the ping, Yank. Those DUmmies are scary. After they get rid of any media they don't agree with, I hope they fare better than the Iraqi's who didn't agree with Saddam during his regime.
He's been doing that since he was elected. There's a long list of businesses he's grabbed, closed, nationalized, stocked with employees that are loyal to him, etc. I don't see the point of one TV station when FL is filled with the remnants of former business owners that have fled before they could not. Anyone who lives there already knows what he is capable of. He even sends the police to harass our Ambassador if he dares to leave the Embassy grounds.
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