Free Republic

The Colombian National Television Commission (CNTV) blocked satellite access to Telecapital, a government channel that rebroadcasts Telesur signal. The hemispheric news system boosted by Venezuela started operations last July 24th, with programming including documentary films, news coverage and a number of journalist works that highlight the Latin American people, as explained in the Monday edition of Semana magazine.

Media: As Telesur, Hugo Chavez's new South American TV network, goes on the air, it's billed as a pan-American alternative to CNN. Knowing Chavez, sensible minds fear a propaganda machine. It's much worse. Ahead of its first broadcast Sunday, Telesur released a ghastly news trailer featuring one of the hemisphere's grimmest narco terrorists, Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda. This professional killer leads the 13,000-strong FARC Marxist guerrillas who have terrorized Colombia for 40 years. As Sureshot preened before Telesur cameras, Telesur officials justified their free publicity for him as newsworthiness. "Do they think Sureshot doesn't exist?" said Director-General Aram Aharonian, a Uruguayan...