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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Venezuela shuts down first of 34 radio stations |
| 2009-08-02 |
| The first of 34 radio stations ordered shut by the Venezuelan government went off the air on Saturday, part of President Hugo Chavez's drive to extend his socialist revolution to the media. Government broadcasting watchdog Conatel delivered an order to CNB radio in Caracas before dawn, ordering its stations to stop transmitting by 8 a.m., an employee of the radio network told Globovision TV. Diosdado Cabello, the public works minister who also oversees Conatel, said Friday night that 34 radio stations would be ordered closed because they failed to comply with regulations. He said some of the stations did not have their broadcasting licenses renewed and others transferred them illegally to new owners. But critics said the crackdown was arbitrary and the owners were not given the right to a proper defense. "It's sad that one doesn't have any means to defend oneself (publicly)," Nelson Belfort, owner of the CNB radio network, told El Nacional newspaper. Chavez and his supporters say they are waging a "media war" against private news companies and have denounced in recent days what they say is a renewed offensive by privately owned domestic and international media to discredit Venezuela. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Coming soon to a radio / T.V. station near you. |
| Posted by: WolfDog 2009-08-02 10:35 |
| #1 Chavez must have an advanced copy of the Obama Fairness Doctrine playbook. |
| Posted by: hammerhead 2009-08-02 10:10 |