See Tables 1 and 2 in the article. Here are portions of the text of this informative and footnoted article:
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Television in Venezuela:
Who Dominates the Media?
by Mark Weisbrot and Tara Ruttenberg (12/13/10)
It is commonly reported in the international press, and widely believed, that the government of President Hugo Chávez controls the media in Venezuela. For example, writing about Venezuela's September elections for the National Assembly, the Washington Post's deputy editorial page editor and columnist, Jackson Diehl, referred to the Chávez "regime's domination of the media. . . ."1 In an interview on CNN, Lucy Morillon of Reporters Without Borders stated, "President Chávez controls most of the TV stations."2 And on PBS in November 2010, former Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roger Noriega stated that the Venezuelan media is "virtually under the control of Chávez."3 Such statements are made regularly in the major media and almost never challenged.
Table 1 shows the evolution of Venezuelan television audience share from 2000-2010. There are three categories: private broadcast channels, which are privately owned and available on broadcast television without payment; the state channels, which are run by the government and also broadcast without payment4 by the viewer; and private paid TV, which includes cable and satellite, for which the subscriber must pay a fee; and other paid programming that is being watched during the time of the survey.
As can be seen from the table, as of September 2010, Venezuelan state TV channels had just a 5.4 percent audience share. Of the other 94.6 percent of the audience, 61.4 percent were watching privately owned television channels, and 33.1 percent were watching paid TV.
Since the private TV owners are mostly against the government, it is clear that more than 94 percent of the TV that is seen by Venezuelans is not pro-government. In fact, much of the private media is stridently anti-government, in ways that go beyond the boundaries of what is permitted in the United States, for example.5 There are no data that describe the breakdown of audience share of the various TV channels on the basis of political bias. However, it is clear from this data, based on household surveys over a 10-year period, that statements about the Venezuelan government "controlling" or "dominating" the media are not only exaggerated, but simply false.(MORE)
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2010/wr131210.html------------------------
I base my opinions on facts, not rightwing corpo-fascist propaganda. I respect these facts, from an investigator and analyst whom I have found to be reliable, and who is willing to--goes out of his way to--prove things, not just yammer about them in one liner, hit-and-run posts.. Living in Venezuela does not give anyone's opinion more weight than anyone else's, on a matter like this. A Venezuelan, or someone living in or visiting Venezuela, can be just as much of a rightwinger and/or propagandist for Venezuela's business interests and/or U.S. multinational corporate/war profiteer interests as anyone else. Nor can we verify what anyone says about themselves here at DU. We have to judge posters by what they write here, not be what they say about where they live or who they are.
I know who are the typical rightwingers and/or anti-Chavez posters at DU, and I judge their views accordingly. Some of them are venomously anti-left and anti-poor people. Some of them use extreme, hate language like Mad Tea Partiers. Some of them betray themselves by calling leaders who are socialists, running mixed socialist/capitalist economies, like Chavez, "communists." Some of them are less obvious but never express sympathy with the poor majority in Venezuela or anywhere else, never acknowledge the huge anti-poverty and public participation achievements of the Chavez government, or any other of their achievements or the achievements of the Venezuelan people as to running clean elections and grass roots organization, and they never post anything that is even neutral on Chavez. Their sources are always the corpo-fascist press, which is 100% propagandistic on Chavez and nearly so on the entire leftist movement in Latin America and its other leaders. These posters are exceedingly uninformative. They are the echo-chamber of the corpo-fascist press. And they cannot sustain discussion or debate.
It is VERY IMPORTANT that we understand the issue of private corporate control of the public airwaves--here, in Venezuela or anywhere. We used to have a Fairness Doctrine in the U.S. that required politically neutral news coverage, BALANCED political opinion and public service, as conditions for the PRIVILEGE of using the public airwaves. Corporations have NO "right" to use our airwaves. They require a license from a public agency which can place requirements and restrictions on what they broadcast. This is the case in virtually every country in the world. The stringency of those conditions is a matter for public discussion and public policy-making. In addition, the U.S. used to exercise strict control over media monopolies--so that no private business interest could control all the news and opinion in a given market. Although public control remains on the books, most of our public interest regulation has been deliberately and systemically eroded and destroyed.
Understand that this business about Chavez being "anti-free speech" is entirely driven by forces who don't want to see public regulation of corporate propaganda return, especially here in the U.S., or anywhere else. They want to retain the power to control public debate, to keep leftist ideas off TV and radio--as well as out of the print media that they monopolize--to bias the news in favor of corporate profit, privatization of the public "commons" and war, and to literally brainwash and disempower their viewers in every way imaginable.
Chavez wants "free speech."
They don't! Get it? They are LYING to you.
In Venezuela, one corporate broadcaster--RCTV--actively participated in the 2002 coup attempt. (See the documentary, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.") That coup immediately suspended the constitution, the courts, the National Assembly and all civil rights. And, after they kidnapped Chavez and sabotaged the existing government channel, RCTV and the other corporate broadcasters
would not permit any member of the Chavez government on TV. The legitimate, elected government was banned from the airwaves!
That's how much they care for "free speech"! It is bullshit.
RCTV rightfully lost their license because of their active role in the coup (and other violations). The remaining corporate broadcasters are mostly extremely anti-Chavez, extremely biased--no balance at all--and sometimes edge over the line toward another coup. The Chavez government has sought to achieve some little balance by improving and creating public stations including many community-run radio stations. They need to have a Fairness Doctrine, as we once did. And we need that, too, obviously.
Unchecked corporate power over the public airwaves allows them to control public debate and force it further and further to the right, as they have plainly done in the U.S., and right off the cliff into a fascist coup, as happened in Venezuela. Such corporate power over news/opinion is not only very bad for democracy, and for the poor/middle class majority, it is extremely dangerous.
Venezuela has had the failsafe of a transparent vote counting system. We don't. Venezuela has had the further failsafe of an active, well-organized grass roots movement. We don't. Despite horrible corporate media and an outright coup attempt, Venezuela was able to elect and re-elect their "FDR" and restore him to office when he was ousted. We don't have those failsafes. Our votes are 'counted' using 'TRADE SECRET' code, owned and controlled mostly (80%) by one, private, far rightwing connected corporation--ES&S, which just bought out Diebold. And our media has gotten to be almost as bad as Venezuela's. We have been forced into two awful wars--indeed, into a Forever War--have seen ourselves mercilessly looted and plundered--and are now looking at the possible loss of the Social Security on top of everything else--with, as yet, NO grass roots movement to counter it. The lethal combination of 'TRADE SECRET' vote 'counting' and 100% corpo-fascist media may be leading
us off a steeper cliff than Venezuela went over, in 2002. There may be no way back.
Please bear all this in mind the next time you see something in the "news" about Chavez and "free speech." Remember who is controlling that "news." Remember their stake in keeping control of the public airwaves THEMSELVES. Understand that they don't want "free speech." They want CORPORATE speech and ONLY corporate speech to be heard. And they fear Chavez, more than anybody, because he and his government and the Venezuelan people have said, "No! " to corporate monopoly of the PUBLIC airwaves.
Don't let the corporate 'news' monopolists (or their echo chamber here at DU) confuse you! Seek out facts from alternative sources. Think, analyze, question your 'news' sources, and make up your own mind, with your own reasoning powers bolstered by a wide range of information.
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