Morgue picture at centre of Venezuelan censorship
A controversial image of bodies piled up in a morgue in Caracas, Venezuela, has sparked an intense debate over the government’s efforts to clamp down on news outlets it does not control
Author: Alicia Field
25 Aug 2010 Tags: Venezuela
The photograph was published on the front page of the daily newspaper El Nacional on 13 August. The image was used to publicise the current state of murders in Venezuela, with over 19,000 homicides reported in 2009, more than three times as many as in 1998, the year before President Chávez came into power.
The image, taken in December 2009 by a photographer on the paper, was described by the president as “pornographic journalism”, with the government delivering a ban on the paper, preventing it from publishing photos of crime including “images, information and publicity of any type that contains blood, guns, alarming messages, or physical aggression that could alter the psychological and moral well-being of children and adolescents,” according to the government order.
Tal Cual, another daily opposed to Chávez, followed shortly by publishing the same image in a show of solidarity. This consequentially initiated a second ruling banning all Venezuela’s print media from publishing violent images for a month. The papers have suggested that this curtailing of the press comes in direct relation to the legislative elections in September, allowing Chávez to silence the media in an attempt to censor news coverage of widespread crime.
Following international outcry, the ruling ban on all print media was reversed, yet with two exceptions. Photo prohibitions remained in place against both El Nacional and Tal Cual.
Miguel Otero the editor of the newspaper defended the original image telling CNN, “the editorial aim of the photo was to shock people so that in some way they react to the situation, since the government is doing nothing”.
This is not the first time Chávez has tried to censor the media. Venezuelan privately owned TV channel RCTV, was taken off the air at the beginning of the year, for refusing to air a televised government message from Chávez. He has also recently ordered the arrest of Globovision owner Guillermo Zuloaga, who runs the private television channel fiercely critical of the president. Supporters say the warrant is an effort to silence him, with opposition groups accusing Chávez of trying to control the media.
Comments
Whilst I support President Chavez of Venezuela against right wing attempts to oust him led by the US ruling class I think it may be short sighted to try and censor news that is of concern to the whole population.
The best way to counter the use of news for right wing propaganda purposes in my opinion is to tell the truth including the truth about the news media outlets themselves and how they are funded and who they support.
Violent images reflect actual violence in the midst of our societies and not to show them just means to cover the news in a more shallow way.
On the face of it, this seems to be a step too far. Muscling in because you disagree with the news is something not many people would condone. However I would still like to see more coverage of it before forming a definite opinion. But certainly this is going to be very, very hard to defend.
It seems in Western media, the clamping down on Globovision is reported without much fairness. This station broadcast erroneous inflammatory reports of government murderers and supported a coup which saw a brief stint of power for some cronies who abolished the elected assembly and the judiciary. This often simply reported as a government shut down of a private channel that criticised the government, which is technically correct but a very small part of the truth.
On the face of it, this seems to be a step too far. Muscling in because you disagree with the news is something not many people would condone. However I would still like to see more coverage of it before forming a definite opinion. But certainly this is going to be very, very hard to defend.
It seems in Western media, the clamping down on Globovision is reported without much fairness. This station broadcast erroneous inflammatory reports of government murderers and supported a coup which saw a brief stint of power for some cronies who abolished the elected assembly and the judiciary. This often simply reported as a government shut down of a private channel that criticised the government, which is technically correct but a very small part of the truth.
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