Hugo Chávez Threatens to Take Venezuela's /Iran Releases Journalist Convicted of Spying for U.S./U.S. Senate Hears Debate on the Future of Journalism/

JOURNALISM IN THE AMERICAS
A News Blog

Hugo Chávez Threatens to Take Venezuela's Last Major Opposition-run TV Station Off Air

President Hugo Chávez has threatened again to close Globovisión, the only TV channel in Venezuela that regularly criticizes him, saying it had caused panic for reporting an earthquake last week before the government announced it, the Miami Herald reports.
The all-news station scooped the government May 4 on the mild earthquake, citing the U.S. Geological Survey's web page as its source, Tyler Bridges reports for the Herald. Globovisión's general manager Alberto Ravell responded to Chavez's accusations by saying his station could not find any authorities to give them precise information about the earthquake after it happened.
Some Venezuelan bloggers found that disputes betweens the government and the private media made it difficult for them to find information about the quake, Laura Vidal writes for Global Voices.
Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro accused the 24-hour Globovisión news network of "media terrorism," describing the channel and its director as "violators of the Constitution and of the rights of Venezuelans," as well as being "antidemocratic, failed and fascist," Britain's Telegraph reports.
In response, representatives of opposition political parties declared themselves on alert in defense of freedom of expression, El Universal explains. "President, freedom of expression is not a fad, and it doesn't depend on how you wake up," said Mayor Antonio Ledezma of the Federal District.
The closure of Globovisión could be announced as soon as this week, its director, Alberto Ravell, told El Nuevo Herald. “I think that Chávez is going to dare to close the channel … the only one that informs the national community of what's really happening in the country," he said.

• By Ingrid Bachmann/Maya Srikrishnan/DG at 05/12/2009 - 14:17

U.S. Senate Hears Debate on the Future of Journalism


The U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet called a hearing last week at which several industry executives presented their views on the future of journalism in the digital age, AFP reports.
A Texas newspaper publisher, a former Baltimore Sun reporter, a top executive from Google, and the founder of The Huffington Post website all took the stage at the hearing to discuss whether online journalism will sustain the values of professional journalism the same way newspapers have.
Here is some of what they said:
*Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington told the senators they should look to a "pro-am model," where amateur reporters (citizen journalists) get guidance from professional journalists and editors, the Los Angeles Times reports.
She praised Web sites like the Voice of San Diego that have had success in local investigative reporting. She also mentioned the launch of an investigative team at her own enterprise, the Times reports.
*Former Baltimore Sun reporter and creator of the television show, The Wire, David Simon, was less optimistic about citizen journalism, saying it was well intentioned but ineffective. Simon suggested the government create tax incentives for newspaper chains to transfer ownership of papers to locally managed nonprofits and that the government relax monopoly prohibitions so newspaper owners can collaboratively plan an industry-wide transition to a paid, online subscriber base, the Guardian reports.
*Dallas Morning News publisher James Moroney blamed news aggregators like Google News and Amazon for the current decline in ad revenue. He argued it would be beneficial if the government tried to cut the revenue-sharing agreements between print organizations and these online organizations through an antitrust exemption, the Los Angeles Times reports.
*Google vice president Marissa Mayer pointed out that Google drives a lot of traffic to news sites and suggested that newspapers should be mending their product, improving "reader engagement" by better directing readers from one story to another through similar features and advertising, the Los Angeles Times reports.
*Alberto Ibargüen, president and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, suggested several ways federal lawmakers could act to maintain the flow of information in communities. His suggestions for the lawmakers included: ensure universal digital and internet access, encourage media experimentation, and examine possible laws that would make it easier to create local nonprofit news organizations. (Read Ibargüen's testimony here.)
Poynter's Bill Mitchell also shares his view on the hearing here.
Hugo Chávez Attacks Media Opponents Again, Threatens to Withdraw Their Licenses

The Venezuelan president warned in his weekly TV program Aló Presidente (Hello President) he would take drastic measures against those communications media that "trample the truth and incite war," BBC Mundo reports.
According to El Nacional, Chávez called on the private media to change their attitude or to face legal penalties, including the withdrawal of their concessions.
Chávez's words were interpreted as a warning to the director of Globovisión, Alberto Federico Ravell, whom the president has accused repeatedly of participating in conspiracies.

• By Ingrid Bachmann/DG at 05/11/2009 - 11:24

Iran Releases Journalist Convicted of Spying for U.S.

ranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi was released from a Tehran prison after judicial authorities suspended the remainder of the eight-year sentence she was given for espionage, the Washington Post and BBC report.
"I'm okay. I don't want to make any comments but I am okay," she told the AFP news agency minutes after leaving the Evin prison in Tehran and then being driven away by her father.
Saberi, 32, is free to leave Iran and has been banned from working as a reporter in Iran for five years, one of her attorneys told the Post.
An Iranian court had convicted the reporter of espionge and sentenced her to eight years in prison last month after a closed trial. She was first arrested in January and told her family she was held for buying a bottle of wine. Iranian officials later said she was detained for reporting without proper accreditation.
More stories about her release are found here, and previous posts are found here.

• By Dean Graber at 05/11/2009 - 08:45


Edited by :MUKTI MAJID