Venezuela Files New Charges Against Globovisión for TV Program that Predicted Chavez's Death/Mexican Journalist Was Killed to Intimidate Others, Confe

JOURNALISM IN THE AMERICAS


Venezuela Files New Charges Against Globovisión for TV Program that Predicted Chavez's Death

Employees of Venezuela's broadcasting regulator, Conatel, appeared at the headquarters of Globovisión on Tuesday (June 16) to inform the TV news channel of the fourth charges against it, El Nacional reports.
Conatel is investigating whether Globovisión committed violations during several of its programs, including a broadcast last October of "Hello Citizen" (Aló Ciudadano), in which the editor of an opposition newspaper predicted the death of President Hugo Chávez, El Universal reports. The programs were already under investigation to determine whether their broadcasts had threatened public order, but the government now wishes to see if it can file criminal charges, El Universal explains.
Globovisión's director, Alberto Federico Ravell, insists that there is no legal basis for closing the network. In his view, the Chávez administration is doing all it can to find fault with its directors and to remove the station from the air, Globovisión reports.

• Posted by Ingrid Bachmann/DG at 06/16/2009 - 10:31

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Mexican Journalist Was Killed to Intimidate Others, Confessed Assassin Says

Last month's killing of Mexican reporter Eliseo Barrón was intended to scare local journalists against interfering with the work of drug traffickers, El Universal and EFE report.
Five men, including a regional leader of Los Zetas, the armed branch of the Gulf Cartel, were arrested for the killing. One of the five, gunman Israel Sánchez Jaimes, admitted having killed the reporter from La Opinión last month on order of the leader of Los Zetas in the states of Durango and Coahuila, Milenio adds.
The Mexican government had offered a reward for information about the killing, generating criticisms over impunity and the authorities' failure to solve other journalist killings.
Separately, in the state of Chihuahua, El Diario de Juárez reported that the state attorney general's office has known the identity of the killer of reporter Armando Rodríguez (killed in November 2008) since February, including possible links with criminal organizations, but nothing has been done to arrest him or his accomplices.