President Chávez is wrenching up his longtime battle with the media in Venezuela, revoking numerous radio station licenses and calling for laws regulating “media crimes” against the state. The Guardian reports:
Venezuela has revoked the licenses of dozens of radio stations as part of a wider crackdown which could jail people deemed guilty of “media crimes” for up to four years.At least 13 stations went off the air over the weekend and another 21 were expected to follow soon in an effort by President Hugo Chávez to extend his socialist revolution.
The move followed last week’s introduction of a draft law to jail journalists and broadcasters who “harm the interests of the state”, “cause panic” or “disturb social peace”.
In Turkmenistan, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov is fighting his own battle against the national media: the battle to stay awake. Turkmen television is so boring that the President has had to reprimand the director of the state television broadcaster Altyn Asyr. Turkmenistan.ru reports:
Turkmen president admits national TV uninterestingBy the order of the Turkmen president, Maksat Altaev, Director of the Altyn Asyr: Turkmenistan TV Channel of the General Directory of the Turkmen Television was reprimanded for the unsatisfactory execution of official duties, weakening of control over the proper level of TV programs on the channel and their low quality”.
During the Cabinet of Ministers meeting, August 14, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov again criticized the National TV noting the low quality of programs, “which do not meet the modern level and present-day objectives”. “Largely, the TV programs suffer from the lack of creativity, and watching them is uninteresting”, he said.
This is not the first time President Berdimuhamedov has taken action against the head of Altyn Asyr. A previous director of the station, Guvanch Soyunov, held the position for only a year before being fired on similar grounds, citing “loosening control over the work of the national TV channels and low quality of broadcasts.”
Perhaps Chavez would do well to study Berdimuhamedov’s dilemma to understand the pitfalls of state-run media.
