[thenightwriterblog] The Night Writer: Stop, children, what's that sound...everyone look what's going down

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Posted by The Night Writer:
Stop, children, what's that sound...everyone look what's going down
http://thenightwriterblog.powerblogs.com/posts/1169757399.shtml


   Fairness Doctrine? What a bunch of pikers. Those who are serious about
   bringing back the so-called Fairness Doctrine are either flat-out
   ignorant or disingenous about their real motives (place your bets). To
   find out what they really mean, simply look to Venezuela where the
   darling of the American left, Hugo Chávez, has already nationalized
   the energy and telecommunications companies, declared -- following his
   (un-Constitutional) third inauguration -- that the country "requires a
   deep reform of our national Constitution" in order to become a
   socialistic republic and is now threatening to shut down the last
   vestiges of a free press.
   Yet the predictable celebrity "pscho-phants" like Cindy Sheehan, Harry
   Belafonte, Danny Glover and Princeton professor Cornel West knock the
   paté out of each other's hands as they jostle to have their picture
   taken with this man of the people. Presumably they do so because
   political dissidents, artists and academics such as themselves have
   historically fared so very well under totalitarian "socialist"
   regimes. No, wait, that's not the reason: they love Chávez because he
   taunts and insults George Bush -- and they hate George Bush, too,
   reportedly because he's a meanie who is ravaging our Constitution and
   destroying free speech.
   Nevertheless I'm sure Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon and the Dixie Chicks
   felt a distinct chill come over them when [1]this article by the
   Chairman of Radio Caracas Television (who's livelihood and possibly
   his life are being jeopardized) appeared in yesterday's Wall Street
   Journal (WSJ subscription required for full article).

     Remote Control
     By MARCEL GRANIER
     January 24, 2007; Page A12
     CARACAS -- The president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,
     Hugo Chávez, has verbally announced his decision to shut down
     Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) -- our TV station, the oldest in
     Venezuela as well as the one with the largest audience.
     So continues a long series of attacks against journalists,
     employees, management and shareholders of many independent media
     companies. The aim of all this is to limit the citizens' right to
     seek information and entertainment in the media of their choice, to
     impede public access to those media where they might express or
     encounter criticism of the government or their proposals for
     reform, to stifle the pluralism of opinion in news and talk
     programs, and to cut off the free flow of information and debate in
     Venezuela. Instead, the Chávez government seeks to install a
     system that it has described, without apparent irony, as the
     "communicational and informative hegemony of the state."
     On June 14, 2006, President Chávez -- dressed in military fatigues
     -- gave a speech on the occasion of the delivery of a batch of
     Kalashnikov AK-103s to an army battalion. He brandished a weapon,
     then pointed it at a cameraman and said: "With this rifle, which
     has a range of 1,000 meters, I could take out that wee red light on
     your camera." Moments later, he declared: "We have to review the
     licenses of the TV companies."
     In the weeks that followed the incident, various government
     officials repeated the same threat and started to monitor the
     editorial positions of the media. "There have been qualitative
     changes in programming, in news selection, and in the editorial
     line" of some media, an official observed; "[but] there are other
     cases in which we have not seen this change, this rectification . .
     ." He reminded us all that the government "has the ability not to
     renew a [media] license."
     On Nov. 3, 2006, a month before the Venezuelan presidential
     elections, President Chávez repeated his threat: "I'm reminding
     certain media, above all in television, that they mustn't be
     surprised if I say, 'There are no more licenses for certain TV
     channels.' . . . I'm the head of state."
     On Dec. 28, 2006, President Chávez, again in military uniform,
     declared that the broadcasting license for RCTV would not be
     renewed: "The order has already been drafted, so they should start
     shutting down their studios."

   Apparently President Chávez is the only one who knows what is best
   and can be trusted to watch over what happens to the people's
   resources, whether it's oil revenues, electric power ... or what they
   hear or see.

     On Jan. 13, in his annual address to the National Assembly, he
     changed his tune again and said: "The transmission signal belongs
     to the Venezuelan people and will be nationalized for all
     Venezuelans." He added: "RCTV has only a few days left . . . they
     can scream, stomp their feet, do whatever they want, but the
     license is finished. They can say whatever they want, I don't care,
     it's over."
     (SNIP)
     President Chávez has violated the presumption of innocence and has
     denied us due process...The actions against RCTV of President
     Chávez and his subordinates are in violation of the Venezuelan
     constitution, the American Convention on Human Rights, and the
     Inter-American Democratic Charter. They are a clear example of
     abuse of power, and violate the right to work of all those in the
     media industry, not to mention a violation of the freedom of
     thought and expression of millions of citizens who seek information
     and ideas of their own free choice.
     We are faced, in effect, with an aggressive campaign to extinguish
     all thought that differs from that which is officially dubbed
     "revolutionary."

   I added the bold-face emphasis above about the airwaves "belonging to
   the people" because it is also a central theme for those advocating a
   return to government control of what is "appropriate" political
   commentary and discussion of issues. Admittedly, the marketplace can
   be an ugly monster depending on your perspective, spawning Rush
   Limbaugh and Howard Stern, though in terms of ideas it has been
   harsher on the lefties who through incompetence, intellectual
   barrenness and their own corruption have failed spectacularly in
   attracting a paying audience.
   When the market has brought forth something I've found to be
   offensive, the typical response has been "you don't have to
   watch/listen to it." I find that an emminently "fair" solution that
   leaves the power in my hands. No matter how ugly things might be
   without the "Unfairness" Doctrine, it is nowhere near as ugly or scary
   as putting the government in charge of deciding what I can or cannot
   listen to (I know, that's kind of a "liberal" position).
   The idea that the government can create a marketplace of ideas is as
   flawed and demonstrably untrue as the belief that the government can
   produce wealth.

References

   1. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116960498902885814.html?mod=djemITP