RIGHT TO INFORMATION MORE ENDANGERED THAN EVER IN NATIONAL CRISIS

RIGHT TO INFORMATION MORE ENDANGERED THAN EVER IN NATIONAL CRISIS
PUBLISHED ON WEDNESDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2014. UPDATED ON THURSDAY 27 FEBRUARY
2014.

The protests in Venezuela have turned violent and the journalists
covering them are on the front line. Trough acts of violence and
crackdowns, the security forces and self-proclaimed paramilitary groups
have become obstacles to media workers.

Polarization between pro-government and opposition media has peaked
again after lingering since the April 2013 elections, when Reporters
Without Borders urged candidates to come out in support of media
pluralism and called for journalists to be given protection.

Because the situation for freedom of information and journalists' safety
is now critical, Reporters Without Borders has written an open letter to
Nicolás Maduro, the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

Paris, 26 February 2014

President Nicolás Maduro
Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Dear President Maduro,

Reporters Without Borders is worried by the decline in freedom of
information in Venezuela. Our international organization defends freedom
of information as enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration
of Human Right and is politically unbiased and unaffiliated to any
private or diplomatic interest. We are particularly concerned about the
difficulties that journalists have encountered when covering the
protests that have been taking place since the start of February, and
about your decision to step up censorship in response to the protests.

We have so far registered more than 70 incidents in which media
personnel were targeted. They include at least 60 cases of physical or
verbal aggression and 13 arrests, usually accompanied by the theft or
destruction of equipment. In one case, the premises of the national
television station, VTV, were attacked.

Journalists are being targeted by the National Bolivarian Guard, the
National Bolivarian Police and by certain demonstrators and paramilitary
groups that are taking advantage of the demonstrations to spread terror.
This toll is liable to grow in the current climate of extreme tension if
measures are not taken quickly to protect journalists.

As the UN Human Rights Council said in its Resolution 19/35 of 18 April
2012, protests and demonstration "contribute to the full enjoyment of
civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights". The role of
journalists during protests is therefore essential to an open democracy,
to inform the public and to witness the security forces' response.

The comments by certain members of your government are just aggravating
the situation. In response to complaints by the National Union of Media
Professionals and the National Association of Journalists, communication
and information minister Delcy Rodríguez said: "They are talking about
attacks on journalists but we haven't heard of them and the prosecutor's
office hasn't either."

I can assure you that the cases documented by Reporters Without Borders
and other NGOs such as Espacio Público, IPYS and Human Rights Watch were
not imagined. Espacio Público representatives actually accompanied
photojournalist Gabriel Osorio to file a complaint before the Ombudsman
office and the prosecutor's office. Reporters Without Borders urges you
to quickly set up a parliamentary commission of enquiry into the many
threats and attacks on journalists since the start of February so that
they do not remain unpunished.

In reaction to the scale of the protests, you have chosen censorship,
although censorship is never an appropriate response. On 11 February,
the head of the National Telecommunications Commission (CONATEL) warned
journalists that any coverage of violent events was banned, and that
anyone contravening the prohibition would be punished.

Strict censorship was imposed the next day on the Colombian TV news
channel NTN24 and was then extended to social networks, with a 48 hour
block on access to photos posted on Twitter. On 20 February, you said
you planned to ban the US news channel CNN in Venezuela, a process that
is already under way since permits to work in Venezuela have already
been withdrawn from four of its correspondents.

The expulsion and censorship of international TV stations means the
death of broadcast media pluralism in Venezuela, because most of the
national and local stations have been brought under government control.
The print media, the last remaining source of independence news
coverage, have been forced to reduce issues or even stop publishing
because of the shortage of newsprint.

The Radio, TV and Electronic Media Social Responsibility Law (RESORTMEC)
allows the government to use CONATEL to impose sanctions on the
non-aligned media and to control their content.

The end of government control of news and information is one of the
leading demands of the protesters. We ask you to appreciate the
importance of what your compatriots are asking of you.

News and information continue to circulate in Venezuela, but in a
dangerously polarized form. Dialogue is needed for news reporting to be
conducted in a trouble-free manner. We take account of your accusations
of manipulation of some the images of the protests, but we draw your
attention to the deeply undemocratic nature of the censorship that you
yourself apply to the flow of information in your country.

We urge you to regard media pluralism as the key to ensuring access to
complete and generally objective news coverage. The war that you are
waging against what you call "media terrorism," a war designed to
protect the public from supposed calls for violence, is one of the key
factors responsible for this media polarization.

We thank you in advance for the attention you give to these requests.

Sincerely,

Christophe Deloire
Reporters Without Borders secretary-general

http://en.rsf.org/venezuela-right-to-information-more-26-02-2014,45933.html