Propaganda Floods Venezuela's Media

by Humberto Marquez

Commercial advertisements have basically disappeared from TV, the radio and the print media in this South American oil-producing nation, and have been replaced by political propaganda.

Meanwhile, the regular programming has been radically altered to make way for the ongoing coverage of the general strike declared on Dec. 2 and the standoff between the government of populist President Hugo Chavez and the broad opposition movement seeking his resignation.

The private stations, which claim more than 90 percent of the TV-viewing audience, are standard-bearers of the opposition, while the state-owned public TV channel is a staunch defender of the government.

The opposition spots are in favor of the shutdown declared by the country's leading business and labor organizations, a broad coalition of opposition parties and civil society groups, and managers and executives of the state oil monopoly, PDVSA, aimed at toppling Chavez.

One of the ads tells the president: "You are solely responsible for the violations of the constitution, the scarcities and shortages, the violence, and of financing the terror groups created under the wing of the government." In the background, viewers see images reflecting the difficulties caused by the strike and the political crisis.

Another advertisement, which show the security forces cracking down harshly on protesters, appeals to the largely pro-Chavez armed forces: "Dear military chiefs and officers, all of these events form part of our history. What will you do when the time comes that your child asks you 'Daddy, where were you?"

For its part, the public TV station airs images of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, with the message "The people know who the terrorists are" -- a reference to the leaders of the stoppage.

Other pro-government spots mock opposition leaders like the head of the main business association, Carlos Fernandez, the leader of the most powerful central trade union, Carlos Ortega, and PDVSA executive Juan Fernandez.

At the same time, the opposition scoffs at Chavez, showing the contrast between recordings taken from his past speeches and images of the reality in Venezuela today.

The political propaganda on both sides shows huge street demonstrations, cars lined up outside service stations seeking gasoline, women of modest means waiting in endless queues to fill their cooking gas cylinders, and sad-faced children in front of their closed schools. The adversary -- whether Chavez or the opposition movement -- is identified as the culprit.

A silent pro-government ad shows empty classrooms, with computers and school materials gathering dust, and the following message: "Graduating class: Carlos Ortega. Sponsor: Carlos Fernandez."

Others mix images of violence and long queues caused by shortages of fuel and basic goods, and asks: "Do these ends justify these means?" with the last word ("means" or "medios", which also signifies "the media" in Spanish) marked in red letters -- an allusion to the opposition-controlled media.

"In general terms, there is no information, only propaganda, as if we were in the middle of a continual election campaign, mounted on the basis of one single piece of news: The departure of the president has been delayed," Roberto Malaver, a professor of advertising in the School of Journalism at the Central University, the country's leading institute of higher education, told IPS.

"Neither side is trying to convince the other," Marcelino Bisbal, founder of the magazine Comunicaci—n, commented to IPS. "Each media outlet, whether pro-government or opposition, is targeting a militant audience, to reinforce their positions."

"It is a well-organized effort, characteristic of psychological operations like the ones that accompany military campaigns, to reinforce the convictions of the different sides, rather than to create or change opinions," another communications researcher, Ivan Abreu, told IPS.

According to Abreu, the opposition has more creative ads, while the pro-government spots are mainly counter-propaganda, reacting to the accusations and allegations set forth by the other side. But the situation improved somewhat for government supporters when the strike extended to the schools and people began to feel the impact of severe fuel shortages.

The political propaganda "is broadcast free of charge on the public and private channels, and it is produced with great talent and basically with just a pair of scissors, by editing images from newscasts," a private TV station executive who asked not to be identified said in an interview with IPS.

Jesœs Torrealba, the coordinator of the opposition coalition Coordinadora Democratica, said the movement had around 100 advertising experts and publicists producing ads that reflect the coalition's day-to-day shifts in strategy.

The Coordinadora's media commission then monitors the broadcasts of the spots, and conducts quick polls to measure their impact, he explained.

In the negotiations between the government and the opposition, which are brokered by Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary General CŽsar Gaviria, the government representatives said any agreement resolving the political standoff should include a pledge by the media to change their behavior.

Business leader Carlos Fernandez has admitted that "The media are part of the strike."

Alberto Ravell, the director of Globovisi—n, a private 24-hour news channel, "is playing the role of a political actor, and is in a position of confrontation under the current circumstances. But once the crisis is over, it will once again become merely a vehicle for information."

"The media are always political actors, as part of a country's culture industry, but that role is emphasized in crisis situations," said Bisbal.

According to Chavez, the owner of Venezuela's most popular private TV station, Gustavo Cisneros -- a business tycoon with interests in telecommunications, industry, banking and commerce in the Americas and Europe -- is one of the "heads of a conspiracy" aimed at toppling the government.

The president has dubbed the four leading private TV stations "the four horsemen of the Apocalypse." His followers in the Fifth Republic Movement -- Chavez's political party -- are collecting signatures to request a referendum that would revoke state broadcasting concessions to those media outlets.

An anti-government spot shows a TV set displaying only snowy static, while the voice-over says, "If this ever happens, we will know that the dictator took off his mask, and then we Venezuelans will take to the streets until the dictator falls, because TV is all of us, and they will never be able to silence us."