Letters to the Editor
Venezuelans decide government through ballot box, not TV
Venezuelan people are proudly celebrating the birth of a new television station. As The Daily Yomiuri reports ("Venezuela TV station goes off the air", page 6, May 29), the broadcasting license of RCTV expired after 53 years of service, and the Venezuela government decided not to renew it.
What The Daily Yomiuri does not say is what kind of station RCTV was: not only was it full of programs packed with vulgarity, obscenity, violence, hate and lacking the slightest respect for its viewers, but RCTV also played a preponderant role in the coup staged against a democratic government in 2002, which resulted in civil unrest and death.
Even as the coup failed, RCTV refused to air such developments. Can you image a Japanese station calling to overthrow the government and not being punished? After the failed coup, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez made a conciliation call that RCTV never answered. Instead it went, along with other private stations, to promote a general strike that badly affected the economy.
Despite the claims of opponents of Chavez, there is no censorship in Venezuela, where 95% of the media opposes him, including five privately owned open TV channels which control 90% of the market. Despite the report on Daily Yomiuri, most of the people stand by the measure of not renewing the license to RCTV.
In Venezuela, like in Japan, is through elections, not through TV ratings that we decide what kind of government we want. And in elections the people gave a clear mandate to President Chavez as recently as December of 2006.
M.C.Valecillos
Tsukuba, Japan
