Venezuela May Fine Globovision 10% of Earnings on Riot Coverage
Venezuela may fine Caracas-based news channel Globovision as much as 10 percent of its earnings after opening an investigation into its coverage of prison riots earlier this month, according to lawyers for the channel.
Globovision transmitted “messages of panic” by suggesting the National Guard was massacring prisoners in the Rodeo prisons west of Caracas, said Pedro Maldonado, director of Venezuela’s telecommunications agency, Conatel, to reporters on state TV. Ricardo Antela, the news channel’s lawyer, said on Globovision that the channel may be fined by as much as 10 percent of its earnings.
“It’s presumed that the editorial line of the channel is looking to generate panic, uncertainty and disquiet,” Maldonado said.
The station’s reporters were not given access to officials in charge of controlling the riots, said Maria Fernanda Flores, vice president of Globovision, in comments carried on the channel. “We were doing what we were meant to be doing. It was the government’s media that was unbalanced,” she said.
Globovision, which is known for its critical coverage of President Hugo Chavez’s regime, has clashed with the government several times in recent years.
The channel’s principal owners, Guillermo Zuloaga and Nelson Mezerhane, are both in the U.S. after arrest warrants were filed in Venezuela against them. Mezerhane, whose Banco Federal CA and other companies were seized by the government, is accused of fleeing with clients’ deposits, and Zuloaga faces usury allegations for hoarding new vehicles at his Caracas residence, according to the attorney general. Both men have denied any wrongdoing.
A riot at El Rodeo I prison on June 12 left 22 dead, according to the Associated Press. The uprising later spread to the adjacent Rodeo II.
To contact the reporter on this story: Charlie Devereux in Caracas at cdevereux3@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joshua Goodman at jgoodman19@bloomberg.net
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