Censorship in Venezuela

There's a post over at The American Thinker about recent efforts by Hugo Chavez to censor the press in Venezuela.

Reporter Patricia Poleo, someone they've hated for a long time, was accused of the actual murder of the prosecutor, something utterly unlikely, and has fled to Peru. Another of the accused was an owner of the television station Globovision. He's sitting in jail. And now his own television station has been told that if he airs anything about this case, including the dodgy, gamy, utterly false witness the government has hauled out to accuse him of the crime, he will be guilty of yet another crime!

In a stunning development, Globovision has said it has no intention of obeying this government censorship. I spent time at this station when I was in Caracas, talking to the reporters, and know how professional they are. But to take a risk like this is significant in Hugo Chavez's Venezuela.

Meanwhile, other papers vow to defy this brash act of censorship as well, as Daniel's post shows here. Francisco Toro, meanwhile, a former New York Times reporter who quit his job on principle over its Chavista slant, and who was asked to leave based on his marching in the streets of Caracas to defend press freedoms,has some particularly good commentary here, here, and here. [bold added]

(Quick side note: If I could believe that the Times gave a hoot in hell about fredom of speech, I'd accuse them of cowardice. But I don't, so I won't.) Note the courage shown by Globovision (and the other journalists) in Venezuela, and contrast it to the cowardice of Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who live across the Pacific Ocean from China, and yet capitulate to the Chi Comms without the pretense of a fight.

-- CAV