“Media Crimes”

CNN: “U.S. report: Chavez moving to silence media critics”

Chavez’s government defended the draft of the bill, as well as the recent closure of the broadcasters, as being within the law.

The radio stations that were ordered off the air were all violating the law, either by operating with expired broadcasting concessions, failure to renew such licenses or illegally holding a concession, the Venezuelan government’s fact sheet said.

According to the document, “neither the regularization of the situation of radio and television (stations) that have been operating outside the law in Venezuela, nor the development of a law to clearly regulate subsequent imposition of liabilities in the case of serious media abuses are measures that limit freedom of speech in Venezuela.”