Opacity and fear were the most alarming features that attacked freedom of expression in Venezuela in 2021, confirms a study by the Press and Society Institute (IPYS), which exposes how journalists observe the exercise of their profession and how it is affected because of censorship and self-censorship in the country.
The investigation entitled “The orchestration of silence”, prepared by the NGO that works in the promotion, defense and training in freedom of expression, highlights that journalists work in a territory marked by the absence of media and the lack of news coverage that might be “uncomfortable for power.”
Marianela Balbi, executive director of IPYS, stressed that censorship continues to mark the dynamics of journalism in Venezuela. In this sense, the closure of radio stations continues, especially in the regions, and the harassment of journalists who “dare to address complex issues.”
“Fifty-eight percent of those consulted stated that they did not report to government agencies when they suffer from some restriction in the exercise of the population, 53% stated that they had omitted information of public interest for fear of reprisals,” Balbi said during the presentation of the study that consulted 534 journalists in the 24 states of the country.
Fear of legal action
Daniela Alvarado, coordinator of information freedoms at IPYS, insisted that the fear of legal actions and arbitrary arrests has led many journalists to “think twice” regarding what topics to cover and in which investigations to participate, a situation that also occurs in the environment digital that has also been threatened.
In addition, he stated that censorship has become “naturalized” and detailed how the limitations have affected the ability of press workers to be able to identify when information of public interest is being omitted.
“We found in the results that the agenda of untouchable issues, which must be mentioned in a specific way, referred to from the official agenda, is expanded,” he added.
The study found that the category of access to data of public interest achieved the worst performance during the measurement and obtained a score of 37 points, which translates into “little freedom of expression.”
“Restrictions on access to sources of information persist in both state and non-state instances, restrictions on access to content consultation on the Internet, refusals by public officials and personalities from private institutions who fear, due to the mechanisms of censorship, to be the ones who spread the information that might put their security or integrity at risk”, detailed Alvarado.
In addition, he explained that the “information windows” that still persist in media with greater reach such as radio, are subject to limitations that become “more frequent” in electoral contexts, where dissenting voices are “vulnerated.”
“We have even seen that this type of practice has led to an agreement between directors of radio media with actors in power that require them to prohibit this type of content and the directors see their hands tied and must restrict their programming to avoid closures” , warned the researcher.
The investigation also reveals how the traditional media “lost their referent power in communication in Venezuela”; now, the digital media, at 50.3%, bring together the largest number of workers, while 20% work in radio, 8.24% in the written press and 8% in television.
The economic crisis and the censorship situation caused a significant migration to digital media, which must also overcome blockades and cyber attacks.
Marcelino Bisbal, communication researcher and university professor, insisted that democracy cannot be a tangible reality without the existence of free and independent media from any form of power and especially from government authority.
Referring to the content of the report, Bisbal said that “it would seem that there is a systematic nature of the violations to the extent that the government manifests itself more authoritarian.”
“Fear has been inserted in the domains of our journalistic and communication exercise that has been expressed, as the report says, in explicit exhortations to silence content” and in other actions to intimidate communicators.
In her report on the situation of human rights in Venezuela, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, stated that in recent years the government of President Nicolás Maduro has tried to impose “a communicational hegemony”, creating “an environment that restricts the media.”
Despite the complaints from various international organizations and bodies, on several occasions various officials of the Government of Venezuela, including Foreign Minister Félix Plasencia, have affirmed that there is “wide freedom of expression” in the country.
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