On Thursday, August 2, the Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE in Spanish) said that it would investigate two TV stations and two newspapers in the country for allegedly violating the rules of the presidential elections, which will take place in October 2012, reported the newspaper El Nacional.
The electoral body will start an administrative process against the TV channel Televen, and the newspaper Últimas Noticias for excessively disseminating information about the opposition presidential candidate, Henrique Capriles Radonski, according to the TV channel Globovisión.
The public TV station, Venezolana de Televisión, will also be investigated for campaigning in favor of President Hugo Chávez, while the newspaper Correo del Orinoco, may be fined for using Capriles' image without authorization, reported the news site RTP Noticias.
On July 30, the CNE ordered the removal of some videos of the NGO Ciudadanía Activa, and an advertising report from the Justice and Democracy Foundation, according to the Press and Society Institute (IPYS in Spanish).
IPYS said that the CNE's actions are a form of censorship, and that it restricts the discussion of ideas.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
