The National Association of Journalists (CNP in Spanish) in Venezuela accused state media of spreading "hate" messages and urged authorities to take action to curb this practice with the same speed they normally investigate and punish private media, alluding to the recent complaint filed against opposition television station Globovisión, reported El Universal.
The host of the program La Hojilla, on government-run station Venezolana de Televisión, made comments against the mother of the editor of opposition newspaper El Nacional. Following the comments, which the association characterized as "derogatory and insulting," the CNP issued a statement against the "continued and blatant dissemination of hate speech" in state media, according to Entorno Inteligente.
The president of CNP, Silvia Alegret, said the government of Hugo Chávez is using his recently broadened powers over the media on a whim, punishing opposition media simply because the content of an article was not to the liking of authorities, according to Unión Radio.
CNP said that La Hojilla violated the right for one's honor to be respected that is guaranteed by the Venezuelan constitution, explained TalCualDigital.
The journalists association also pointed out that the host of the television program in question, Mario Silva, does not have a journalism degree, and thus is in violation of the Law of the Exercise of Journalism, the group said, according to El Nacional.
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.
