The National Union of Journalists (CNP in Spanish) said that media companies all over Venezuela have been pressured by the government to end programs critical of the State, retire the journalists that run them and adjust their editorial tone.
The building housing the newspaper El Regional, in Venezuela, was fired upon in the morning of Thursday, Nov. 1, reported El Universal.
A Venezuelan deputy requested the government analyze the supposed negative impacts caused by the media during the Oct. 7 presidential elections in the country, reported the Press and Society Institute.
The Press and Society Institute (IPYS in Spanish) of Venezuela recorded 19 incidents that affected press freedom in the country during the presidential elections that took place on Sunday, Oct. 7, the group said in a report released on Oct. 11. According to IPYS Venezuela, the events happened between the week before the elections and the days after the results were announced.
One bystander was injured when a grenade exploded at the headquarters of the newspaper Nuevo Día in the state of Falcón, Venezuela, reported the newspaper El Universal.
Venezuela journalist Leonardo León tweeted on Sept. 30, that he had received threats on his Twitter feed from a government supporter known as "imperatus josue," reported the press freedom group Public Space.
Venezuela's presidential election will take place next Sunday, Oct. 7. In this period of the campaign, the media landscape in the country is polarized between supporters of President Hugo Chávez and opposition candidate Henrique Capriles. An analysis from BBC revealed that while the Venezuelan government has built a media empire of five public broadcasters, the state-run channels have only a slim 5.4 percent of the audience share, according to an investigation by AGB Panamericana.
The United States and Cuba are at opposite extremes of Freedom House’s Freedom on the Net 2012 report. According to the New York-based organization, the United States was ranked the second most “free” country in the world for online expression, while Cuba was listed as the second to worst.
Including alternative voices, differentiating between government and campaign acts, and in-depth reports on the trajectory of the candidates were some of the recommendations compiled by a group of Venezuelan journalists.
On Sept. 18, Reporters Without Borders (RSF in French) addressed the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Human Rights about the current situation in Venezuela in the last weeks before the Oct. 7 presidential elections.
Conflicting versions of a violent confrontation between supporters of President Hugo Chávez and opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles demonstrate the polarization of the press in Venezuela less than a month from the elections.
A photographer was attacked at a demonstration in Venezuela as a confrontation broke out between pro-government and opposition supporters on Wednesday, Sept. 12, reported the website Notícias 24.