The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in over 120 countries, strongly condemns the shutdown of the privately owned Radio Caracas Television (RCTV), Venezuela’s oldest commercial television station, which was closed at midnight, 27 May 2007. RCTV’s signal was immediately transferred to a new state-backed broadcasting company, TVES.

President Hugo Chávez first made the announcement to shut down RCTV in a speech at a military ceremony in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, on 28 December 2006. He said he would not renew the licence for RCTV, which he claimed expires in May 2007. “There will be no new operating license for this coupist TV channel,” Chávez said. RCTV’s head, Marcel Granier, maintains that the TV channel’s license is not up for renewal until 2020.

During last year’s presidential election campaign, Chávez suggested that a referendum should be held on the broadcasting concessions held by the four leading private TV stations – Globovisión, RCTV, Televen and Venevisión. Hours after taking RCTV off the air, Venezuela’s government accused Globovisión of inciting a murder attempt on President Chávez. It said footage of the 1981 assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II shown on Globovisión implicitly called for President Chávez to be killed. The station denied the claim.

Commenting on the shutdown, IPI Director Johann P. Fritz said, “IPI believes that the decision to close RCTV is clearly politically motivated, and that RCTV is being targeted for its critical reporting of events in Venezuela.”

“IPI regards the decision not to renew the station’s license to be a flagrant attempt to silence the station’s critical voice and in violation of everyone’s right ‘to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers,’ as outlined in Article 19 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We urge President Chávez and the responsible authorities to ensure that RCTV is allowed to immediately resume broadcasting.”