Meios de comunicação, leis e enfrentamentos democráticos na Venezuela: a eliminação de jornais impressos e emissoras de rádio e TV entre 2013 e 2019

Abstract

Since Hugo Chávez’s arrival to the Venezuelan Presidency in 1998, several changes have been made in the media. The first changes were premised on the establishment of the so- called socialism of the 21st century, and the democratization of communications in the country. One of the most important modifications was the implementation of laws and bodies for the regulation of the media. This process of transformation in communications was active throughout Chavez’s period in office (1999-2013), and continues under the administration of Nicolás Maduro, who assumed the presidency in 2013. After taking power, Maduro instituted legal measures that impacted the freedom of expression and the plurality of information. An unprecedented social, economic and political crisis in Venezuelan history has also been reflected in the communications sector. Commercial companies in the sector either closed down or migrated to digital format. In this context, this dissertation investigates the process of closing newspapers, radio and TV stations in Venezuela between January 2013 and June 2019. It intends to answer the following research question: what is the level of freedom of expression and press in Venezuela? This research fits into the ’study case’ methodology, analyzing multiple cases of closed media. In particular, four cases were chosen, considering the nature of each media: a) printed matter; b) radio; c) national television; d) cable services, specifically those available on the DIRECTV platform. The bibliographic review (documents and records of archives) complete the methodology. Due to the importance of the particular and changing context in which the research was developed, it started from a theoretical path that includes concepts of democracy, freedom of expression and freedom of the press