Venezuelan press in polarized times

Venezuela’s media recently played an instrumental role in blocking proposed action by the Chavez administration that could prove detrimental to the country’s democratic processes. This past December, Venezuelans rejected a government-proposed referendum that would change the country’s constitution to extend Chavez’s presidency by an additional term. But, according to research from the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, the media’s polarized coverage may have been anti-democratic in it of itself.

This month, Andrés Cañizález presented the university’s research analyzing the media’s role in striking down the referendum to the National Endowment for Democracy. During his presentation, Cañizález said that “the neutral space was lost” in Venezuela’s media campaigns for and against the referendum, because they did not allow for any diversity of opinions. By failing to present opposing views on the referendum, the media contributed to the polarization of Venezuelan society, he said.”*

*From: http://www.ijnet.org
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

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