IAB rejects measures against Venezuela’s RCTV

[khurramdar]

IAB rejects measures against Venezuela’s RCTV
March 10th, 2010 - 10:24 UTC
by Andy Sennitt.

The International Association of Broadcasting (IAB) considers “illegal and arbitrary” a decision adopted by the Venezuelan government which denied the request to launch private TV station Radio Caracas Internacional (RCTV) as a national audiovisual production service.

The IAB, which includes more than 17,000 private radio and TV stations in the Americas, Asia and Europe, filed a complaint in a statement released in Montevideo. The association is based in the Uruguayan capital.

AIB says that the explanations of Hugo Chávez’s government to deny the authorization to RCTV are illegal and arbitrary. The AIB maintains that the Venezuelan TV station “provided in a timely manner all the documents that supports its international programming,” AP reported.

The AIB complained that the “description of facts and its dire consequences is carried out unilaterally by a government agency, without the intervention of any independent court. In fact, it will result in the full and final withdrawal of RCTV from Venezuelan cable operators, thus depriving Venezuela’s people of an independent TV channel, severely affecting their right to information and freedom of expression.”

The association said that with these measures, the Venezuelan government is “violating international treaties and constitutional rights.” The IAB called the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to take the necessary steps to prevent “that the Venezuelan government violates with impunity fundamental rights such as freedom of expression and due process.”