Telesur is the name of the new Latin American satellite television station which went on the air on Sunday 24 July, but opponents of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez have already dubbed it 'Telechávez'. They're predicting that the president will use the station to promote his own ideas and as a propaganda tool to advance his 'Bolivarian revolution'.
Aram Aharonian, a Uruguayan journalist and now managing director of Telesur (English translation: TeleSouth), is annoyed about these accusations. "I'm going to ask Chávez to do a weekly programme," he commented ironically during the station's opening broadcast, "He'll be allowed to talk about everything except politics, and it must be called 'Telechávez', so at least something will have that name, and the moaning can stop."
The concept of Telesur came from Mr Chavez; his country is providing 50 percent of the funding, and the studios are in Venezuela's capital, Caracas. But it's actually a joint project, in which Argentina, Uruguay and Cuba are already involved, and it's hoped that other countries will follow.
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| President Hugo Chávez - one of the main movers behind Telesur |
Argentina's President Néstor Kirchner is a passionate supporter of the new station, which has the primary objective of breaking the hegemony of powerful international broadcasters, such as US-based CNN.
Picture distortion
Those behind Telesur believe its existing competitors give a distorted picture of the real situation in Latin America. Telesur hopes to counterbalance this with information for the people of South America, produced by South Americans. 'Nuestro norte es el sur' is the station's slogan; a play on words which basically means: the South is our guiding principle.
Telesur's goal is become an international station which promotes integration among the nations of South America. Its news director is Colombian journalist Enrique Botero. The station also has a team of international advisors, including well-known figures such as Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano, US actor Danny Glover and British journalist Tariq Ali, who's commented that it is vitally important there's a clear dividing line between the station's owners and the journalists who work there.
Upsetting the balance
The new station has not exactly been welcomed with open arms in the United States. Republican Congressman Connie Mack has even described it as threat to the US, saying it will undermine the balance of power in the western hemisphere.
The US House of Representatives has adopted Mr Mack's idea of setting up stations to counter the influence of Telesur, along the lines of the US-based Marti TV and radio stations which target Cuba. President Chávez has warned, however, that should Washington try to revive the use of jamming transmitters, this will result in an 'electronic war'.
Telesur appeared to make a point of demonstrating its independence on its very first day on the air, by broadcasting a film featuring transvestites, scavengers and street children in Caracas. Not exactly the most positive images of Mr Chávez's 'Bolivarian Revolution'.
Tags:
al-Jazeera,
CNN,
Connie Mack,
Danny Glover,
Eduardo Galeano,
Enrique Botero,
Hugo Chavez,
international broadcasting,
Nestor Kirchner,
Radio Marti,
Tariq Ali,
Telesur,
TV Marti
Daniel del Solar,
solarmedia@hotmail.com,
06-08-2006
- USA
TeleSur is available worldwide. One can tune in at: www.telesurtv.net
Vitaly important to have an independent source of news, NOT JUST CNN/FOX/ABC/NBC/etc. selling the POV(point of view) of the Empire, disguised as a democracy.
Iain Simpson,
04-10-2005
- United Kingdom
The USA has always talked loudly about supporting democracy and free elections as well as opposing terrorism; but it has overthrown parliamentary democracy and freely elected goverments using terrorist violence in Iran, Guatemala, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Greece, Chile and sustained a campaign of terrorist violence against the democratically elected Sandinista government of Nicaragua (condemned as such by the International Court of Justice). Even whilst supposedly 'promoting democracy' in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Bush administration has invaded Haiti and kidnapped the elected head of state and been involved in the attempted military coup against the democratically elected Chavez goverment. In reality the USA has treated Latin America as its back yard, the goverments are no more independent of it than was Eastern Europe independent of the USSR. Telsur is vital in challenging the Washington consensus, educating the people of this great continent about their history and promoting genuine democracy, independence from US Imperialism, Social Justice and Human Rights. [Edited by RN]
Lloy Penka,
lpenka@msn.com,
04-08-2005
- usa
I for one am glad to see the news control getting a break from Bush hegomony. Wish I was there to enjoy it. Good luck!!
alejandro diaz,
03-08-2005
-
Ya era hora que alguien tomara las riendas y romper el monopolio de medios norteamericano Todos los latinos debemos alimentar TELESUR para hacerla mas importante. Bienvenidos
H. Avila,
hectoravila@mac.com,
02-08-2005
- Colombia
Reactions around the world, especially in US, confirm that Telesur is the right first step to achieve an independent and integrated Latin America. I hope the words of the reactionary congressman Mr. Mack will become true and that South America will wake up of its long dream of submission, "undermining the balance of power in the western hemisphere". Welcome Telesur!
L.Agrinsoni,
fortunaveluxluna@yahoo.com,
01-08-2005
- Puerto Rico
The title of your article sounds so similar to the one used by United States newscasters for the same story that it makes me think that we the "other" Americans (There's roughly 300 million of us in 20 countries south of the U.S.A.) urgently need a different point of view from the new Telesur television station.
