“According to the new Work Law of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, proposed by the Comandante, they can’t fire me.”
Howdy, everyone! Remember how our last installment dealt with putschist media figures and their dubious respect for the dead? Well, today’s entry will take on that topic from another angle…this time, their total lack of respect for the living. And the shitstorm it can cause for the owners of the putschist TV channels, too…
On Monday night, the new board of directors for the private TV channel Globovisión released a communiqué, in which they explained the various new decisions they had made. In the first place, they reiterated that their contract with parliamentary deputy Ismael García for his participation on the show “Aló Venezuela” was “an amicable resolution and not related to recent political events.”
“The channel remains open to the free expression of Deputy García. The management enjoys the autonomy to cover and broadcast his activities, and the opinion programs to invite him,” states the document.
Secondly, the document explains the exit of the talk-show host Francisco “Kiko” Bautista was “the result of a concern expressed publicly (by him) related to the supposed departure of Ismael García, without having previously sought and requested information over the facts, as is the duty of every journalist.
“Additionally, Mr. Bautista refused to take the phone calls we made to talk about the matter, and only appeared on Sunday night, when the decision had already been taken by the board,” said the press release.
As well, “No national independent producer [that is, program host] has the right to be consulted about administrative decisions taken by the board. This decision does not necessarily affect the continuation of the program ‘Buenas Noches’, or labor relations with journalists Carla Angola and Pedro Luis Flores.”
The communique also state that the board of directors “has not vetoed any political functionary or director’s appearance on Globovisión. On the contrary, the editorial policy of the channel consists in broadening its ine of information and opinion to all the voices of the land, without any discrimination,” in clear allusion to the censorship supposedly imposed on ex-presidential candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski.
“The coverage of a particular director or political party cannot be determined by the decisions of a private interest group. No media channel is obligated to broadcast live, for longer or shorter time, the declarations of a certain political director.”
Translation mine.
I guess I should mention the backstory here. It seems that Ismael García, a parliamentary deputy who used to support Chavecito but then later, for reasons of venal self-interest, turned on him, is the author of his own misfortunes here. He broadcast on his show, Aló Venezuela (a crude Globomojón takeoff on Chavecito’s immensely popular Aló Presidente, which was broadcast on VTV) a crude montage of VTV’s Mario Silva, host of La Hojilla (The Razorblade), allegedly saying all kinds of nasty things about Diosdado Cabello, the president of the Venezuelan national assembly. García is currently under investigation for that recording, which “incriminates” not only Mario Silva but several important members of the PSUV. (For his part, Diosdado Cabello accepts Mario Silva’s version of events, and doesn’t believe a word of the accusations.)
It wouldn’t surprise me if García’s allegations all prove false. He is a politician known for a long series of dirty tricks, starting with his “jumping the divider” (i.e., joining the oppposition) after riding into office on Chavecito’s coattails. In fact, at one point, Globomojón even tried to position him as the leading proponent of “Chavismo without Chávez” — a typical opposition attempt to siphon off the looser supporters of Chavecito while the latter was still alive. It was a flat failure; Ismael García was reduced to being just another fool with delusions of grandeur, who occasionally shouted in the National Assembly and on opposition TV. He made a regular ass of himself by accusing Chavecito and his followers of every awful thing under the Sun. So don’t anyone be too surprised if this latest accusation of his doesn’t pan out.
Mario Silva, in the meantime, is in Cuba, receiving medical treatment; seems that the combined stress of losing Chavecito, and now this, has caused an existing heart problem to flare up. He categorically denies having said any of the things Ismael García alleges he did, and has gone off the air voluntarily while the matter is under investigation. He is confident that his good name will be cleared, and has even written an amusing open letter from his “exile”, in which his characteristic wit and honesty come across loud and clear.
Kiko Bautista, on the other hand, has long been cruising for a bruising. His irresponsible “journalistic” antics (note the quotes) may have been tolerated and indulged by the old management of Globomojón, but now that the channel is under new ownership, it appears that somebody (or a group of somebodies?) is reluctant to let the shenanigans continue unabated. Kiko’s head was long overdue to roll, and finally, it has. With his buggy eyes and his fuddy-duddy mannerisms, he was the Don Knotts of Venezuelan talk shows, but unlike that comedian, Kiko is a genuine buffoon who takes himself extremely seriously, and is funny just by accident. He’s often been pwned on the air by guests who refused to take his anti-Chávez bait, thus making for a lot of inadvertent comedy over what was supposed to be a “serious” topic.
Mario Silva has seldom passed up an opportunity to make fun of Kiko…and Ismael García. It’s not surprising that those two would have it in for him. But don’t be surprised, either, if the attempt to undermine the PSUV and La Hojilla backfires on these guys. Already it’s caused a panic at Globovisión…and that was a channel that used to seize on every slightest opportunity to make out that the PSUV, and especially Chavecito, was at the root of all the nation’s crimes and economic woes.
How ironic, then, that two of their leading crapagandists have suddenly found themselves out of a job…and at such an opportune moment, too!
PS: Oh my. Looks like Kiko’s colleagues, Carla Angola and Pedro Luis Flores, have stepped down from their jobs at “Buenas Noches” in “solidarity”. There’s irony in them thar hills, too…the fractious Venezuelan opposition is not usually so big on solidarity, unless there’s yet another widdle putschist march to mount.
What a pity that Chavecito isn’t around to see this…I can just hear him laughing.
