Izarra as the leading media light in Venezuela should learn the lesson from veterans like Roy Carson

VHeadline Venezuela News Editor Patrick J. O'Donoghue writes: Our editor/publisher Roy Carson has been called many things in his career. The latest is "low class Commie." Why? Because he called George W. Bush a thug and a criminal but refrains from painting Hugo Chavez with the same brush.

The slur surprisingly comes from a close collaborator of VHeadline, but this is not the first time that collaborators have attempted to impose their views on the rest of us.

That is why I'm defending Roy's performance as editor, which has been liberal, ample and open to all points of view ... the bottom line that Roy demands of collaborators is respect and the ability to see the other's point of view, even though one doesn't have to agree with it.

A case in point is the editor's recent campaign against the Bolivarian media as directed by Media Minister Andres Izarra, his bagman Yuri Pimentel (president of VTV channel), the hapless Vanessa Davies and assorted hacks. Hard-hitting as usual. with plenty of double adjectives. but expressing a deep frustration at what Roy sees as short-sightedness and plain sectarianism on the part of Ministers, PSUV leaders and indeed Chavez himself.

Someone wrote me the other day suggesting that Roy is not a Socialist, to which I replied that he considers himself a more of a liberal than radical ... which perhaps is one of the reasons why he has earned the respect of serious people across the political spectrum and the enmity of small-minded and cross-eyed opinionated left and right-wing mandarins.

One of the problems in Venezuela at the moment ... among Bolivarian political leaders ... is the development of a siege mentality, which is understandable if one considers that the private sector (opposition) dominates the media almost completely.

The suspicion is that the Bolivarian movement has failed to make inroads among viewers who still watch traditional TV channels and radio stations dominated by anti-Chavists and that alternative & community media are still in the infant stage. It is only when one visits Venezuela that one sees and feels the dominant power of the private media sector. The fight for the airwaves has the government against the ropes and in a corner.

• The situation is not helped by snarling at independent newspapers, such as 'Las Verdades de Miguel' or internet sites such as Venezuela VHeadline News.

Izarra as the leading media light in Venezuela should learn the lesson from veterans like Roy Carson and open up. He and his colleagues will have to, sooner or later, whether they win the elections or not.

In the meantime, the struggle inside VHeadline continues as another collaborator reveals true colors and obligingly must bite the dust to salvage the editorial line.

Patrick J. O'Donoghue
patrick.vheadline@gmail.com

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Venezuela is facing the most difficult period of its history with honest reporters crippled by sectarianism on top of rampant corruption within the administration and beyond, aided and abetted by criminal forces in the US and Spanish governments which cannot accept the sovereignty of the Venezuelan people to decide over their own future.

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