fuckette

Why this blog exists?

Freedom of speech, of the press, of association, of assembly and petition -- this set of guarantees, protected in the U.S. by the First Amendment and guaranteed in Venezuela by Articles 57 and 58 of our 1999 constitution, comprises what we refer to as freedom of expression.

Freedom of expression is both fundamentally important in its own right and also key to the fulfilment of all other rights. The protection and implementation of other rights depend on freedom of expression in two ways. It is only in societies where the free flow of information and ideas is permitted that individuals will be aware of their rights and actively seek to protect them. In addition, freedom of expression is essential if violations of human rights are to be exposed and challenged.

Freedom of speech is often regarded as an integral concept in modern democracies, where it is understood to outlaw government censorship. Thus states may still punish (but not prohibit) certain damaging types of expressions, notably sedition, defamation, publishing secrets regarding matters of state security, etc.

When an individual announces an unpopular opinion, he or she may face the disdain of their community or even be subjected to violent reactions.

Free speech rights still need constant, vigilant protection. New questions arise and old ones return. Should flag burning be a crime? What about government or private censorship of works of art that touch on sensitive issues like religion or sexuality? Should the Internet be subject to any form of government control? What about punishing college students who espouse racist or sexist opinions?

At the same time, freedom of speech does not prevent punishing conduct that intimidates, harasses, or threatens another person, even if words are used.

Ethics are an integral part of freedom of expression and nowadays, the principles embodied in the concept of ethics are being violated constantly by journalists, media outlets (both state and private), religious figures and politicians across the globe to the detriment of democracy and freedom of speech around the world.

The essential duties of the journalist in gathering, reporting on and commenting on events consist in:

1) Respecting the truth no matter what consequences it may bring about to him/her, and this is because the right of the public is to know the truth.

2) Defending the freedom of information, of commentaries and of criticism.

3) Publishing only such pieces of information the origin of which is known or - in the opposite case - accompanying them with due reservations; not suppressing essential information and not altering texts and documents.

4) Not making use of disloyal methods to get information, photographs and documents.

5) Feeling obliged to respect the private life of people.

6) Correcting any published information which has proved to be inaccurate.

7) Observing the professional secrecy and not divulging the source of information obtained confidentially.

8) Abstaining from plagiarism, slander, defamation and unfounded accusations as well as from receiving any advantage owing to the publication or suppression of information.

9) Never confusing the profession of journalist with that of advertiser or propagandist and not accepting any consideration, direct or not, from advertisers.

10) Refusing any pressure and accepting editorial directives only from the leading persons in charge in the editorial office. Every journalist worthy of this name feels honoured to observe the above-mentioned principles; while recognising the law in force in each country, he does accept only the jurisdiction of his colleagues in professional matters, free from governmental or other interventions.

Public speech, the media, and artistic creativity enjoy far greater freedoms in Venezuela these days than they did before the transition to democracy.

Defamation and libel

Free speech is simply what is left when many other things are taken out. One of those things is the effect of defamation laws, which seek to protect an individual's reputation.

The central problem is to reconcile this purpose with the competing demands of free speech or to put the problem another way (through the eyes of a journalist):

"It is really about how far individuals in society should be protected against what they perceive as the excessive power of those - like the press - who can command a large audience. In practice, defamation law is about the ability of the media to expose an individual to the public on a grand scale".

In a free society there is a strong presumption that people should be able to speak freely, especially in relation to public issues and an individual's behaviour in relation to these issues. However, the reality of potential for abuse of this freedom remains and so with it the need for defamation laws.

Despite free speech laws in Venezuela, we have lies and silence instead of truth.

To create a climate of sincerity, we must not only challenge obvious hypocrisies but also demolish some hypocrisies so solidly entrenched in our culture we no longer notice them. Venezuela needs a pluralism and diversity of media that is independent both of large private corporations and of the state.

Today, as we are living in this new millenium, media concentration presents a threat to freedom of expression.

There is a state of oligopoly or monopoly in a given media industry. For example, movie production is known to be dominated by major studios since the early 20th Century.

Second, there may be some large-scale owners in a industry that are not the causes of monopoly or oligopoly. Clear Channel Communications, especially since the Telecommunications Act of 1996, acquired many radio stations across the United States, and came to own more than 1,200 stations.

The Cisneros Group of Companies from Venezuela is one of the largest privately held media, entertainment, telecommunications and consumer products organizations in the world. The Company's assets include: AOL Latin America; DIRECTV Latin America; Univision Communications, Inc.; Venevision, the leading television network in Venezuela; Eccelera, the Group's technology investing arm; and Venevision International, one of the largest television distribution companies in Ibero-America.

The Cisneros Group also owns, operates and has interests in other consumer product-based businesses in Latin America such as supermarket chains, fast food chains, video franchises and beverage companies. These companies include: Pueblo Xtra International, Regional Brewing Company, Panamco and Blockbuster.

News Corporation Ltd. from Australia owned by Rupert Murdoch, is one of the three largest international media groups, operating in most sectors and most continents.

Its main website includes the group's annual report and information about its global holdings. In 2000 the group had assets of around US$36 billion and annual revenue of US$14 billion. At the beginning of 2003 assets were around US$42 billion, with revenues of US$16 billion. By April 2004 some 75% of revenue was attributable to operations in the US. At that time News announced plans to shift its corporate domicile from Australia to the US (which would facilitate access to capital) and to buy the Murdoch family's controlling stake in Queensland Press, which was partly owned by News and had a substantial stake in News.

Concentration of media ownership often refer to the presence of media conglomerates. When a company owns many different types of media businesses, it is referred to as a media conglomerate. Among the best-known examples are Time Warner, Disney, and Viacom.

Do you want one or two big companies acting as gatekeepers and controlling your access to news and entertainment?

We allow media companies to use them in exchange for their assurance that they're serving the public interest, yet fascist media outlets like Globovision, El Nacional and RCTV nightly news clearly show a disturbing and systematic pattern of lies, deceit, misinformation, half truths and exaggerations about events that occur daily, completely disregarding their own code of ethics and insulting the average reader both within Venezuela and abroad about the current state of affairs in our homeland. Spin is the key to providing info-tainment, truth and balanced coverage of news is something to be ignored and ridiculed in our everyday reality.

Therefore, this site will publish articles in different languages (with an option for translation) in order to reach, debate and inform readers in all corners of the planet about a wide range of issues that we consider to be of importance.

We at Global Existence, without any pretensions or desire to be Know-It-Alls or infallibles, will do our share to promote a more broader look about current issues both in Venezuela and around the world, because in the end, we are all Global Citizens!!


* This introduction has been made using quotes from many sources to enhance our understanding of the world around us and to make full use of our constitutionally protected freedom of expression as mandated by Articles 57 and 58 of the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

Links of interest:

http://www.unesco.org/op/eng/3may98/art-19.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_Expression

http://archive.aclu.org/library/pbp10.html

http://www.ourcivilisation.com/cooray/rights/chap6.htm

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/15/1071336859827.html

http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/media_consolidation/index.php

http://www.ketupa.net/murdoch.htm

http://www.ijnet.org/FE_Article/codeethics.asp?UILang=1&CId=8296&CIdLang=1

Fair use notice of copyrighted material:
This site contains some copyrighted material that in some cases has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance the understanding of politics, human rights, the economy, democracy, and social justice issues related to Venezuela. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

For more information go to: www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.

posted by Collaboration of Global Citizens @ 16:53