There are thousands of children who die daily of avoidable causes. There are some 36,000 people who die daily in the world because of hunger. That is “normal”.

Several hundred die daily because of wars that are considered normal for assuring “democracy and freedom”

The richest of the rich normally increase their wealth by hundreds of dollars per minute while millions of human beings do not have one dollar per day to live on. These are “normal” things and about these we do not talk or at least these issues do not merit a headline in any newspaper nor important space on radio or television. It is natural . . . and journalism manuals tell us that normal, ordinary things are not news.

What is normal and natural and what is extraordinary turns out to be a key fact for understanding the world and taking a stand in the face of reality. The mainstream press finds this system of relations, and the distribution of wealth, knowledge and power natural.

But, what are we getting at? In Venezuela there has been a normal event and an extraordinary event which have generated a lot of coverage by radio, on TV channels and in the papers.

What was the normal event? The licence of one group which had held it for more than 50 years expired.

What is the extraordinary one? A new model of public service television is coming out with citizen participation.

Nevertheless, for the mainstream media, for the big press, the news is that Chavez has had the nerve to close an opposition television channel.

Although it is true that it is also extraordinary that a government should move to fulfill the law by confronting the power of the big media.

The argument of RCTV and its defenders in the world is so false that even their allies in Colombia voted for the following in a resolution: “the automatic renewal of a concession would be an unconstitutional act, because it would create the precedent of [private] property status for radio-electric space, which can only belong to the State. ( El Tiempo, Bogotá, 21 de mayo 2007)

For the mainstream media it is natural that radio frequencies should be private property.

From this perspective and respecting the opinions and decisions of the Venezuelan people and their legitimately elected government, I will present the facts, which might spark off an interesting debate on communication and public communications policies.

What happened on May 27 in Venezuela?

On May 27, 1987, Decree 1577 was published in Venezuela’s Official Gazette regulating concessions for television and radio under the Telecommunications Law of 1940. The first article of that decree says that “concessions for the establishment and operation of television and radio stations are granted for 20 years”.

The RCTV channel had been authorized to operate on September 20, 1952, but since the 1940 law did not establish a term for the concession, it runs only as of 1987, although in reality it has been using the frequency signal for 55 years.

After 20 years, the Venezuelan state has the authority to evaluate and decide whether to renew the concession or grant it to another service provider, something which liberal editorialists should celebrate as an act of pluralism and democracy. On May 27, 2007, those 20 years came to an end.

In this case the state has decided not to renew it for this company belonging to the second biggest group in the radio and television industry of Venezuela, 1BC, which together with Venevision owned by the Cisneros family, accounts for 75% of the gross income of the sector (the other 97 television operators share the remaining 25%). The concession has been granted instead to a new channel, which began using the channel 2 signal on May 28: TVes, Venezuelan Social Television, a public service station.

And why take that decision? Because RCTV repeatedly violated Venezuelan laws, and to begin putting an end to the monopolies. Two other reasons for which the spokespersons of the free-market and respect for the law should be happy.

Which laws did they violate? Did they not use a lot of dirty words? Did they fail to respect the timetables? Soft pornography at inappropriate times? All of that, but also, above all, something much worse: they supported and participated in the coup which on April 11, 2002, attempted to bring down the democratically elected government and put a puppet government of the United States in power.

As proof of the channel’s commitment to the coup, in addition to its transmissions, we have the presence of its director general, Marcel Granier, amongst those applauding the coup’s leader, Carmona, in government house in April of 2002.

What could be debatable, in any case, is why the licenses of other channels were renewed.

Is there expropriation? There is no expropriation, no censorship, no repression of the press. This is just respect for the law. RCTV continues being the owner of its equipment, of its copyrights; it continues having the same employees, just that it cannot continue making use of an asset which belongs to all Venezuelans. It will be free to transmit by cable, carry out productions, export soap operas, or whatever occurs to them.

The radio spectrum is an asset of humanity (like water or natural resources) and it is scarce, and because of that, nation states undertake to administer it. And for that reason governments grant licenses for a limited time to public and private operators and reserve a percentage of the spectrum for community, socially-owned or public media.

The mainstream media are the ones that are vociferating and flooding the pages of the daily papers and the world\\\'s TV screens, with complaints that the “dictator” Chavez is not going to renew the license to RCTV, or that the “authoritarian” Correa in Ecuador has asked for self-criticism from the media, or that the “intolerant” Kirchner causes controversy over genocide or with the spokespersons of neo-liberalism who want to return to the 90’s. These are the media that monopolize the information which we receive and concentrate economic fortunes. For them this is natural.

What is the extraordinary event? What happened on May 28th in Venezuela?

On Monday, May 28, there was a happening which by our understanding should be celebrated. TELEVISION VENEZOLANA SOCIAL (TVES) began transmitting. It is a public service channel with social and citizen participation which promises to open its screen to independent productions and social organizations for the expression of all sectors of Venezuelan society.

This is public service television and not a business of one entrepreneurial group. That is why May 28 2007 can be seen as a great day for those of us who work for the Democratization of Communications, for a free Latin America with justice. Because a television frequency which was in the hands of the monopolies and the supporters of coups returns to the people. Because the creation has been announced “of a new model of public television that corresponds to the new social model which we are building in our country, with its support for the creation of alternatives, putting an end to the perverse dynamics of commercial television with its consumerist, exclusionary and racist cancer”. We hope it will be so.

On what are we expressing opinions and being informed? What is natural and what is extraordinary . . . ?

Evidently what is presented to us as natural and normal should and can be changed. If we believe that “Another world is possible”, a different communication is indispensable.

It is indispensable that States take on their role of guaranteeing the diversity and plurality of voices to ensure the functioning of democracy. That implies Public Communications Policies that secure the Right to Inform and to be informed for all the population. If we leave Communication and information in the hands of the market, full citizen participation will not be possible. The entrepreneurial groups are right to reject censorship, but their media silence the majorities and especially those who question their interests. For that we need OTHER media for another world where what is normal will be to share and to respect the equal dignity of all people. (Translation: Donald Lee and ALAI).

- Néstor Busso. Radio Encuentro, Viedma, Argentina. 31 mayo 2007.