Venezuelan watchdog fines FTA network Televen
Details
Juan Fernandez Gonzalez
| 01 March 2018

In yet another controversial move, Venezuela's telecom authority Conatel has fined Televen for showing pictures of the riots that took place during the elections of 2017.

According to Conatel, the free-to-air (FTA) channel, one of the most watched in the country, has been penalised for broadcasting actual violence during coverage of the demonstrations during the elections on 30 July 2017.

Such pictures are against the current telecom law and the regulation that aims to endorse social responsibility among media, an argument that has been used before by Conatel to cut press freedom in Venezuela.

The latest available figures of the Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Prensa en Venezuela show that at least 49 media outlets were closed during 2017, including major TV stations like Colombia's Caracol and RCN or CNN en Español.