In Honduras, One-Sided News of Crisis

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Washington Post

In Honduras, One-Sided News of Crisis
Critics Cite Slanted Local Coverage, Limits on Pro-Zelaya Outlets

By Juan Forero
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, July 9, 2009

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- It was the biggest story in Honduras in years -- soldiers burst into the president's bedroom, dragged him off in his pajamas and bundled him onto a plane out of the country. Hours later, his foes announced the formation of a new government.

Several countries condemned the events of June 28 as a military coup. But in Honduras, some of the most popular and influential television stations and radio networks blacked out coverage or adhered to the de facto government's line that Manuel Zelaya's overthrow was not a coup but a legal "constitutional substitution," press freedom advocates and Honduran journalists said.

Meanwhile, soldiers raided the offices of radio and TV stations loyal to Zelaya, shutting down their signals. Alejandro Villatoro, 52, the owner of Radio Globo, said soldiers broke down doors and dismantled video surveillance cameras.

"They grabbed me and put me face down and put six rifles on me, with a foot on my back holding me down," he said. "It was like I was a common criminal."

~snip~
"The de facto government clearly used the security forces to restrict the news," Lauría said. "Hondurans did not know what was going on. They clearly acted to create an information vacuum to keep people unaware of what was actually happening."

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/09/AR2009070902820_pf.html

[L. Coyote]

1. At some point, the coup principles will be jailed for these crimes

or Democracy has ended in Honduras.

[CynicalObserver]

2. need to see language in their constitution. From what I have read, the ex-;president

was trying to have a referendum which had no constitutional standing, and was in fact illegal.

Anyone dealing in facts here? Was a public referendum solely supported by the President able to alter the national constitution?

[Mudoria]

3. He was trying to hold an unofficial referendum

that had been declared illegal by the Honduran Supreme Court and Congress. They should have just impeached him.

[CynicalObserver]

4. yeah, that is the deal, but folks seem to just want to blindly support him based on cnn-facts.

I live in Panama, and have little time for tin=pot dictators who print their ballots in VZ.

Would DU posters be so positive if there were a 'referendum' which would amend the constitution nationally, ignoring the set 3/4 of state legistlatures provision? I would think support here would be at least 50%, assuming favorable political content.control.

Somewhere in the human genome is a desire/acceptance of despotism. Folks keep saying 'it can never happen here' but we have 5 millenia of history showing that eventually it happens everywhere. Not sure why now has to be difference, always.

[EFerrari]

6. Except the survey did none of those things. As I'm sure you know. n/t

[EFerrari]

5. He was trying to forward his program of participatory democracy

which Honduras is very light on, as human rights activists on the ground agree.

It wasn't illegal, the so-called Supreme Puppet Court was manifestly wrong.

Btw, the coupsters have arrested the father of the little boy the army shot on Sunday. They don't want him talking to anyone. Just as they didn't want to try to impeach Zelaya because just how full of shit they are would become obvious in open court.

[EFerrari]

8. The non binding survey was merely to poll the people to see if they were interested

in a reform.

It would have been impossible for Zelaya to play that into a second term, given all the steps in the process. He would have been out in November regardless.

But the right wing has been playing up that talking point "power grab" because they would rather croke than allow the people to participate in their own government. Plus Zelaya did horrible things like raise minimum wage, increase teachers' pay and put a few cents into healthcare and education.

The elites in Honduras were furious with him for that. They don't see the need to do a thing for the people except relieve them of the fruits of their labor.

[Jazzgirl]

11. You obviously aren't dealing in facts.

It was actually a non-binding survey that he was requesting.

[IndianaGreen]

7. Honduras' massive class divide

A relatively balanced report from CNN:

Honduras' massive class divide 3:51

The massive divide between rich and poor may be at the root of Honduras' political conflict. CNN's Karl Penhaul reports.

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/07/09/penhaul.hond.class.divide.cnn

[Flaneur]

9. What's CNN doing mentioning class?

I bet they didn't actually use the word.

I think what's going on in Honduras is class war, the struggle of opposing social forces, with supporters of both sides tending to wrap the struggle in discussions over constitutional niceties. You're illegal! No, you're illegal!

I know whose side I'm on.

[eomer]

10. They did actually use the word.

It's a case of some decent reporting accidentally leaking through. Management will get that problem taken care of shortly.

[Judi Lynn]

12. Honduras new government is censoring journalists

Posted on Wednesday, 07.01.09
Honduras new government is censoring journalists

BY FRANCES ROBLES
[e-mail]
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- At the close of the one of this week's nightly news broadcasts, Channel 21 news anchor Indira Raudales made a plea: ``We have a right to information! This can't be happening in the 21st century!''

If Raudales offered more details, viewers did not hear them: the screen briefly went to static.

Her on-air appeal for freedom of the press came as the newly installed Honduran government kept several news outlets closed, detained international reporters, and periodically interrupted the signal of CNN en español.

Reporters for The Associated Press were taken away in military vehicles and Venezuela's Telesur network -- and any other station supportive of toppled president Manuel Zelaya -- are still off the air.

Stations that are broadcasting carry only news friendly to the new government. Several local papers have yet to publish information about Zelaya's international support in neighboring countries.

''They militarized Channel 36, which is owned by me,'' said Esdras López, director of the show, ''Asi se Informa.'' ``They brought more than a battalion -- 22 armed men -- took the channel and said nobody could come in and nobody could come out.

``I own this building!''

More:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/1122536.html

[Judi Lynn]

13. Honduran daily airbrushed blood from protester

Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Honduran daily airbrushed blood from protester

Nineteen-year-old Isis Obed Murillo was killed by the Honduran military on Sunday during confrontations between police and backers of deposed president Manuel Zelaya. The gruesome, Not Safe For Work video of a bloody Murillo has circulated worldwide.

Now it has emerged that one of Honduras’ main newspapers has decided to hide the truth by airbrushing Murillo’s bloody shirt:

http://www.cubadebate.cu.nyud.net:8090/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dobleimagen1-580x271.jpg
http://ourlatinamerica.blogspot.com/2009/07/honduran-daily-airbrushed-blood-from.html

[Judi Lynn]

16. The father of this young dead man was subsequently arrested:

~snip~
Chilling repression is reported from Honduras in the wake of the weekend's massive demonstrations. The Committee of Family Members of the Disappeared (COFADEH) reports that on the morning of July 9, José David Murillo Sánchez came to the group's Tegucigalpa office to give testimony about the death of his 19-year-old son, Isis Oved Murillo Mencilla, who was shot by army troops during the protest at the airport.

In the COFADEH offices, with members of the group serving as witnesses, he gave his testimony to an officer of the General Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DGIC), and then left to return to his home in Olancho department. Witnesses came running to the COFADEH office soon after to say that police in civilian clothes had detained Murillo, put him in an unmarked car, and took him away.

COFADEH has confirmed that the DGIC detained Murillo on what they consider to be fraudulent charges from two years ago. José David Murillo Sanchez is a member of Olancho Environmental Movement (MAO), a campesino ecologist organization that has held protests against logging operations in the region. Writes the solidarity group Rights Action: "The DGIC seemingly agreed to take his testimony about the killing of his son as a trap, so as to detain him...part of an on-going crackdown in Honduras against members of the social movement. (Rights Action, July 9)

http://www.ww4report.com/node/7557

[Rage for Order]

14. Does anyone else have an issue with this part of the article?

"...offices of radio and TV stations loyal to Zelaya..."

Radio & TV stations should not be "loyal" to any politician. IMHO

[WriteDown]

As many have pointed out, WAPO is a right-wing rag...

and not to be believed. At least when some posters don't like the stories. :)

[WriteDown]

15. As many have pointed out, WAPO is a right-wing rag...

and not to be believed. At least when some posters don't like the stories. :)

[Judi Lynn]

17. Honduran Military Silences Media After Coup

Honduran Military Silences Media After Coup


While Manuel Zelaya gained international support Tuesday and planned a return to Honduras, his supporters clashed in the streets amid a media blackout that has drawn condemnation from international press freedom groups, including this Tuesday report from the Committee to Protect Journalists. (See latest news stories here.)

A Honduran journalist quoted by BBC Mundo (in Spanish) says the news media is being censored, radio is reporting little about what is happening, and the mainstream press is busy interviewing new government officials and calling Sunday’s removal of Zelaya a “change of leadership” instead of a coup.

Reuters reports that many TV and radio stations were shut down after Zelaya was flown out of Honduras on Sunday. “The few television and radio stations still operating on Monday played tropical music or aired soap operas and cooking shows,” Reuters says.

Seven foreign reporters were briefly detained by soldiers on Monday, the Associated Press reports.

http://knightcenter.utexas.edu/blog/?q=en/node/4480

[Judi Lynn]

18. Hondurans Mount ‘Tele-coup’ to Counter One-sided Media

Hondurans Mount ‘Tele-coup’ to Counter One-sided Media


Young Hondurans opposed to the expulsion of President Manuel Zelaya are uploading amateur videos and cell-phone photos to YouTube in what they have branded a “tele-coup,” France’s AFP news agency reports.

Under control by the interim government, national channels have offered biased political coverage and have often cut off cable channels to broadcast their message, AFP’s Henry Orrego says.

"We call it 'tele-coup' because on the national channels you can't see the reality of what's happening," a university student explains. The most popular of the more than two dozen videos, called “Nothing’s Happening in Honduras,” shows soldiers firing tear gas and hitting protesters, as well as bloodied soldiers and protesters.

Students quoted by Orrego say they are using word of mouth and leaflets to spread news of the site. In a country where only 11 percent of homes have computers, the students are taking their laptops into the streets of some middle-class districts to show their neighbors the other side of the crisis, Orrego says.

TV Channel 36, kept off the air for a week because it was considered loyal to Zelaya, was permitted to return to the air over the weekend, EFE adds.

http://knightcenter.utexas.edu/blog/?q=en/node/4542