Fairness Doctrine, Latin American Style

Hugo Chavez, darling of American leftists, is moving to silence all opposition to his socialist regime. His government has revoked the licenses of 34 radio stations that didn’t toe the socialist line. Here, a handful of brave demonstrators protest the closure outside one of the stations that lost its broadcast license:
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And that’s only the beginning. Venezuela’s Attorney General, Luisa Ortega, is proposing legislation to “limit freedom of expression”:

The new law would punish the owners of radio stations, television channels and newspapers that have attempted to “cause panic” and “disturb social peace,” Attorney General Luisa Ortega said.
It also would punish media owners who “manipulate the news with the purpose of transmitting a false perception of the facts.”
“Freedom of expression must be limited,” Ortega said.
Ortega urged lawmakers to consider her suggestions as they debate a bill that would punish as-yet-undefined “media crimes.” The National Assembly, which is controlled by allies of President Hugo Chavez, is expected to approve the measure in coming months.

Will such measures harm Chavez’s standing with western leftists? No; why should it? Castro did the same thing decades ago and the left didn’t seem to mind. Actually, I suspect that a lot of them would like to enact similar measures here. That’s what the “fairness doctrine” is all about.
In the meantime, it’s nice to know that somewhere, there is an attorney general to the left of Eric Holder.

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