Chavez gives Venezuela the "fairness doctrine"

Fox News:

As the clock struck 11:58 p.m., all of Caracas, Venezuela, seemed to hold its breath.

Moments later, the country's most popular television station, Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) went to black … for good.

It wasn't that RCTV, after 53 years, had lost its popularity; nor was it that an economic downturn had dictated the station's fate. It was that Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, decided that RCTV — one of four privately owned television stations in the country and the only one do maintain its opposition to Chavez — was a threat to his government.

The early morning's events were the culmination of a week of battles in the Venezuela Supreme Court. On May 23, the court ruled that RCTV had to stop broadcasting by May 28, upholding Chavez' decision not to renew their license when it expired on May 27. That decision was the result of years worth of hatred and suspicion over RCTV's criticism of his regime, earning it the title of one of the "Four Horses of the Apocalypse."

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Reuters reports:

Venezuelan troops have seized an anti-government television channel's broadcast equipment, the station said on Sunday, ahead of a controversial midnight EDT/0400 GMT takeover by President Hugo Chavez that will take the broadcaster off the air.

Chavez sparked international criticism with his decision to not renew RCTV's license and to replace Venezuela's most-watched channel with a state-backed network that will promote the values of his self-styled socialist revolution.

RCTV representatives said troops had taken over relay stations across the country amid a show of military force meant to deter possible violence by opposition demonstrators.

"They have taken over the transmission stations," said Edgardo Mosca, Vice President of Engineering Operations at RCTV.

Since coming to power in 1999, Chavez has taken control of the judiciary, army and crucial oil industry as part of his leftist reform campaign.

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This is the way of "progressives." The suppression of opposition voices is the MO of liberal groups, whether it is on campus shouting down speakers who they disagree with or using Media Matters as a front groups to attack conservative talk radio. To liberals fairness is not having to listen to opponents.

Gateway Pundit has a roundup of Chavez's fight for "fairness."