The Chavez fairness doctrine

Washington Times Editorial:

...

The move against the station was met with protests in Venezuela, and widespread criticism from abroad -- all for good reason. In the absence of a free and robust media, democracy withers and authoritarian rule flourishes. This lesson is plain in repressive regimes across the globe and throughout history.
In the few days since RCTV was shut down, Mr. Chavez's vision for new coverage in Venezuela has been unmistakable. As protesters were taking to the streets to protest the closing of RCTV, police fired tear gas and used water cannons in an attempt to clear the crowds. But among Venezuelan television stations, only one -- Globovision, which is much smaller than RCTV and isn't available throughout Venezuela -- was broadcasting coverage of the events. Others had canned programs like soap operas and, on TVES, Mr. Chavez's state-sponsored replacement for RCTV, the cartoon Pinocchio, instead.
Mr. Chavez quickly denounced Globovision's decision to cover the protests and went on the offensive, calling the station an enemy of the homeland and charging it with plotting to kill him. The pro-Chavez tabloid Diario VEA published an article Tuesday under the headline "Globovision and CNN incite assassination," but to any objective observer the claim is obviously specious. Like RCTV, however, Globovision is an opposition news channel with an anti-Chavez editorial line, which is one explanation for why the Venezuelan leader is going after the station voices of dissent.
The other explanation is that Mr. Chavez stirred up more vigorous opposition than he anticipated by closing RCTV, forcing himself into a position of either stepping up his control of Venezuela's media or backing down. It's clear that Mr. Chavez sees the latter as incompatible with his vision for Venezuela. As his plans become clearer, the more Mr. Chavez's so-called 21st century socialism resembles the destructive, oppressive and authoritarian socialist regimes of the 20th century.

Socialism as practiced by Chavez and other communist is incompatible with freedom. The reason why Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot all engaged in genocide on a massive scale is that communism cannot coexist with freedom.

Note how leftist in this country ignore what Chavez is doing while pushing their on form of silencing of critics. They have Media Matters which tries to shut up opposition on talk radio and they have MoveOn which tries to keep Democrats off of Fox News because they do not want to have to deal with critical questions. The fact is that in the market place of ideas the left wants an embargo against everyone else's ideas.

The suggestion that CNN incites assassination is ludicrous on its face. CNN barely even covered this loss of freedom in the western hemisphere. Even if they did, they have been more noted for coddling despots than trying to get them killed. It is just another reflection of the paranoid style of Chavez.