Censorship by country.html



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Censorship varies in its extent in different countries.

Brazil

Brazil is widely known for repeatedly trying to censor the Internet. In January 2007, a Brazilian Supreme Court judge issued an order to Brasil Telecom and Telefonica preventing public access to an intimate video of model Daniela Cicarelli and her boyfriend Renato Malzonithe on the YouTube site. Cicarelli and Malzoni had sued YouTube the previous year and got an injunction for the removal of the video, but it was still appearing. YouTube staff were eventually able to prevent the video from appearing on their site.^[1]

USA

Zoriah Miller, a freelance photojournalist, after publishing some pictures on his website in June, is a victim of censorship in the USA. General John Kelly, an US navy comander in Iraq, sought to block Miller's work. He "was sent home after US Marine officials discovered that he had released photos of dead US Marines in Iraq on his blog in an attempt to show the world the true horrors of war"

Venezuela

The Law on Social Responsibility of Radio and Television (Ley de Responsabilidad de Radio y Television in Spanish) has stimulated debates on freedom of expression and journalism in the country. It was enforced in 2003 by the government regulating body, CONATEL (National Commission of Radio and Television) and involves a wide range of television and radio censorship on violent and sexual content. However, the law contains other articles that have been subject to deep political controversy. Government opposition claims that the Venezuelan government is attempting to enlarge its role in the control of broadcasts content through the bill, and accuse it of being curbing international freedom of expression standards, generating a chilling effect on media and self-censorship. According to the law, television or radio stations could be penalized for showing news coverage of internal conflicts and wars before 20.00hrs, "making it necessary for them to present a sanitized version of the news during the day"^[2]. Furthermore, "insult laws" as Human Rights Watch labels articles 115, 121 and 125 of the bill could result in open political censorship to freedom of speech. Blaming President Chavez or the Venezuelan government for the current bitter divisions in Venezuelan society, the bad economy, a sudden poverty growth and deaths in opposition demonstrations could result in an infraction of the law and therefore in strong penalizations (if the offense is "interpreted" or considered disrespectful towards legitimate institutions and authorities).

In May 2007, controversies on press freedom were further exacerbated since RCTV (Radio Caracas Television) came out of air. An article by Reporters Without Borders stated that "Reporters Without Borders condemns the decision of the Venezuela Supreme Court to rule an appeal by Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV) against the loss of its license as "inadmissible". The appeal, lodged on 9 February 2007, was rejected on 18 May, putting a stop to any further debate. President Hugo Chávez said on 28 December 2006 that he would oppose renewal of the group's broadcast license, accusing the channel of having supported the 11 April 2002 coup attempt in which he was briefly overthrown. According to the government the license expired on 27 May 2007, a date contested by RCTV, which insists its license is valid until 2022. Without waiting for the 27 May or the Supreme Court's decision, Hugo Chávez on 11 May awarded RCTV's canal 2 frequency by decree to a new public service channel, Televisora Venezolana Social (TEVES)".^[3] This government action has fueled student demonstrations and contentious forms of political manifestations ever since.

See also

• Internet censorship
• Censorship in the United Kingdom

References