Latin America's Al Jazeera

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Venezuela is about to start another Latin American revolution -- on television. Hoping to highlight the region's indigenous voices, the country is organizing Telesur, a new TV network that Latin American leaders want to have the look, feel, and function of Al Jazeera, the Middle Eastern media giant that, much to the consternation of the Bush administration, has come to symbolize Arab nationalism.

'Why do we learn about ourselves from a TV network from the North, like CNN?' asks Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, whose government recently sent a formal complaint to CNN's Spanish language division concerning the 'distorted' way his administration is covered (as a hemispheric menace, for instance, or a Castro apologist). To address this bias, Telesur plans to challenge 'U.S. control of the [Southern] Hemisphere's media,' writes Humberto Marquez in Third World Resurgence (Jan./Feb. 2005). The network will 'present a true reflection of the social and cultural diversity in Latin America and the Caribbean, and offer it to the world.'

Al Jazeera used oil revenue to pay for its start-up in the tiny Persian Gulf nation of Qatar, and now the network has 35 million viewers. Telesur will be broadcast from Caracas throughout the region and, once a planned satellite purchase is made, around the globe. According to La Jornada (Feb. 27, 2005), Venezuela has already formed an alliance with Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay to broadcast the network and has secured corporate underwriting from major South American oil companies such as PetroBras and Petroamerica.

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