Venezuelan Media Conferences

During the coming days in Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez predicts that a "great debate" will occur between two media conferences that will "dissect" the Venezuelan government's dealings with freedom of speech and press issues. The two conferences that will be taking place over the weekend are the meetings of the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) and the "Latin American Meeting on Media Terrorism." The IAPA is predicted to be very critical of Venezuela's, more specifically Chavez's, handling of media issues; in the past the IAPA has accused Chavez of using the government to bring "trumped-up" charges against journalists. The "Latin American Meeting on Media Terrorism," which is comprised mostly of Chavez supporters, is expected to report on the distorted image that is portrayed of Venezuela and Hugo Chavez in the global media. Chavez is right when he says that there will be a "great debate," and it will be interesting to see what comes out of both of these conferences. Perhaps it would be better to find some way to combine these two conferences into a single entity in which a civil discourse can occur that would address and possibly solve some problems, as opposed to meeting with people who all have the same general beliefs.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080328/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_media