From the Newscaster State to the State of The Media. 14 Years of Communicational Hegemony in Venezuela

Abstract

This article aims to present a kind of mapping that accounts for the state of the social communications media in Venezuela based on the retrospective of the last decade, on route to gauging the impact which the public communication policies had on the structure of the media, as formulated and implemented by the Bolivarian Government during the administration of President Hugo Chavez, and which are still in place, with emphasis on legal changes recorded in this area during the period. Also, the relationship of the private media companies with the instances of power, the role played by the media in the hands of the State, the density of the alternative-community media and, in broad terms, the composition of the public and private media platforms of press, radio and television.