Politik Media dalam Demokrasi Bolivarian Venezuela di Masa Pemerintahan Hugo Chávez

Raras Cahyafitri, Riza Nur Arfani

2009 | Skripsi | Ilmu Hubungan Internasional

Mostly, the relations between media and democracy are explained by means of how the media able to be a public sphere where people may express their thought. In consequence, there will be an exchange of ideas and discussion about issues that enhance the people’s rationality. Knowledge and rationality, especially concerning political issues, are necessary as the citizens participate in democracy actively. Therefore, media have to be non partisan and free from political interest. Yet, the logic of survival makes media must persist to inform the society while at the same time secure the finance. Diversity of content and diversity of ownership become new requirement for media industry. Those assumptions are also a general understanding in Latin America, especially Venezuela. However, the discourse of diversity of content and diversity of ownership can not be separated from the endeavor of elite politic to control the media. Since information, that constitutes the main power of media, is a form of active power and the Venezuelan elite politic tends to dominate the media rather than regulate the growing commercialism of the media. Consequently, the media politic (effort to dominate the media in order to achieve political interest) become a method used when the elite needs more support base. This composition tries to outline how the media politic performed by the government and the opposition influence their own relations. Afterward, how the media politic influence the democracy. Shortly, the result is that the Bolivarian model of democracy continues the pattern where the media oscillates between freedom and repression depends on how the regime administrate. This pattern is a continuity of previous relations between media, government, and democracy in Venezuela. Keywords: Democracy, Media, Media Politic, Bolivarian Democracy

Kata Kunci : Demokrasi-Venezuela