In this picture released by Miraflores Press, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez applauds during his weekly nationwide radio and television show "Hello President!" in the presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, on January 19, 2005, where he announced he launch of Tv Sur, a South American television station that will compete with international news networks. Chavez has long promised to create a South American television station to rival international news networks such as CNN, which he has repeatedly criticized for an alleged bias against his "revolution for the poor."
Photo: AP
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Visiting Hugo
On March 5, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev gave his first internet conference, which was broadcast on the television website Vesti-24. Mr. Medvedev's interview provided new fodder for pundits eager to access his prospects as a possible presidential candidate, but it also showed that the first deputy prime minister has a lot to learn about public appearances. For instruction, he would to well to turn to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who learned long ago how to turn televised appearances into an art.
Dmitry Medvedev's live internet conference, which was broadcast by the Russian television portal Vesti-24, was a fairly humdrum affair that confirmed what many have already suspected: that while Russian politicians have firm grasp on the significance of television as a tool for governing the country, they still have not learned how to pull off televised appearances with any flair (with the possible exception of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov). They are not alone, however, since the overwhelming majority of politicians around the world do not know how to use the full power of television to their best advantage.
For example, we have Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov, better known as Turkmenbashi, who created a television channel of his own that turned out to be just another boring personal mouthpiece for half-baked presidential policy. Then there is Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, who loves to appear on the country's television screens in hockey gear, as a farmer, or as the president. Politicians of all stripes in the United States, in obedience to their PR managers, do the same, but with one major difference: they tend to do it only during election campaigns, while Alexander Lukashenko indulges himself all year round. There are also rhetorical masters, like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Cuban leader Fidel Castro, whose televised speeches have the power to ignite revolutions in the streets. But then again, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini had the same effect on the masses, just via radio and movies rather than television.
If there is anyone in whose creative footsteps it pays to follow, it is Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who turned the dreary television genre of "addressing the people" into a talk show that allows him not only to deliver his opinions and decisions straight to the people but also to entertain, help, and reward them.
Love the President
The presence on the air of the talk show "Hello, President!" goes a long way towards explaining why an overwhelming majority of Venezuelans dote on their president. This is already the eighth year that the country's president has appeared on his weekly show, where he takes calls from ordinary Venezuelans and solves their problems on the spot. One minute he is finding new employment for a poor teacher so that she can be closer to her ailing father. The next he is dealing with the fate of a boy with a serious illness: the boy will be picked up by a military plane that will take him to Cuba, where the Venezuelan government will foot the bill for a difficult and expensive operation. Half an hour later, the clouds are gathering over one of the opposition's professional unions: the president has been informed that the union bosses are corrupt and that they do not protect the interests of the workers. The president, striding across the stage with a microphone in his hand, orders a senior government official standing by to investigate the matter and punish the guilty parties. The camera then pans to representatives from other ministries who are similarly ready to jump to fulfill the president's every command. This goes on for several hours, producing dozens of happy callers. After the show is over, Venezuelans across the country turn off their televisions with light hearts, knowing that the president is just a phone call away.
"Latin American leaders are inherently populist. However, Hugo Chavez and his talk show are entirely unique," said a New York-based expert on Latin America. In all fairness, it should be noted that Chavez did not come up with the program's format: that was done in the mid-1930s by another great populist, Mexican President Lazaro Cardenas. Every Saturday, he hosted a radio program during which he received telegrams from ordinary citizens (Saturday telegrams to the president were free of charge) and immediately responded to them. Many experts maintain that the program "Hello, President!" is an exact copy of the idea pioneered by Cardenas that has simply been updated to take advantage of the technology of modern telecommunications.
The President Will Entertain You
The resolution of people's urgent problems is only part of the program, which debuted in May 1999. At the time, "Hello, President!" was expected to be broadcast exclusively on the radio, but the success of the first episode was so impressive that by June the presidential palace had been fitted out with a real television studio from which the program is broadcast live. It has been necessary to revamp the entire television schedule to accommodate the program, since the president is not overly concerned with the clock and ends his weekly chat with the people at whatever time he sees fit, which has meant that the program can run for three or four hours without a break. The managers of the state-run television channel Venezolana de Television are not complaining, however, and not only because complaining about the head of the Venezuelan government is not a particularly prudent idea. The show guarantees the channel consistent and generous financing, and, according to independent estimates, up to 90% of Venezuelans tune into the show every weekend. "If all of the other Venezuelan television channels and radio stations suddenly ceased to operate some Sunday morning, no one would notice," said a Venezuelan journalist. "I myself am not a big fan of our president, but I wouldn't trade his Sunday shows for anything. They're so entertaining."
When the president gets tired of responding to questions, he breaks out into song or cracks jokes. During a recent show, which the president dedicated to Valentine's Day, he amused his audience by declaring his love to Condoleezza Rice: "You have completely forgotten about me. What's wrong with you? I can't live without you." He often talks about his childhood, shares details about his thoughts and actions, and reads aloud. On any given Sunday, the reading could be verses from the Bible or excerpts from the works of thinkers such as Marx, the American economist John Galbraith, or – the president's favorite - the Latin American revolutionary Simon Bolivar.
Hugo Chavez is a born showman who chafes at the restrictions of the television studio in the presidential palace. Thus, he often takes his show directly to the people. He visits farms, follows up on the progress of nationwide projects that he initiated (in Venezuela, such projects are called "Bolivar's missions"), helps gather the harvest, and even assists doctors during operations.
The President Will Beat All Comers
"Chavez's television program has nothing in common with ordinary talk shows," said one of Venezuela's small handful of human rights advocates. "'Hello, President!' is a large-scale project that keeps Chavez's supporters perpetually galvanized and his opponents in a constant state of fear."
In order to cook someone's goose, all Mr. Chavez has to do is mention his displeasure with that person during his television program. That was the fate that befell the owner of a slaughterhouse in Barinas who was mentioned in an opposition newspaper as an opponent of the president's program of nationalization: the very next Sunday, the president devoted three minutes to the unfortunate man, who is now one of the country's best-known "enemies of the people."
The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations were another victim of Chavez and his talk show. On the show in 2005, Chavez showed a transcript of the confidential negotiations that were held at the Summit of the Americas in Buenos Aires. In his commentary on the proceedings, he made the Canadians and the Americans out to be imperialists who were trying to enslave Latin America, while painting himself and his allies as the true heirs of Simon Bolivar. In the end, Chavez's personal invention, the "Bolivarian Alternative to America," triumphed over the FTAA in Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, and Bolivia.
The talk show "Hello, President!" is often a lightning rod for controversy. Venezuela's National Election Commission even tried to ban the show, claiming that it violated election law when the country was preparing for a constitutional referendum initiated by Mr. Chavez. However, the scandal only added to the popularity enjoyed by the president and his television show. And although the show was briefly hosted by other people, while Mr. Chavez called in to the studio like any other citizen, he still talked just as much as when he himself sat in the studio and hosted the program.
You Can Never Get Too Much of the President
Hugo Chavez is still lavishing attention on the program that aided him so much in establishing total control over the country. In fact, he has decided that one can never have too much of the president, and the weekly program is now being turned into a daily offering, with a few format adjustments here and there. Venezuelans will now be given only two days, Saturday and Sunday, of respite from their president. On four other days of the week, he will host at least an hour and a half of live radio chat, and on Thursdays the president will return to the television studio for an hour and a half of a live interactive broadcast.
According to the official line, these changes are being made in response to requests from workers. Malicious rumors, however, maintain that the changes in the format were necessary for two reasons. First, people are getting tired of the four-hour weekly show and are beginning to turn off their televisions and radios, meaning that Mr. Chavez must come in smaller, more regimented doses. Secondly, psychologists agree that the daily format (it is immaterial whether it is radio or television) will encourage dependence more effectively than the weekly format. "If Chavez feels that it is necessary to make sure that people in the country can no longer live without him, it makes sense to change the format of the show," said Tony Gutierrez, an American psychologist. "Chavez was kind of like the Wizard of Oz, handing out presents to everyone who turned to him. Now he will become just as natural and constant as the sun or the moon."
This is a lesson that Russian politicians, who aspire to a similar level of control over their own country, would do well to learn from Mr. Chavez's valuable experience.
Kirill Pryanichkin
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 12, 2007
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