Sportscasters take political potshots

Venezuela's state TV channel airs popular international sporting events to draw viewers, then touts the president.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela's state TV channel usually slams the CIA and the U.S.-led war in Iraq. But in recent weeks, it has featured slam dunks by Shaq and Kobe.

In a shrewd political move, the leftist government of President Hugo Chavez has added the NBA playoffs to a channel devoted to anti-American harangues.

Chavez's supporters, many of whom live in poverty, are delighted to watch the NBA for free.

"I think it's great that Channel 8 is showing basketball. I can't afford cable, and the other stations aren't showing the playoffs," said street vendor Juvenal Garcia, who makes roughly $130 a month. Cable and satellite TV companies charge at least $25 a month for sports programming.

But there's more at stake than jump shots and buzzer beaters.

Showing Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and other stars competing in the NBA playoffs on free TV can only help Chavez as he faces a possible referendum to force a binding vote on his presidency.

Venezuela's opposition hopes to gather enough signatures next weekend to force a recall referendum. Channel 8, or Venezolana de Television, is fighting the effort, and politics inevitably seeps into playoff commentary.

Timeouts are used to castigate the opposition for its "coup-plotting" and to praise Chavez.

"It's a free throw for Karl Malone," a narrator barked during a recent Los Angeles Lakers game. "The Venezuelan revolution (also) makes you free."

"We have a player change for Shaquille O'Neal. And we have a change for the better with the new PDVSA," the announcer said, referring to the state oil company where 18,000 workers were fired for staging a strike against Chavez.

VTV refused to release details of its contract to broadcast the NBA, and only weekend games are shown live.

It's part of a strategy to increase viewership for the government station, which is offering more international sporting events, such as Formula One racing, even as it serves as a propaganda tool for Chavez.

VTV's directors don't mince words when they describe their "war" against Venezuela's other national networks, most of them unabashedly aligned with Chavez's political opposition.

"Yes, we do propaganda, but it's also true we're in a battle with five (private stations) that are dedicated to conspiring against the government," VTV director Vladimir Villegas told El Nacional newspaper.

Channel 8 mirrors Chavez's own complex relationship with the United States, which is Venezuela's biggest oil customer.

As a child, Chavez dreamed of playing baseball in the majors. A left-handed pitcher and first baseman, he threw out the first pitch of a June 1999 game between the New York Mets and the Toronto Blue Jays.

A free-trade opponent, Chavez once rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

And Chavez doesn't hesitate to recommend American films to his viewers, and he counts Danny Glover Jr. as one of his "brothers."

None of it, however, dampens his criticism of the United States. Chavez, who was re-elected to a six-year term in 2000, repeatedly accused the United States of being behind a failed coup in 2002 and of supporting current efforts to topple his government.

Washington routinely denies the claims.

Chavez often uses Channel 8 to describe the Iraq war and U.S. prisoner abuse scandal as examples of U.S. terrorism - followed by praise-filled documentaries on President John F. Kennedy or an in-depth weekly roundup on Major League Baseball.

"I'm anti-Chavista, and I love the U.S. way of life," said Laura Rodriguez, a 46-year-old businesswoman and NBA fan. "But such things as the torture and abuse of Iraqi prisoners forces me to share some opinions with Mr. Chavez about the Bush administration."

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