Fidelugo-TV: Telesur signals to alliance with al-Jazeera
It's all for the sake of diversity, of course.

Since the Bolivarian revolution will be televised, Fidel's and Hugo's latest joint project, Telesur, began broadcasting from Caracas on July 24, the anniversary of the birth of 19th century South American independence leader Simón Bolívar. Telesur is broadcst through Direct TV (article in Spanish).

Telesur is wasting no time in its path to diversity by becoming the next al-Jazeera: According to former Venezuela’s Minister of Communication and Information and now Telesur president Andrés Izarra (via El Liberal Venezolano article in Spanish), Venezuela/EEUU.- El canal Telesur anuncia una posible alianza con la cadena árabe Al Yazira (Venezuela/USA - Telesur channel announces a possible alliance with the Al-Jazeera Arab network)

Caracas, 27 Jul:
Tres días después de comenzar sus transmisiones, el polémico canal Telesur, promovido por el Gobierno de Hugo Chávez, avanza en una posible alianza estratégica con la cadena de televisión árabe Al Yazira, según anunció hoy el presidente de la empresa, Andrés Izarra.
"Hay una posibilidad de lograr un acuerdo con Al Yazira, pero nuestro interés, más que todo, está en buscar mayor diversidad y visiones más profundas sobre los temas", señaló Izarra en rueda de prensa.
Izarra indicó que la cadena árabe es la única que tiene en el mundo 18 equipos en Irak, la mayor cantidad de corresponsalías en el Medio Oriente y resaltó que esta abriendo un servicio en inglés, que "va a potenciar todas sus capacidades de distribución de información".
Asimismo, el presidente del canal aseguró que "una alianza estratégica" con Al Yazira sería la misma que tienen con otras agencias noticiosas para "buscar más materiales, buscar profundizar en la información".
Telesur comenzó el domingo sus transmisiones a varios países sudamericanos con una programación regular inicial de cuatro horas, hasta alcanzar en los próximos meses las 24 horas de transmisiones diarias.

La televisora venezolana tiene también como socios a los gobiernos de Argentina, Cuba y Uruguay, quienes han contribuido con material cinematográfico y documentales, además de la infraestructura de las corresponsalías en sus respectivos países. (my translation:)
Caracas, July 27, 2005
The days after starting to broadcast, the controversial Telesur channel , sponsored by Hugo Chávez's goverment, advances towards a possible strategic alliance with the Arab TV network al-Jazeera, according to the organization's president, Andrés Izarra.

"An agreement with aj-Jazeera is possible, but our interest, above all, lies in searching for more diversity and depth of vision on the issues", stated Izarra at a press conference.

Izarra pointed out that the Arab network is the only one in the world with 18 tems in Iraq, the largest number of correspondents in the Middle East, and pointed out that it's opeming a service in English, which will "harness its information distribution capacity".

Telesur started to broadcast to several South American countries with an initial 4 hours of programming, which is scheduled to increase within the following months to a daily 24 hours.

The Venezuelan station's partners are the governments of Argentina, Cuba, and Uruguay, which have contributed film and documentary material in addition to the infrastructure for correspondents in each of these countries

You can also read about it at al-Jazeera, which mentioned in a different article that Telesur has "advisory board of international left-wing intellectuals and celebrities." Actor Danny Glover's happy to be on the Telesur advisory board, saying

"Certainly the television station itself is not a tool that would be used to demonize the north," said Glover, according to AP. "It is a tool to be used to celebrate the extraordinary diversity of this hemisphere."

Another board member is Tariq Ali (see bio).

According to Atina Chile! blog, Telesur, whose motto is "Nuestro norte es el sur" (Our North is the South) [uh??] is 51% financed by the Venezuelan government, with the remaining funds coming from the goverments of Argentina (20%), Cuba (19%), and Uruguay (10%), but other sources show that the Venezuelan government provides 70% of funds -- it's all the same, as an Hispalibertas commenter noted, Cuba's portion is financed by Venezuela. Journalist Carlos Alberto Montaner states that Venezuela sends Cuba an estimated $4-$5 million dollars daily (link in Spanish, via Venezuela News and Views). Al-Jazeera, as readers of this blog know, is 100% owned by the Emir of Qatar.

Undoubtedly having a cable TV network that is fully owned by the governments of four countries forge an alliance with a network fully owned by the rulers of yet another country should add "more diversity and depth of vision on the issues" to the already existing MSM bias. That way we can "celebrate the extraordinary diversity of this hemisphere" all we want, although Venezuelans just aren't being allowed much freedom of the press.

As if all this talk of diversity weren't enough, according to this article, Telesur's format will be 30 to 40 percent news and the rest cultural programming.

That won't make it a competitor to CNN en Español. Nonetheless, you can be sure it'll be all-propaganda, all the time.

Last April I posted a report on Al Jazeera: How It Sees the World, where I quoted directly Abderrahim Foukara, Al Jazeera's New York Bureau Chief:

"the Arab world is anti-American -- because being 'anti-something' sells."

Fidelugo and associates hope that will make people tune in.