Telesur is Venezuelan television network owned by five Latin American countries. The channel broadcasts news, sports, entertainment and documentaries programmings.
History[]
The founder of Telesur was Aram Aharonian, a journalist and scholar who left Uruguay due to right-wing pressure. Aharonian stated that the idea of Telesur was "to see ourselves as we truly were", stating that he sought more diversity in the media. After Aharonian resigned from his position as the network's director in 2013, he commented in a 2014 interview that Telesur "did not achieve latinamericanization and continued to be Venezuelan".
The proposed alternative Latin American television network that would become Telesur took shape on January 24, 2005, as part of the projects approved in a council of ministers of the Venezuelan government. According to The Boston Globe, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, whom they described as a "media savvy, forward-thinking propagandist," was able to fund 70% of Telesur's functions while also providing broadcasting facilities, with other leftist governments supporting the network as well, advertising it "as a Latin socialist answer to CNN." Telesur began broadcasting on a limited, four-hour schedule on July 24, 2005, on the 222nd birthday of Latin American leader Simón Bolívar. The network began full-time broadcasts on October 31, 2005.
The process of integration of Uruguay to Telesur was long and controversial. On March 3, 2005 Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez signed several agreements with then-recently elected Uruguayan president Tabaré Vázquez regarding the energetic and communicational integration of both countries, one of them being the joint creation and financing of Telesur. After just under a year of signing the agreements, they had not been carried out, although the party of President Vázquez was a majority in the country's legislative branch. Venezuelan journalist Andrés Izarra, president of Telesur, confirmed in an interview in January 2006 the delay in the approval of the full incorporation of the country to the network: "There is a special situation (in Uruguay), because although the country is a member of Telesur, until their Congress does not approve it, we can't broadcast the channel locally or receive government funding. The situation requires a political decision and we hope that the government of Tabaré Vázquez support the initiative". The president of the Uruguayan Deputies' Education Commission, Jorge Brovetto confirmed in February of that year the country still wasn't part of the network's sponsors and asked that, until the parliament has not decided on a final status, the removal of the country's name as sponsor from its promotions and the website. In June of that year, and as the nation's Minister of Education and Culture, Brovetto expressed worries regarding the network's editorial line on certain issues and governments in the region, and how the diplomacy of his country could be affected by it. Uruguay's Chamber of Senators approved the bill that would ratify the agreements on August 8, 2006 by votes of the legislators belonging to ruling party, but the Chamber of Deputies postponed several times the debate on the draft. Although sources close to the Congress told the press in February 2009 that the issue of incorporation to Telesur "was not a priority item in their agenda", and that the issue would not be discussed during the remainder of that year, the agreement was finally ratified on June 2, 2009.
Programmings[]
- Telesur Noticias
- El Mundo Hoy
- Conexión Global
- Edición Central
- Deportes Telesur
- Reportajes Telesur
- Agenda Abierta
- Dossier
- Impacto Económico
- Mesa Redonda Internacional
- Síntesis
- Maestra Vida
Logos[]
.png "Telesur (2005-2010).png (52 KB)")
.png "Telesur (2010-2014).png (387 KB)")
.png "Telesur (2013-.n.v.).png (1.39 MB)")