Since Hugo Chávez became President of Venezuela in 1999, approximately 21 journalists have been attacked every year; others lost their jobs, or were murdered. The escalation of violence against the press was because of the implementation of a systematic policy of harassment of freedom of expression that ended up framing the press as the main enemy of the revolution.

When the Media is News (“Cuando los medios son noticia” in Spanish) is a book that gathers the testimony of 63 Venezuelan and foreign journalists who were victims of the pressure of the Chávez—and later Maduro—government of censorship and aggressions from the state security apparatus, paramilitary groups, and the head of state himself.

The project was carried out by Venezuelan journalists Marisela Castillo and Daniel Palacios Ybarra. Throughout the book, the authors weave the narratives of the dozens of interviewees to describe what life is like as a journalist in Venezuela. The book brings together the voices of Alberto Barrera Tyszka, Enrique Krauze, Teodoro Petkoff, Luis Alfonso Fernández, Idania Chirinos, Patricia Poleo, Vladimir Villegas, Elianta Quintero, and others.

Which media organizations supported Chávez’s candidacy and his rise to power? Which channel was the first to make the decision to split the screen between government programming and their own content during the coup d’état attempt on April 11, 2002? Who was behind the departure of Teodoro Petkoff from El Mundo? The book answers these questions, and many more.

“In this book, readers can have the details of what was behind the departure of César Miguel Rondón from Televan, the firebombing of Marta Colomina’s car, the closure of RCTV, and the harassment of various television networks and journalists,” says Marisela Castillo, one of the co-authors of the book and one of Global Americans 2018 New Generation of Public Intellectuals.

Daniel Palacios Ybarra, the other co-author, explains that the research brings together “the testimony of those who are called, by vocation, to create the memory of a country that does not have it; that collective memory should help us avoid repeating the same mistakes of a past whose consequences we continue to suffer. This work tells what semblances of privacy remain in Venezuelan newsrooms. It is a tribute to Venezuelan journalism, which is one of the few institutions that chavismo hasn’t been able to break completely, despite economic and legal pressures.”

When the Media is News gathers the testimonies of the journalists who experienced first-hand the success and frustration, the courage and fear, and the censorship and self-censorship in the Venezuela of Hugo Chávez. The book is available for purchase now on Amazon.