Dinged for "Stirring Public Anxiety"

The last of Venezuela's networks critical of Hugo Chavez's government has been fined over $2 million USD for their reporting on the Rodeo II prison riots. Globovision was sanctioned under articulo numero 27 de la Ley de Responsibilidad Social de Radio y Television for, among other things, "failing to transmit the government's point of view in a timely manner."

The June standoff between the military and prisoners, which led to the deaths of 22 people, was a massive crisis for the Venezuelan government and an international black eye which focused attention on the hellish conditions of the country's prisons. The government did not officially comment on the riots until the six days had passed and have disputed independent reports about the number killed, among other key facts.

The principal government response in the aftermath of the riots was to appoint a new prisons chief, an observably unstable legislator and close confidante of Chavez, who promptly ordered wardens to suspend all prisoner intake. Why didn't the last guy think of that?

Globovision, which has a long history of doing battle with the Chavista government, says that the fine, which must be payed prior to any appeals, equals 7.5% of the network's 2010 gross income and puts existence on very thin ice.