Story. When Nicolas Maduro became president , he was succeeding hugo chaz. In his first few admonition in office, maz rowe i maduro is getting more face time than his pre predecessor did. Chavez is gone but the media war goes on. This week in local elections that were seen as a litmus test for maduro, the opposition accused the government of an outright information blockade, that fold a Global Vision television channel, Global Vision, coverage of opposition rallies and pret press conferences subsequently reduced, maduro says, right wing elite many intent on ousting him. Our focus , car caracas. Maduro doesnt have the ability to engage the people as chavez had. Maduro his relationship with the media is a work in progress. Usually politicians try at the very least to appear to make nice with the media. Even outlets they consider hostile. In venezuela, such niceties go unobserved. Here are just some of the things Nicolas Maduro said about the venezuelan media, before the l unofficial referendum on his presidency. [ spanish ] and here is the flifside to that argument. Crit youics of the government, jowrntle on what they called jowrntle o journalists. There was an information blackout, and this was clear, when mr. There was opposition in venezuela, not one broke across the rally line. Neither did tv cover it and that instantly silented the opposition. For 90 of the media in the country the opposition simply did not exist. Translator the Media Coverage was the most embarrassing in history. Unlike any other election, the government had an obscene advantage. We had a feeling that the Media Outlets had lost the democratic principle of presenting the other side of the story and the government censored big Media Outlets, forcing the media to knowledge favor one plal point o politicalpoint of view. He is reminding venezuelans of 2002, when many the right and the three outlets in particular joined forces to temporarily force hugo comafs ou chavez out. When he was still under arrest the coup leaders went on those channels and tharchtiond them for thanked them for the role they played. Rc tv and Global Vision went quiet and aired classic films and the sitcoms, rather than air breaking news. Everything involving politics and the media should be seen in the context of 2000 and when leftists still call the media coup. The people have been systematically duped by the media for 14 years. After the coup there was a information blackout. The people were on the streets around venezuela asking for return of president chavez. The media stuck their heads in the sand and they failed to inform public of what wag going on was going on. Thats when i pin pointed the end of chavez as a being media figure. That included his relationship with the media. So the contest what he tells you is the government has lost the traditional abilities of politicians to deal with the media because this is no ability to mediate between black and white. Theres no gray spaces in which established a dialogue. It has taken a decade for the fallout of that failed coup to be fully felt. In 2007, rc tvs broadcast license was up for renewal, which was denied. The tv business was essentially outs of business. Global vision took longer. The government sanctioned the station for alleged violations, the way it reported a prison riot in b request 2011. Between chavez, maduro and the broadcast regulators, television has been completely reshaped and critical voices are hard to find. Translator under maduro they have figured out a way to control the media that was unknown up until now. When there were Media Outlets to make them feel uncomfortable they would just buy them out. The businessmen bought the channels under their name, and those sales are related to the wider strategy of closing down media. They use outlets that are completely l apparently not responsible translator the next day the outlet was facing a lawsuit. The newspaper elmundo was reporting how the fortunate currency was being used up. The next day they fired the regulatory, and a legal investigation was launched immediately. Translator the print presss credibility has plummeted. There must be some reason why people are not reading the papers from the big outlets anymore. The bolivar an, look at this headline from el bl national e. Ing some corrective steps were clearly necessary. However, venezuelaian media are no more effective today of the society they serve than when right wingers controlled the media. What the chevistas have done is tilt the balance. The revolution continues to be tilted their way. Al jazeeras Investigative Unit has tonights exclusive report. Stories that have impact. That make a difference. That open your world. This is what we do. America tonight weeknights 9et 6pt only on Al Jazeera America the anger all one sided . I hear rumblings from the people who cover the heat that the heat are not in love with players in the payer side, there is real hate here. There better be. They can really mess it up for them. When they dislike there, yeah, i think there is dislike but theyve got the bravado. They got their chests out. Its still their game. But thats where the Home Court Advantage is important, this game is important because miami used game seven to advance to the championship. They dont get one tonight, i mean, they dont get one in the end, that game seven here in indianapolis could be a problem. Consider this the news of the day plus so much more. We begin with the government shutdown. Answers to the questions no one else will ask. It seems like they cant agree to anything in washington no matter what. Antonio mora, Award Winning and hard hitting. Weve heard you talk about the history of suicide in your family. Theres no status quo, just the bottom line. But, what about buying shares in a professional athlete . Kauai. Time now for listening post news bytes. In december 9th, Vladimir Putin announced that the news agency will be dissolved, to be taken place by what translates as russia today. Public life of the russian federation. , ria had recently been known for independent reporting on sensitive issues, such as the rash of antiputin protests in 2012. Given the appointment of ultra ultraconservative many knowledge newsman. In russias landscape, appeared to point to a tightening of control in the heavily affect affect controlled news sector. Critical charges a speech by the Prime Minister which makes a potential mockery of a fair trial. Taraf, the secret documents the paper published, dealt too much power behind the science in turkish politics pfn baran revealing state secrets cannot be considered freedom of expression, it is simply treason. Demanded that the court did its duty. Tarafs editors accused them of influencing the court proceedings. News has emerged of two spanish journalists abducted two months ago while working in syria. They appear to be lived but talks with their captors seem to have broken down. Twoj men were abducted on september 16th. The two were apparently close to the Turkish Border in rebel held syria when captured by the Al Qaeda Linked sunni group. Representatives of the pair then decided to go public. Espinosas wife monica spoke to that protest, we appeal to all armed groups to release javier and carlo. This next story sounds like one of those movies in which wouldbe killer has a last minute change of heart, shows a conscience and swoops in to save an internet victim. Newspapers around the world have lost advertising and readers to the web. Tv channels are trying to adapt oan audience that has gotten off the couch. Amazons jeff bezos and pierre midier became the first billionaires to throw serious money at the media. He bought the Washington Post for 2 billion. Glen green wald of nsa fame and jeremy skahill of the nation and others. The bankruptcy of old Mainstream Media and the death of the News Business as we know it. The listening posts menach shirahi, on why the news game may never be the same. Many. The highly some Business Model that existed in my entire 41 years working for print newspapers is gone. The internet has wiped it out. And its much more difficult to make a profit, selling news, than it used to be. People with bl billions of dollars are going to channels he are coming from the internet. Be silicon valley, when you look at a system thats not working, you see an opportunity to build a big business. Media is kind of the perfect opportunity. Its been a big year for the future of journalism. Hes one of the richest men in the world with a reported fortune of 8 billion. Be word broke that Technology President of ebay and president of many. Amazon were teaming up. The 136yearold Washington Post was both for 250 million. It was a big deal, dotcom billion air jeff bezos, many was bailing out the giant. Not because subscriptions of the newspaper have nose dived. This is an incredible brand which is based on doing joirm in journalism in a quite serious way. He knows he has got to do more than trim a few salaries and l cut some budgets. We have to put the customer first, just like we do at amazon. We have to build a massive audience. Knowing bezoss background hes going to have them lean towards technology. What can technology do to help Washington Post get a bigger audience in terms of advertising and circulation revenue. If you are a bill air who wants billionaire who wants to save journalism, give it a 21st century makeover. Then theres the route taken by pier omidier, who decided to invest his money in hard charging many investigative reporters. The actual details of the plans have been available only piecemeal. Blog updates and brief interview. But there is a prototype of sorts that omidier has already created. Its three years old, in hawaii. Honolulu civil beat is focused exclusivively on being lacks day bltio a lack being lack lak lac l l. Certainly the civil beat has been a testing bed for what he wants to do when investigative journalism. Id like to think of it as the warm level nucleus of what he wants to create. Omid iferge are wont be the first to i rethink everything. Online pay walls are the theoretical answer but they have yet to turn off. The New York Times pay wall is two and a half years old, one of the most successful in the being business. The times is one of those exceptions that in this industry almost proves the rule. And just a few weeks ago, tina brown, who tried to rejuvenate news week and merging that with the daily beast website, has this to say. The digital explosion has been sing huge, the disruption hasnt brought a Business Model. For omidier, and grunwald however, propublica, founded in 2007, it is primarily funded by philanthropic donations. , such as the George Sorros open Society Foundation and others. The money goes to being finance being news reporting. 50,000 to half a million to produce. How can you get this accountability in the era of the web . We take our biggest stories, our stories that we think have the most potential for impact and try place them with other News Organization every that can give them visibility to the rearedship that can cause the greatest impacts. Impact. In october 2010, propublica partnered with five outlets, including National Public radio and boston globe, and in 2011 the investigative outfit worked with the Washington Post for a story on the aftermath of the bp oil spill in the gulf coast and how people were profiteering through cleanup in the gulf coast. Propublica has made its form work. Welcome in a u. S. Media landscape dominated by Corporate Media. The question is, will these organization is become parts of the Corporate Media them sestles . A company like amazon is going to have so many different items of business in front of lawmakers in any given year, they spend a huge number of years lobbying lawmakers, to have bezos help out amazons interests will be enormous and something that will be watched incredibly closely. Of course if you put billions of dollars into a new organization, you expect it to reflect some of your values. Weve seen that from previous proprietors like rupert murdoch. Both of them are highly connected and powerful. The journalists will find themselves in different environment. Certainly the readers need to be conscious that their newspapers, their News Organizations are changing. And now a techknow minute. Its the ultimate race againt time. Doctors preforming heart transplant surgery in just 6 hours before a donor organ is damaged by ice, used to keep it cold during transit. But this device could. Change all that. Its called the organ care system, or. Heart in a box. It works by hooking up the heart to this machine. It pumps it full of warm blood, and a formula containing a proprietary mix of nutrients. Its warm, its warm, its beating. Its functioning, its just functioning as if its in your body. Doctors are also seeing promising results, using the organ care system on other organs, such as lungs. For more information on this, and other techknow stories. Visit our website at aljazeera. Com techknow dont miss techknow, sundays 7 30et 4 30pt on Al Jazeera America every morning from 5 to 9am Al Jazeera America brings you more us and global news than any other American News channel. Find out what happened and what to expect. Start every morning, every day, 5am to 9 eastern with Al Jazeera America. Al Jazeera America is a straightforward news channel. Its the most exciting thing to happen to american journalism in decades. We believe in digging deep. Its unbiased, factbased, indepth journalism. You give them the facts, dispense with the fluff and get straight to the point. Im on the ground every day finding stories that matter to you. In new orleans. Seattle bureau. Washington. Detroit. Chicago. Nashville. Los angeles. San francisco. Al Jazeera America, take a new look at news. Start with one issue education. Tn is. Finally, on december 5th, south africa lost nelson mandela, the first democratically elected president of that country and the global news media have been capturing the story of a world paying its respects ever since. Weve seen the obituaries,en a man formerly known as a terrorist, called madiba. Asked the question, what would mandelas story have looked like had the revolution he led and the time he spent in prison coincided with the social media of today. Its called mandela story, web video of the week, well see you thi conclude attacks from the skies. Syrians say barrels full of explosives are being dropped on them in aleppo. World news from al jazeera here from doha. The Israeli Military says a soldier was shot dead by a Lebanese Army sniper. Hes behind some of the biggest intelligent leaks in u. S. History. Spy officials are