Soaps pushed off screens

 BY TIM JOHNSON

 CARACAS -- With ever greater frequency, President Hugo Chavez is offering
 long-winded speeches on prime time television that knock popular soap operas off
 the air and disenchant many viewers.

 On four of the last seven nights, Chavez has preempted programming across
 Venezuela for speeches or policy round tables.

 Private television networks -- who rely on the government for licenses -- have
 offered barely a peep of protest despite massive losses of advertising revenue. On
 average, Chavez speaks for an hour and a half, with no commercial interruption.

 One firm says ratings are falling, but Chavez boasted Wednesday night that, ``We
 are beating the soap operas. This is very positive. . . . We see a rising curve with
 the -- what are they called? -- the ratings.''

 A former army paratroop commander, Chavez has often delivered prime-time
 speeches on television since taking office. But never have the speeches come so
 regularly, monopolizing nightly fare on every channel across the country.

 ``At any given time, except for people who have cable, it's all you can see,'' said
 the head of one major marketing research firm, who asked that his company not
 be named. ``What's new is that it's on consecutive nights.''

 Chavez kicked off the month with a 171-minute televised prime-time speech Feb.
 2 marking his first year in office. He spoke again Feb. 5 for 39 minutes, Feb. 11
 for 100 minutes, Monday for 104 minutes, Tuesday for 88 minutes and
 Wednesday for more than an hour.

 Chavez has a relaxed and often entertaining style, bantering with colleagues and
 digressing on subjects as varied as the meaning of love, the work of German
 philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and why one of his relatives is nicknamed The
 Rifleman.

 HIGHLY PARTISAN

 His talks, though, are highly partisan. And as May 28 presidential, legislative,
 state and municipal ``mega-elections'' approach, analysts say Chavez is gaining a
 vast and undemocratic edge by monopolizing television.

 Chavez regularly ``abuses'' the airwaves before key elections, such as a
 referendum last April on rewriting the Constitution, and a Dec. 15 yes-or-no vote
 on the new charter, said Jesus Sanoja Hernandez, a media expert at the Central
 University of Venezuela.

 Sanoja said Chavez should respect evening hours, when many Venezuelans seek
 to unwind.

 ``It's a captive audience,'' he said. ``People are used to seeing the soap operas
 . . . or newscasts or variety shows.''

 The prime-time round tables this week -- dealing with telephone rates and
 investment strategies in the petroleum sector -- have been arid compared to the
 often racy television fare they replaced.

 ``I either go to bed or turn off the television,'' said Jose Sanchez, a taxi driver in
 Maracaibo in western Venezuela.

 ``Nietzsche is not going to resolve our problems,'' added Sergio Urdaneta, a
 Caracas lawyer, who said Chavez ``talks for hours, like he's a schoolteacher
 orienting the nation, or the head of a family.''

 STRONG SUPPORT

 Hugely popular among the poor, Chavez still maintains strong support, and many
 citizens say they are happy that a president keeps them informed.

 ``He's the only president we've had who is interested in the people, in resolving
 our problems,'' said Freddy Arroyo, a clothing salesman.

 Chavez asserts that he has a right to inform Venezuelans in prime time. He says
 his administration doesn't have money for publicity.

 ``Tape this,'' he said Wednesday night, turning toward the television camera.
 ``This is a lot more important than the soap opera.''

 Of the capital's six major television networks, only Televen dared to criticize the
 constant preemptings this week. On a 12:30 p.m. newscast Thursday, an anchor
 disputed Chavez's claim that he was getting better ratings than soap operas.

 ``You didn't tell the truth,'' the anchor said, noting that the percentage of television
 sets switched on falls from 27.1 percent to 15.4 percent when Chavez speaks.

 `COLOSSAL DISASTER'

 Television network owners declined to discuss lost earnings from ads that are
 never aired, but the marketing research firm's chief said: ``This is a colossal
 disaster for them.''

 Chavez has been criticized by press watchdogs on other issues, including a
 clause in the new Constitution that guarantees the right to ``opportune, truthful
 and impartial information.'' Watchdogs say the clause may open the door for
 presidents to lean on media reporting unfavorable news.

 Chavez has also been criticized for using taxpayer funds for his Sunday radio
 call-in program, Alo Presidente, carried on the state-owned network and more
 than 20 other stations. His administration also publishes a daily newspaper, El
 Correo del Presidente, that carries little advertising.

 Private newspapers have given scant coverage to Chavez's nightly talks this
 week, and on Tuesday Chavez badgered them for failing to put him on their front
 pages.

 El Nacional newspaper responded to the criticism: ``In countries where there is
 freedom of the press . . . the media decide what may be of interest to the
 readers,'' it said in an editor's note.

 Another newspaper, Economia Hoy, suggested tongue in cheek that the least the
 government could do is cut out the translator for the deaf it carries during
 presidential speeches and let the nightly soap operas occupy one corner of the
 screen.