Channel Southasia

On 24 July this year, in an ostensible bid to "promote Latin American integration", a new pan-South American television channel began broadcasting from the Venezuelan capital of Caracas. Telesur – short for 'Television of the South' – has the patronage of the left-leaning governments of Argentina, Venezuela, Uruguay and Cuba. It hopes to be the 'ideological rival' to the perceived pro-American CNN Latin, which has been the only international television news network available in the region. Beginning with USD 10 million in start-up capital provided by Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez's government, Telesur's bosses also hope to rope Brazil into the project – although that country is currently looking into launching its own international network.

In Telesur's favour is the fact that the 'mainstream' audiences in all of the major Latin American countries have similar cultural and linguistic sensibilities – Spanish and Catholicism. Whether or not these commonalties are enough to make the channel a viable alternative to the Western media in general and CNN Latin in particular remains to be seen. Moreover, the fact that the venture is overtly backed by governments with distinct anti-US predilections puts a political colour on the project and a question mark on the editorial independence and credibility of the new channel. Despite these potential pitfalls, however, this model is significant in that it could, with suitable variations, be replicated in other developing regions of the world, including Southasia.