El Observador
Encyclopedia
El Observador is the Spanish language
newscast
of Radio Caracas Televisión
(RCTV). It is one of the first television news programs in Venezuela
.
), El Observador Creole was Venezuela's first regular news program. The face and voice of Francisco Amado Pernía animated the newcasts from Monday to Saturday and Sunday the newscast corresponded to Cristóbal Rodríquez Pantoja. Seeing that the majority of the personnel that created RCTV originally came from Radio Caracas
(later known as Radio Caracas Radio to differentiate it from Radio Caracas Televisión), it was clear that radio personalities such as Amable Espina, Carlos Quintana Negrón, Marco Antonio de Lacavalerie, and Pedro José Fajardo participated in the contest run by The Creole Oil Company to select their pair of hosts for their news program.
According to some sources, El Observador Creole first went on the air on 16 November 1953, one day after the inauguration of Radio Caracas Televisión, but José Luis Sarzalejo, manager of the telefilm department of the network at the time, claimed that the first newscast aired on 15 November at 8:00 pm.
Everyday, 300 national and international news stories were processed as so were a significant number of photographs and material in 35mm. This consumed an average of 240 feet of film (which was about seven minutes in playtime). The first technical team of the program were Juan Zabala (first technical director), Mario Corro (operator of the video control), Alejandro Wessolowski (coordinator), Alcides Longa (cinematographic editor), Ramiro Vegas (cinematographic coordinator), and Antonio Di Mola (studio photographer).
In 1971, RCTV decided to eliminate sole sponsors. The Creole Oil Company moved to Cadena de Venezolana de Televisión
(CVTV) on 3 January 1972, and remained there for the rest of the time that the company remained in Venezuela, which was a little less than two years.
, current president of RCTV, was selected to be the conductor of El Observador Venezolano, a variation of the original newscast. Other presenters of El Observador Venezolano included Guillermo Vilchez, Antonio José Marcano, and Inés Sancho.
In 1975, Marcel Granier
proposed to Luis García Mora, who at that time was the Director of Information of RCTV, to come up with a newscast with the same credibility of a daily newspaper such as El Nacional
. The result was the introduction of the figure of the news reporter; the first of these were Marietta Santana and Darcy Alvarado.
In the early 1980s, El Observador Venezolano became known simply as El Observador.
), Alba Cecilia Mujica (now at Globovisión
), Jaime Suarez (now at Televen
), Anna Vaccarella (now at Venevisión), and Kristina Wetter to name a few.
In 1996, the El Observador website was launched.
In 1998, a computerized system was introduced to make the editing process more efficient and effective, which helped facilitate labor production, save on resources and time, and permit better control and organization.
On 18 July 2005, the Centro Nacional de Noticias (National Center for News), El Observador's new headquarters, was inaugurated. From here, RCTV broadcasts El Observador (all three daily emissions), La Entrevista
, and other special programs of information and opinion. The President of Empresas 1BC
and General Director of RCTV, Marcel Granier, and the President of RCTV, Eladio Larez, were present at its inauguration. It is located in Quinta Crespo, a neighborhood in central Caracas
, Venezuela
where Radio Caracas Televisión's other studios can be found. The National Center for News has three new and modern studios equipped with the latest technology, a press room with 35 workstations, 10 editing booths, 10 visualization stations, a department of digitalization, a graphics room, and a room dedicated to the reception of satellite and microwave signals. The new center contains six robotic cameras (which do not require the use of a cameraman
) and one wireless camera. Also, the center contains a special system of lights that does not produce heat in the studio. New programs were purchased to manage texts and video. One of the most technological advances introduced with the opening of the center is the discontinued use of the VTR, or videotape system, as the center contains a server with the capacity to hold 300 hours of video.
On 28 December 2006, President Hugo Chávez
announced that the government would not renew RCTV's broadcast license when it expired in May 2007, which threatened the existence of RCTV and El Observador.
After the shutdown of RCTV on terrestrial television, El Observador became a webcast, with newscasts being uploaded onto YouTube, venezuelapress.com, and El Observador's own website. It was also aired on Globovisión
. During this period, the El Observador channel on YouTube had the most subscribers of all YouTube users.
El Observador returned to the air when RCTV relaunched as a cable and satellite channel on 16 July 2007 and currently airs three times a day (9:30 am, 12:00 pm, and 11:00 pm).
On 15 June 2008, Javier García, a reporter and parttime anchor for El Observador, was found stabbed to death in his bed at his apartment in the Bello Monte neighborhood of Caracas. A suspect was later arrested. García's murder was the first, and so far only, murder of a current El Observador journalist.
Reporters
of Information and Special Programs at Radio Caracas Televisión. His department is in charge of managing El Observador.
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
newscast
News broadcasting
News broadcasting is the broadcasting of various news events and other information via television, radio or internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or television studio newsroom, or by a broadcast network...
of Radio Caracas Televisión
RCTV
Radio Caracas Televisión Internacional is a Venezuelan cable television network headquartered in the Caracas neighborhood of Quinta Crespo. It was sometimes referred to as the Canal de Bárcenas. Owned by Empresas 1BC, RCTV Internacional was inaugurated as Radio Caracas Televisión on 15 November...
(RCTV). It is one of the first television news programs in Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
.
History
El Observador is one of the first television news programs in Venezuela. It has aired almost continuously since November 1953 and was originally known as El Observador Creole.El Observador Creole
Presented by The Creole Oil Company (a subsidiary of Standard Oil of New JerseyExxon
Exxon is a chain of gas stations as well as a brand of motor fuel and related products by ExxonMobil. From 1972 to 1999, Exxon was the corporate name of the company previously known as Standard Oil Company of New Jersey or Jersey Standard....
), El Observador Creole was Venezuela's first regular news program. The face and voice of Francisco Amado Pernía animated the newcasts from Monday to Saturday and Sunday the newscast corresponded to Cristóbal Rodríquez Pantoja. Seeing that the majority of the personnel that created RCTV originally came from Radio Caracas
Radio Caracas Radio
Radio Caracas Radio is a Venezuelan radio station. It is owned by Empresas 1BC, Venezuela's second largest privately-owned media corporation, which also owns Radio Caracas Televisión, a popular and controversial cable and satellite channel.-Background:...
(later known as Radio Caracas Radio to differentiate it from Radio Caracas Televisión), it was clear that radio personalities such as Amable Espina, Carlos Quintana Negrón, Marco Antonio de Lacavalerie, and Pedro José Fajardo participated in the contest run by The Creole Oil Company to select their pair of hosts for their news program.
According to some sources, El Observador Creole first went on the air on 16 November 1953, one day after the inauguration of Radio Caracas Televisión, but José Luis Sarzalejo, manager of the telefilm department of the network at the time, claimed that the first newscast aired on 15 November at 8:00 pm.
Everyday, 300 national and international news stories were processed as so were a significant number of photographs and material in 35mm. This consumed an average of 240 feet of film (which was about seven minutes in playtime). The first technical team of the program were Juan Zabala (first technical director), Mario Corro (operator of the video control), Alejandro Wessolowski (coordinator), Alcides Longa (cinematographic editor), Ramiro Vegas (cinematographic coordinator), and Antonio Di Mola (studio photographer).
In 1971, RCTV decided to eliminate sole sponsors. The Creole Oil Company moved to Cadena de Venezolana de Televisión
Venezolana de Televisión
Corporación Venezolana de Televisión or VTV is a state-owned television network based in Caracas, Venezuela, which can be seen throughout the country on channel eight...
(CVTV) on 3 January 1972, and remained there for the rest of the time that the company remained in Venezuela, which was a little less than two years.
El Observador Venezolano
When The Creole Oil Company moved to CVTV, they took two very important things from RCTV: one was El Observador Creole and the other was its host Francisco Amado Pernía. This loss obligated the directors of the network to search for a new presenter and Eladio LárezEladio Lárez
Eladio José Lárez Villamizar is a Venezuelan businessperson and TV Presenter. He is the President of Radio Caracas Televisión , which until its removal from the public airwaves on 27 May 2007, was the most watched television channel in Venezuela.-Biography:Eladio Lárez was born in Carúpano in the...
, current president of RCTV, was selected to be the conductor of El Observador Venezolano, a variation of the original newscast. Other presenters of El Observador Venezolano included Guillermo Vilchez, Antonio José Marcano, and Inés Sancho.
In 1975, Marcel Granier
Marcel Granier
Marcel Granier Haydon is a Venezuelan businessperson. He is the President and CEO of Empresas 1BC and the General Director of Radio Caracas Televisión , which until becoming a cabel TV-channel on May 27, 2007, was the most watched television channel in Venezuela.-Biography:Marcel Granier was born...
proposed to Luis García Mora, who at that time was the Director of Information of RCTV, to come up with a newscast with the same credibility of a daily newspaper such as El Nacional
El Nacional
El Nacional is a Venezuelan publishing company under the name C.A. Editorial El Nacional, most widely known for its El Nacional newspaper. It, along with Últimas Noticias and El Universal, are the most widely read and circulated daily national newspapers in the country, and it has an average of...
. The result was the introduction of the figure of the news reporter; the first of these were Marietta Santana and Darcy Alvarado.
In the early 1980s, El Observador Venezolano became known simply as El Observador.
El Observador
Over the years, El Observador had been hosted by a number of people including Franklin Villasmil, Tinedo Guia (now retired), Unai Amenábar (now at VenevisiónVenevisión
Venevisión is one of Venezuela's largest television networks and a Venezuelan cable and terrestrial television network, which is owned and presided over by Gustavo Cisneros...
), Alba Cecilia Mujica (now at Globovisión
Globovisión
Globovisión is a 24-hour television news network in Venezuela. It broadcasts over-the-air in Caracas, Aragua, Carabobo and Zulia on UHF channel 33. Globovisión is seen in the rest of Venezuela on cable or satellite and worldwide from their website...
), Jaime Suarez (now at Televen
Televen
Televen is a private Venezuelan national television network headquartered on the Caracas neighborhood of Horizonte. For this reason it's also called Canal de Horizonte. Televen was inaugurated as the ‘’TELEVEN Corporation’’ on July 3 1988 by Omar Camero and Radioven, S.A...
), Anna Vaccarella (now at Venevisión), and Kristina Wetter to name a few.
In 1996, the El Observador website was launched.
In 1998, a computerized system was introduced to make the editing process more efficient and effective, which helped facilitate labor production, save on resources and time, and permit better control and organization.
On 18 July 2005, the Centro Nacional de Noticias (National Center for News), El Observador's new headquarters, was inaugurated. From here, RCTV broadcasts El Observador (all three daily emissions), La Entrevista
La Entrevista
La Entrevista is a Spanish-language television news program aired by Radio Caracas Televisión in Venezuela. It is presented daily by journalist Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, and the invited interviewee, which are often either political personalities or other journalists...
, and other special programs of information and opinion. The President of Empresas 1BC
Empresas 1BC
Empresas 1BC , is a privately owned Venezuelan corporation which operates diverse media enterprises such as Radio Caracas Televisión, Etheron, Radio Caracas Radio, 92.9 tu FM, Sonográfica, FonoVideo, Recordland, and Radionet, to name a few...
and General Director of RCTV, Marcel Granier, and the President of RCTV, Eladio Larez, were present at its inauguration. It is located in Quinta Crespo, a neighborhood in central Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
, Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
where Radio Caracas Televisión's other studios can be found. The National Center for News has three new and modern studios equipped with the latest technology, a press room with 35 workstations, 10 editing booths, 10 visualization stations, a department of digitalization, a graphics room, and a room dedicated to the reception of satellite and microwave signals. The new center contains six robotic cameras (which do not require the use of a cameraman
Camera operator
A camera operator or cameraman is a professional operator of a film or video camera. In filmmaking, the leading cameraman is usually called a cinematographer, while a cameraman in a video production may be known as a television camera operator, video camera operator, or videographer, depending on...
) and one wireless camera. Also, the center contains a special system of lights that does not produce heat in the studio. New programs were purchased to manage texts and video. One of the most technological advances introduced with the opening of the center is the discontinued use of the VTR, or videotape system, as the center contains a server with the capacity to hold 300 hours of video.
On 28 December 2006, President Hugo Chávez
Hugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the 56th and current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...
announced that the government would not renew RCTV's broadcast license when it expired in May 2007, which threatened the existence of RCTV and El Observador.
After the shutdown of RCTV on terrestrial television, El Observador became a webcast, with newscasts being uploaded onto YouTube, venezuelapress.com, and El Observador's own website. It was also aired on Globovisión
Globovisión
Globovisión is a 24-hour television news network in Venezuela. It broadcasts over-the-air in Caracas, Aragua, Carabobo and Zulia on UHF channel 33. Globovisión is seen in the rest of Venezuela on cable or satellite and worldwide from their website...
. During this period, the El Observador channel on YouTube had the most subscribers of all YouTube users.
El Observador returned to the air when RCTV relaunched as a cable and satellite channel on 16 July 2007 and currently airs three times a day (9:30 am, 12:00 pm, and 11:00 pm).
On 15 June 2008, Javier García, a reporter and parttime anchor for El Observador, was found stabbed to death in his bed at his apartment in the Bello Monte neighborhood of Caracas. A suspect was later arrested. García's murder was the first, and so far only, murder of a current El Observador journalist.
News Team
Anchors- Alejandro Tastets - morning edition anchor
- Roxana Castillo - morning edition anchor
- Ana Virginia Escobar - noon edition anchor
- Andrés Mendoza - noon edition anchor
- Francia Sánchez - night edition anchor
- Pedro Guerrero - night edition anchor
Reporters
- Laura Castellanos
- Yanitza León
- José Pernalete
- María Elisa González
- Iris García
- Jessica Flores
- Violeta Rosas
- Junior Acosta
- Jennifer De Santana
- Romy Gómez
- Anahís Cruz - based in Zulia
- Edward Rodríguez - based in Zulia
- Yamile Jiménez - based in Táchira
- Atamaica Briceño - based in Lara
- Enler García - based in Anzoátegui
- Eillen Salomón - based in Carabobo
- Kristian Rodríguez - based in Aragua
- Francine Howard - based in Bolívar
- Adriana Díaz - based in Sucre
- Lisbeth Miquilena - based in Nva. Esparta
Management
Eduardo Sapene is the Vice-presidentVice president
A vice president is an officer in government or business who is below a president in rank. The name comes from the Latin vice meaning 'in place of'. In some countries, the vice president is called the deputy president...
of Information and Special Programs at Radio Caracas Televisión. His department is in charge of managing El Observador.