
Nelson Bocaranda Sardi (born 18 April 1945) is a
Venezuela
Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
n television commentator,
columnist
A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (periodical), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the ...
, investigative journalist, and founder of the
Runrunes
Runrunes ( English: ''Rumors'') is a news, opinion and analysis website dedicated to Venezuelan topics. The website was founded by Venezuelan investigative journalist Nelson Bocaranda.
History
Journalist Nelson Bocaranda had a weekday show, "' ...
website. He has received several awards for his work, including the 1985 National Journalism Award.
Early life and education
Bocaranda was born in
Boconó
Boconó is a city in the Venezuelan Andes, Andean state of Trujillo (state), Trujillo. Founded in 1560, this city is the County seat, shire town of the Boconó Municipality and, according to the 2001 Venezuelan census, the municipality has a popu ...
,
Venezuela
Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
on 18 April 1945 as the oldest of five children of Alfredo Bocaranda González and Italia Sardi Consalvi de Bocaranda.
[ (4 August 2012).]
Por cierto… AutobiografÃa de Nelson Bocaranda, recogida por Milagros Socorro
y the way… Autobiography of Nelson Bocaranda, collected by Milagros Socorro ''milagrossocorro.com'' (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 August 2023. Of Spanish and Italian ancestry, Bocaranda's grandfather was a storekeeper and his father was a pharmacist.
[ The family moved to ]Caracas
Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...
when Nelson was two, and he grew up in the San Bernardino
San Bernardino ( ) is a city in and the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 census, making it the List of ...
area of the city.[ He was educated at La Salle de la Colina, graduating in 1962; his interest in reading was inspired by his grandmother, and he was encouraged by one of his Catholic teachers to become a journalist.][
Before he finished his secondary education, Bocaranda began studying journalism at the ]Universidad Católica Andrés Bello
Universidad (Spanish for "university") may refer to:
Places
* Universidad, San Juan, Puerto Rico
* Universidad (Madrid)
Football clubs
* Universidad SC, a Guatemalan football club that represents the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala
...
;[ he began working for the television station ]Venevisión
Venevisión () is a Venezuelan free-to-air television channel and one of Venezuela's largest television networks, owned by the Cisneros Media division of Grupo Cisneros. It was founded in 1961 by Diego Cisneros. It is one of the major telenove ...
under Óscar Yanes, who was his journalism professor. During his university tenure, Bocaranda worked for various radio stations in Caracas, including Radio Aeropuerto, , Radio Continente and .[
]
Career
Radio, television and newspaper
Bocaranda left Venevisión
Venevisión () is a Venezuelan free-to-air television channel and one of Venezuela's largest television networks, owned by the Cisneros Media division of Grupo Cisneros. It was founded in 1961 by Diego Cisneros. It is one of the major telenove ...
to work for Radio Caracas Televisión
Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV and sometimes referred to as the Canal de Bárcenas) is a Venezuelan over-the-top streaming service and formerly a free-to-air television network headquartered in the Caracas neighborhood of Quinta Crespo and ow ...
(RCTV) in the early 1980s, returning to Venevisión in 1988.[ In 1989, he worked as a foreign correspondent for ]Venezolana de Televisión
Corporación Venezolana de Televisión (Spanish for: ''Venezuelan Television Corporation'') or VTV is a state-run television station based in Caracas, Venezuela, which can be seen throughout the capital and surrounding areas on channel 8. Programs ...
(VTV) in New York.[ During the 1990s, he had a political opinion show on Venevisión called ''Vox Populi'';][ ''A puerta cerrada'' and ''En confianza'' were other popular television shows he moderated.] By 1996, Bocaranda held primetime television broadcasts in Caracas.
Bocaranda returned to late night television at VIVOplay in 2015 following a long absence from regular television.[
On , Bocaranda had a weekday show, ''Los Runrunes de Nelson'' or ''The Rumors of Nelson'', which began in 1998.][ Bocaranda also wrote ]columns
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...
for several Venezuelan newspapers.[
]
Runrunes, Twitter and Chávez's cancer
Described as a pro-opposition journalist, Bocaranda has criticized both Hugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez FrÃas (; ; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician, Bolivarian Revolution, revolutionary, and Officer (armed forces), military officer who served as the 52nd president of Venezuela from 1999 until De ...
and Nicolás Maduro
Nicolás Maduro Moros (; born 23 November 1962) is a Venezuelan politician and former union leader serving as the 53rd president of Venezuela since 2013. Previously, he was the 24th Vice President of Venezuela, vice president from 2012 to 20 ...
, and their governments.[ ''Los Runrunes de Nelson'' was cancelled in 2009 after the Venezuelan government reportedly said that it would revoke Unión Radio's license if Bocaranda's criticism was allowed to continue on air.] The following year, Bocaranda and his son created the Runrunes
Runrunes ( English: ''Rumors'') is a news, opinion and analysis website dedicated to Venezuelan topics. The website was founded by Venezuelan investigative journalist Nelson Bocaranda.
History
Journalist Nelson Bocaranda had a weekday show, "' ...
website.[ Janan Abanhassan and Andrés Cañizález wrote in the ''Comunicación: estudios venezolanos de comunicación'' journal in 2016 that the website was born from the censorship that forced Bocaranda off the radio; they named Bocaranda as a "leader of public opinion in Venezuela" for "becoming the spokesperson for the truth, for disseminating the information under investigative support and for having trust and credibility in Venezuelan society".]
Bocaranda was the first to reveal Chávez's 2011 cancer diagnosis
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
.[ Contrary to Article 143 of the 2009 ]Constitution of Venezuela
The Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( (CRBV)) is the current and twenty-sixth constitution of Venezuela. It was drafted in mid-1999 by a constituent assembly that had been created by popular referendum. Adopted in December ...
, which disallows censorship of information about public officers, and with the 2012 Venezuelan presidential election
Presidential elections were held in Venezuela on 7 October 2012 to choose a president for a six-year term beginning in January 2013.
After the 2009 Venezuelan constitutional referendum, approval of a Constitution of Venezuela, constitutional ame ...
looming, there were no precise medical reports, and information about Chávez's health was "tightly controlled by him and the closest members of his Government" according to Carolina Acosta-Alzuru in the 2016 book, ''Health Communication in the Changing Media Landscape''. On 9 May, Chávez cancelled a trip, saying he had knee pain, and on 10 June, Maduro stated that Chávez had surgery in Havana, Cuba for a pelvic abscess. The government continued to deny concerns about Chávez's health when, on 25 June, Bocaranda revealed that Chávez had cancer. Until that time, information about Chávez's health was held secret by the government; Chávez's diagnosis was confirmed by government officials the day after Bocaranda revealed it.[ Alzuru writes that the secrecy was because Chávez's "close allies suspected that no other ]chavista
''Chavismo'' (from ), also known in English as Chavism or Chavezism, is a left-wing populist political ideology based on the ideas, programs and government style associated with the Venezuelan President between 1999 and 2013 Hugo Chávez that c ...
would be able to win elections as easily as Chávez did. That is why they played the card of a recuperating Chávez in charge until the very end", while investigative journalists "filled the information vacuum", being the first to report information based on "sources they had cultivated for decades", which resulted in them being "maligned by Government officials who denied their stories, only to have them confirmed a few days later by Chavez himself".
Bocaranda's revelation, which was followed by others as Chávez's illness progressed, resulted in him receiving more widespread recognition than at any time in his career.[ According to ''El EstÃmulo'', in 2015, younger people were more likely to recognize him as "The Father of Venezuelan Twitter", in contrast to older people who remember him more as a moderator of several television shows.][ Bocaranda's Twitter account is described as a "must read" by ]BBC Mundo
BBC Mundo (Spanish for ''BBC World''), previously known as the BBC Latin American Service, is part of the BBC World Service's foreign language output, one of 40 languages it provides.
History
The first BBC broadcast in Spanish took place o ...
[ and Reuters;] he had 2,600 Twitter followers in 2009,[ 570,000 followers in 2012,][ 1.97 million by 2015 (compared then to Maduro's 2.35 million),][ and more than 3 million in 2021.
Bocaranda's Twitter was hacked in 2016 and the hackers used the account to Tweet that Bocaranda acknowledged being a US ]Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
(CIA) puppet.
Responses
In response to Bocaranda reporting June 2009 rumors that BBVA Provincial
BBVA Provincial ( BVCBPV (formerly BBVA Banco Provincial) is a financial institution in Venezuela.
History
Founded on October 15, 1953, in Caracas, Venezuela, as Banco Provincial with a capital of Bs. 15,000,000. In November 1996, Banco Provinc ...
would be sold, ''El PaÃs
(; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA.
It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...
'' published that the "Venezuelan branch of BBVA today denied ... the 'irresponsible' rumors spread by journalist Nelson Bocaranda, on his radio program Runrunes", adding that "this information has already been denied both in the Runrunes program" and by another agency that reported it.
The Venezuelan Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS – Press and Society Institute) issued a report in 2013 on pressure directed by the judicial system at journalists who were critical of the government, listing as one of the cases a court summons to Bocaranda after he revealed the cancer diagnosis of Chávez which stated that Bocaranda had been "associated with acts of violence after the April 14 elections".
Bocaranda was described in 2011 and 2012 ''Wall Street Journal'' articles as a "prominent" and "respected Venezuelan columnist". In 2015, the Spanish newspaper ''Ideal
Ideal may refer to:
Philosophy
* Ideal (ethics), values that one actively pursues as goals
* Platonic ideal, a philosophical idea of trueness of form, associated with Plato
Mathematics
* Ideal (ring theory), special subsets of a ring considered ...
'' described Bocaranda as a "veteran" and "the most popular journalist in Venezuela", citing his Twitter followers, adding that "different spheres of the Venezuelan government" said Bocaranda worked for the CIA due to his reports on Chávez's illness; the allegations have never been substantiated.
Awards
Bocaranda received various awards in Venezuela. He was awarded the Municipal Prize in Journalism in 1965 and 1967. He was awarded the National Prize of Journalism from the Fundación Premio Nacional de Periodismo (National Journalism Award Foundation) in 1985,[ and the Award from the ]Episcopal Conference of Venezuela
The Venezuelan Episcopal Conference (CEV) () is a permanent institution. Its stated aim is, according to Second Vatican Council, associated with the Bishops of the Republic to exercise together, as an expression of collegial spirit, certain past ...
, recognized in the latter's Person of the Year category in 2019.[
]
Publications
* ''El Poder de los Secretos'' 'The Power of Secrets''(2015) with Diego Arroyo Gil, Planeta de Venezuela,
References
Book sources
*
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bocaranda, Nelson
Venezuelan television presenters
Venezuelan journalists
Living people
1945 births
Venezuelan people of Italian descent
Venezuelan radio presenters
Andrés Bello Catholic University alumni