Venezuela's Press Crackdown Stokes Growth of Online Media

Angel Alayon's Prodavinci.com blog, with its serious political analysis, drew a few dozen readers when he started five years ago. This year, the economist has seen unique monthly visitors more than double, to 239,000—the kind of growth that has become typical recently in this news-starved nation. Venezuelans aren't simply following the global trend from traditional to online news media. They have been forced to find alternatives as newspapers and broadcasters struggle with state efforts to control coverage, media watchdog groups say."There was a kind of journalism we weren't seeing in Venezuela, something more profound and reflective," said the 42-year-old Mr. Alayon, explaining the appeal of Prodavinci.com. More…