Nelson Bocaranda Sardi (born 18 April 1945[1]) is a Venezuelan television commentator, columnist, investigative journalist,[2] and founder of the Runrunes website.
[11] 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.
[13] 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".
[9][14][15] Contrary to Article 143 of the 2009 Constitution of Venezuela, which disallows censorship of information about public officers,[16] and with the 2012 Venezuelan presidential election looming,[17] 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.
[20] Bocaranda's revelation, which was followed by others as Chávez's illness progressed,[21] resulted in him receiving more widespread recognition than at any time in his career.
[23] In response to Bocaranda reporting June 2009 rumors that BBVA Provincial would be sold, El País 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.
[24] 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".