Friday, February 17, 2012

Cuba’s Press: Dodging the Big Issues

Cuba's Press: Dodging the Big Issues
February 16, 2012
Fernando Ravsberg

Granma newspaper constantly blames the people for the country's
problems. Photo: Raquel Pérez

HAVANA TIMES, Feb 16 — Would you trust a doctor who diagnosed you with a
serious case of cancer and then, immediately afterwards, told you that
you also had acne, and urgently prescribed only face cream to eliminate
those nasty little pimples on your face?

That's the feeling I got from a recent article in the Granma newspaper
concerning the crisis in public transportation here. Only once did it
mention the lack of spare parts, devoting the rest of the report to the
lack of bus cleanliness, graffiti on the walls and the volume of the music.

As always, the criticisms were directed at ordinary people, those who
work for the bus company and the passengers.

Not a single direct reference was made to the managers and
administrators who fail to guarantee the supply of parts on time and
thus cause the artificial shortage of vital transportation services.

No one would ever question the ban on smoking in buses, but that's not
the main problem. When one reads Granma (the "official organ" of the
Central Committee of Communist Party of Cuba, PCC), they would hope to
find the nation's problems treated in greater depth.

It's true that transportation officials refuse to grant interviews. I
spent months trying to talk to them and I saw for myself what lengths
they would go to in avoiding meetings where they figured they would have
to respond to difficult questions.

But such refusals don't warrant journalists dedicating themselves to
delivering tirades against "acne." That's precisely what those who try
to chase away the press want; they hope to avoid public scrutiny of
their mismanagement and errors.

Granma doesn't explain why there is a shortage of buses. Photo: Raquel Pérez

As journalists, it's our responsibility to pursue investigations in a
parallel manner, furthering a diagnosis that will enable the country to
discover the type of cancer it has, what caused it and the steps
necessary for finding an effective treatment.

Instead, Granma prefers to use the average Cuban as the scapegoat, which
seems an inconsistency for a newspaper whose spokesmen proclaim a
"revolution of the downtrodden, for the downtrodden and by the downtrodden."

They write about how people — like wide-mouth nestlings — expect the
government to feed them, but they don't explain that the Cuban model of
socialism hasn't allowed everyday people to fly. They blast individuals
for cutting down trees, while remaining silent about there being no
where to buy a miserable board.

The country expects full information about corruption in the area of
telecommunications — where million-dollar scams have occurred with phone
cards and the new underwater telephone cable — yet the official
journalists prioritize the story about some guys stealing a couple of
cellphones.

They blame wagon drivers for shortages but don't dare to mention the
gross inefficiencies of the Ministry of Agriculture. Now we have an
entire article devoted to transportation problems without them having
the guts to investigate why hundreds of brand new buses are sitting
around idle.

They have the confidence that people won't be able to respond, they even
silence outraged revolutionaries. Journalist and university professor
Elaine Diaz shows in her blog that the censorship of letters from
readers is what works best at that newspaper.

Hundreds of new buses are inoperative without Granma daring to explain
why. Photo: Raquel Pérez

Nobody in Cuba is so naive as to ask for ideological impartiality or
political neutrality from a newspaper which defines itself as the
"official organ" of the ruling party, but that doesn't exempt it from
complying with professional and ethical standards.

One would expect to find serious and deep reports in its pages, ones
that were analytical and provided a multifaceted treatment of the issues
– addressing these with honesty and courage so as to at least confront
those who sabotage the policies of the PCC.

One would hope they would follow the directives of their own
organization's top leaders, who have already explained that the
journalism they do doesn't work and have urged them to fight against the
cloak of silence that protects corruption.

However, it's unlikely that progress will be made by begging Raul Castro
to force officials to provide information or using the PCC National
Conference as a Wailing Wall. As Jose Marti once said, "The great rights
are not acquired through tears."

Instead of continuing to wait for the good will of officials to supply
the needed information, journalists could turn to average citizens,
workers and even conscious leaders who are willing to speak off the record.

This year's class of journalism students will soon be climbing Mount
Turquino (the highest peak in the Sierra Maestra mountain range and a
symbol of Fidel Castro's guerrilla army). It might be pleasurable to
dramatize the feats of former guerrillas, but if the new generation
wants to play a leading role it must be able to fight its own battles.

For such an adventure, it's not necessary to risk one's life – like some
of our colleagues are doing elsewhere. One does, however, have to be
willing to lose their official job and work in the attempt to do
professional, honorable, ethical and courageous journalism.

http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=62244

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