How She Did It - Yoani Sánchez, TIME 100 Most Influential Person, Launches Cuban News Outlet 14ymedio

How She Did It: Yoani Sánchez, TIME 100 Most Influential Person,
Launches Cuban News Outlet 14ymedio

A groundbreaking Cuban journalist and entrepreneur, Yoani María Sánchez
Cordero gained international recognition for her depiction of Cuban life
under its present government — observed with a critical eye. Listed as
one of TIME's 100 most influential people in 2008, Sánchez has
been praised for practicing "under the nose of a regime that has never
tolerated dissent … what paper-bound journalists in her country cannot:
freedom of speech."

Sánchez achieved such acclaim and a worldwide following through her
blog, Generación Y. Available in 17 languages, Sánchez overcame the
obstacles presented by Cuban censorship by emailing the blog entries to
friends living outside Cuba, who would subsequently post them online. US
President Barack Obama proclaimed that her blog "provides the world a
unique window into the realities of daily life in Cuba" and praised her
efforts to "empower fellow Cubans to express themselves through the use
of technology."

Now, Sánchez has launched 14ymedio, a digital news outlet born out
of her efforts to enact social change within Cuba and beyond.

I interviewed Sánchez recently, in order to learn more about her
fascinating journey from Cuban public figure to international media
entrepreneur, becoming a force for change.

Tiffany Pham: What inspired you to enter into the world of journalism
and start your own impactful blog, as well as the first independent
digital media outlet in Cuba?

Yoani Sánchez: I started my blog, Generation Y, in 2007, after Fidel
Castro retired from the political scene in Cuba. I thought that,
finally, Cubans were going to be able to have an opportunity to demand
change in their political system. My blog became a way for me to
exercise my civic duty of advocating for change on the island.

There was always a desire to make the blog something bigger, to make it
a daily news outlet. After building such an important following, I knew
that it was time to transition my work from a personal narratives about
daily life in Cuba into something much bigger, led by a collective
effort. That's when 14ymedio was born.

Pham: What was your plan of action once you decided to launch 14ymedio?

Sánchez: We hoped to create with 14ymedio a new type of journalism in
Cuba, one based on facts and figures instead of propaganda.

We first needed to proof our concept. We had to show that it was in fact
possible to create a daily news outlet from the country with the least
internet penetration in the Western Hemisphere.

The first thing we did was assemble a team of reporters throughout the
island that would have the courage to write about the realities in Cuba.
It was also important to have a small team outside of Cuba to support us
by uploading our articles into a CMS and helping coordinate our social
media efforts.

We also needed a catchy name and brand that would represent a new way of
doing things in Cuba. We were founded in the 14th floor of a Soviet-era
building in Havana in 2014. I made my voice heard to the world through a
blog that carries the letter "Y" in its name - Generation Y. Cuban wit
makes us prone to puns - medio is the Spanish word for media. Put all
three together and you get 14ymedio.

We also invested in building a CMS that would support our needs and
ensure that we could have a reliable place to host our website. We
created a CMS that would allow for a variety of offline tools to
accommodate the lack of internet connectivity on the island.

With a team, brand identity, and a website, we were able to get to work
and begin reporting daily news out of Cuba. Now our goal is to grow. We
are in the midst of closing content sharing agreements with other news
sites (such as MOGUL) increasing the number of reporters and
correspondents, looking into ways to create new revenue streams,
investing in social media to grow our brand, and looking to expand our
reach inside and outside of the island.

We are at a crossroads with 14ymedio right now. It's an exciting time to
be a part of this endeavor!

Pham: What are some of the personal and professional challenges you have
faced in building such a renowned yet controversial media outlet?

Sánchez: Producing a daily news outlet from an island with limited
internet connectivity and continuous censorship is incredibly challenging.

The first challenges we overcome is that of censorship and repression.
We are currently blocked inside of Cuba, so our users on the island must
access our content through proxies and offline versions of our site
being shared through USBs. Oftentimes our reporters are brought into
questioning by State Security officials and intimidated for working with
14ymedio.

We also face serious connectivity issues. In Cuba, it is not possible to
have an open internet connection in your home like in the United States.
We operate with a basic email service that has strict quotas and limits
on attachment file sizes. When we do connect to the internet, we are
forced to pay 5 USD/hour (average salary in Cuba is 20 USD/month) at a
hotel and even there many websites are blocked and the speed is
incredibly slow. We are what you call an offline newsroom.

Our team, while incredible in their work ethic and commitment to our
mission, are not all trained to be journalists. Professional journalists
choose not work with 14ymedio because of fear of repression against
themselves or their family. So we must work with what we have, if an
engineer who wants to have his voice heard wants to work with 14ymedio,
we'll take him and work with him to make sure they can produce quality
journalism. For us, passion and deep belief in our mission is very
important and we are constantly striving to train our reporters to do
better journalism.

Lastly, we face constant distribution challenges inside Cuba. We hope to
one day be able to reach a wider number of Cubans on island but our site
continues to be blocked. However, nothing is more attractive than what
is prohibited. Cubans living on the island access our content daily
through anonymous proxies, offline versions of our full site that are
uploaded to USBs and through our RSS feeds.

Pham: What do you see as the future of 14ymedio, and what is the impact
you hope it will have upon the next generation of Cubans as well as the
world?

Sánchez: 14ymedio aims to be the person, the citizen, and the eyes
accompanying the Cuban people through the necessary transition that will
inevitably happen on the island.

It is a news outlet dedicated not only to reporting our daily reality,
but also inciting our fellow citizens to question why things happen, how
to improve them, and how to sketch that country of the future that we
all desire.

Ten years from now, we hope to be the number one trusted news source for
every Cuban on the island and for anyone in the world who wants to know
what happens inside Cuba.

Pham: How do you hope your career will inspire other young women to find
their own voice as journalists?

Sánchez: Young women (and men) have a responsibility to their country
and their fellow citizens to hold their governments accountable and
strive to be better citizens. I believe that journalism plays a crucial
role in achieving this, and I encourage others to use it as a medium to
enact social change. For those journalists working in closed societies,
it is particularly difficult to do this but I know that courage will
help you through the challenges that await.

Tiffany Pham is the Founder & CEO of MOGUL (www.onmogul.com), an
award-winning platform connecting women worldwide to top trending content.

Source: How She Did It: Yoani Sánchez, TIME 100 Most Influential Person,
Launches Cuban News Outlet 14ymedio -
<http://www.forbes.com/sites/tiffanypham/2014/11/30/how-she-did-it-yoani-sanchez-time-100-most-influential-person-launches-cuban-news-outlet-14ymedio/>