From: "Walter Lippmann" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Thu, 31 May 2001 20:23:25 -0700
To: "CubaNews" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [CubaNews] Capitalism vs. freedom of the press (Granma)
GRANMA May 10, 2001
The press is not free in hands of capitalists defending their
interests
. Some 600 Latin American journalists have been assassinated or
disappeared for their truthfulness . The information transnationals silence
the forums that report on the Third World reality
BY SONIA SANCHEZ (Granma International staff writer)
WHILE defending our peoples' right to be informed, 600 journalists
have been assassinated or disappeared since the Federation of Latin American
Journalists (FELAP) formed. This is how real freedom of the press is
defined.
During the worldwide celebration of International Free Press Day,
sponsored each May 3 by UNESCO, well-known journalist Ernesto Vera
reaffirmed in Havana the complex aspects of the situation in which
journalists work.
During a forum entitled Freedom of the Press: Myths and Realities,
sponsored by the Journalists Union of Cuba (UPEC) with the participation of
distinguished representatives of the sector such as Jos� Luis D�az of
Colombia and Osvaldo Burgos of Uruguay, there was consensus that "the free
flow of information is nothing more than the free market."
Those present agreed that it is impossible to talk about a free press
when it's in the hands of the powerful capitalists who use the media to
defend their interests. The same is true of the bias and corruption of the
Inter-American Press Association (IAPA).
The forum stressed that the information transnationals do not cover
important events such as the recent meeting of the Movement of Non-Aligned
Countries, or the 18th Congress of the Central Organization of Cuban Trade
Unions (CTC), in which issues relevant to the island's proletariat were
discussed.
Analyzing stereotypes created by the communications media at the
service of imperialism, participants mentioned terms like "embargo" in
reference to Washington's blockade of Cuba, and "rogue states" in reference
to North Korea or Iraq.
Revolutionary Cuban journalism-"which still has a lot of distance to
cover: to exercise more criticism, and oppose everything that might prevent
the country from getting ahead"-has its origins in forebears Jos� Mart�,
Carlos Manuel de C�spedes, Antonio Maceo and the many who have fought for
national sovereignty.
Our freedom of the press is the freedom to create and to think, not to
let ourselves be overtaken by capitalist propaganda, highlighted Juventud
Rebelde columnist Jos� Alejandro Rodr�guez.
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