NY Times complains Cuba won't let U.S. media in to bash it. Posted by: "Walter Lippmann" [EMAIL PROTECTED] walterx Mon Aug 7, 2006 5:36 am (PST)
The U.S. media, which for the most part has participated in the blockade through indifference to Cuba throught the years, is now paying the price for their indifference. The Cubans have allowed foreign journalists in who have spent years here bashing Cuba in an endless cycle of boring and predictable commentaries. Now that we're in a new state, these news outlets, which tried to ignore Cuba when not reviling it, think Cuba should simply roll over and play dead, opening their doors to everyone who wants to come here and write about the buildings which need paint and the salaries which aren't enough to go to Wal-Mart and so on. Sorry, but with all due modesty, my committment is to be here for extended periods of time, and to share both my own impressions and those of others who write, good and bad, about life in this country. The Cuban Revolution is a good thing, all sorts of reasons, but this country has plenty of problems and contradictions, big and small, serious and frivolous. The more time I spend here, the more I know how little I know. But what little I know is a whole lot more than the nearly nothing these wiseacres who just show up and rant hysterically know. Their reportage is constantly filled with the crudest factual errors. My home town newspaper, for one example, sent the editor of their Sunday opinion section here not long ago. He couldn't even get Alarcon's name right! Now what we see is that these outlets are getting a taste of Cuban sovereignty, something for which they have expressed contempt all all along and they don't like it. For Cuba, there are some things which are more important than money, the few lousy dollars which these newspaper presstitutes would put into a hotel. Cuba allows CBS and NBC to have bureaus here. AP, Reuters, and the Sun-Sentinel have also had bureaus here. They write about the dissidents, about long line and other problems in Cuban life, but they at least display a modicum of committment by keeping people here full-time. The Sun-Sentinel's Vanessa Bauza took a sabbatical. They sent a couple of people who stayed for a couple of weeks, but didn't fill her slot. Well don't blame Cuba for that. Furthermore, Washington won't allow most people to come to Cuba to see it for themselves. Ordinary people. It won't even allow Cuban Americans to come to see their families except under extremely limiting and infrequent conditions. Washington won't allow Cubans to visit the United States, without paying a NON-REFUNDABLE $200 fee JUST TO HAVE AN INTERVIEW at the U.S. Interests Section, and, in most cases, to have that request denied, but Washington keeps the $200.00. All of these factors are ignored by such reporting as what we read here in the New York Slimes. If they would like to be able to come to Cuba, start writing about the travel ban! Start demanding Washington allow Cubans to come to visit the United States, and not have to pay $200.00 JUST TO ASK! Cuba is a sovereign nation. Anyone who wants to write about this country with a Havana by-line, something which gives the articles a touch of authenticity, has to ask for and receive PERMISSION to do that from Cuba's government. Cuba is a sovereign nation. Deal with it! Walter Lippmann, CubaNews http://www.walterlippmann.com http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews ====================================================== THE NEW YORK TIMES August 7, 2006 Stymied on the Castro Beat: Few See Behind the Curtain By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE With one of the biggest events in Cuban history now unfolding the provisional, and perhaps permanent, transition of power from Fidel Castro to his brother Raúl many news organizations in the United States are scrambling to cover the situation in a Communist country that bars most American reporters. The wire services that serve American newspapers, chiefly The Associated Press but also Reuters, have bureaus in Havana as does CNN but they are the exceptions. Reporters are at the mercy of the Castro government in getting working visas, and most are unsuccessful. At least a dozen reporters have sought to enter the country on tourist visas and been turned away at the airport; a few have slipped through and have been operating in the island nation sub rosa, which hampers their ability to report fully. One news executive said that scores of journalists, perhaps hundreds of them, were in Cancún, Mexico, waiting for permission to enter the country. Some news organizations, including The Washington Post, are using reporters already accredited and based in Havana. Others, including The New York Times, are using employees in Havana who are not identified, for what The Times says are security reasons. The Chicago Tribune and The South Florida Sun-Sentinel, both owned by the Tribune Company, appear to be the only two major American newspapers with a bureau in Havana. Those two papers, along with The Dallas Morning News, set up operations in 2001 after a decade of courting Cuban officials; they were the first there in four decades. (The Dallas paper closed its bureau last year for budget reasons.) Gary Marx, The Tribunes man in Havana, has been filing reports regularly since Mr. Castro underwent surgery last week. Unfortunately for The Sun-Sentinel, it had no one in Cuba at the time, a spokesman said. While Cuba granted The Sun-Sentinel, in Fort Lauderdale, a presence, it has withheld such permission from The Miami Herald (owned by the McClatchy Company). Miami is home to the largest population of Cuban exiles in the country. Juan O. Tamayo, chief of correspondents for The Herald, said that Cuban officials regarded the paper with suspicion. They want to try to put their message out forcefully through the media, and we here in Miami simply know too much and need to cover Cuba too intensely to fit their needs, he said. The Herald is still trying to get reporters into Cuba, he said, but were having problems with visas. To view the current thirty CubaNews messages: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/messages If this message was forwarded to you, subscription details may be found here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/ To unsubscribe from this CubaNews group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com *************************************************************************** Berdikusi dg Santun & Elegan, dg Semangat Persahabatan. 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