November 15, 2011
Isbel Diaz Torres
There's good press and bad press, but also the old press...for various
uses. A sales stand at the Tulipan Farmers Market in Havana. Photo:
Isbel Diaz Torres
Looking a little more closely at Granma newspaper, I discovered that in
reality we don't know who's writing to us every day. Many of the
articles go unsigned.
The first thing I should clarify for those living outside the island is
that Granma is the official daily of with the largest circulation in the
country. It's distributed all across the island after a single edition
comes out around 1:00 in the morning.
By the way, it's not "the official organ of the Communist Party of Cuba
(PCC)," as one often hears, but the newspaper of the party's Central
Committee. Thus the paper itself is an example of the high degree of
centralized control that our society suffers.
It's not a bad thing that the PCC's Central Committee has a newspaper,
the problem is that they claim it to be the sole holder of truth. To
make matters worse, the two other national publications, Juventud
Rebelde and Trabajadores, have historically reproduced (sometimes
verbatim) the words of "Daddy Granma."
It should be recognized, though, that those two publications were
highlighted recently for their diversity and freshness, with
inquisitive, updated and risk-taking materials for which people are
always thankful.
I have friends working at each of the three newspapers, people who I
respect for their deep commitment and devotion to their human,
professional and patriotic values. The same applies to the professors in
the faculty of Social Communication at the University of Havana where
many future journalists graduate.
But this knowledge of the high quality of many of the professionals in
Cuban journalism places me in an obviously conflicting position when
having to deal every day with the lack of important news or any
diversity of opinion reflected in their periodicals.
To make up for these shortcomings, efforts are sometimes made by
including countless international items taken from the Internet. But
wouldn't it be better to ensure access to the Internet so that people
could read these for themselves online? That would leave room for the
many issues at home that remain to be dealt with every day under the
bylines of our journalists.
As I said earlier, I noticed that a number of news articles are not
signed in Granma, without counting the sheer volume of materials that
are taken from international press agencies (which on some days are
"reliable sources" and other times are "allies of the empire," depending
on what the article says).
For example the Wednesday (November 2) edition of Granma had seven
unsigned articles:
1. Canada joins the US in retaliation against UNESCO for recognizing
Palestine
2. Raul receives the King of Lesotho
3. The world midweek
4. Prominent communist Argentinian leader Fanny Edelman dead
5. Cuba and India: A historical relationship withstanding the test of time
6. Israel freezes funds for the PA, accelerates construction in occupied
territories
7. Charangon de Reve tours the cities of Guantanamo and Santiago
Who wrote all this? Does it involve the technical issue of a lack of
space for their signatures? Are the articles taken from the Internet and
then rewritten for the Cuban public? Are those articles by the same
authors in the same issue? Do they represent the voice of the Central
Committee?
It's hard to believe that the Central Committee convened to draft a
story about the tour of the Charangon de Reve in the eastern part of the
island, with all due respect for the high quality of that popular Cuban
musical group.
Finally, it occurred to me that one big problem of our press — among
many others — may also be that the authors don't have their own styles;
there are no personalities. Sometimes you can read the whole paper and
it seems like it was written by a single person, such is the level of
"equilibrium" in the language.
The funniest thing is reading "Letters from the Readers," which are
published once a week. In this section the "people's letters" are
reproduced in the same dry official style as the newspaper reports,
which contrast comically with the complaints and criticisms, often
discussing heartfelt and highly emotional concerns.
Incidentally, in the section titled "Letters to the Editor," those
letters themselves are signed, but this time only with the initial of
the person's first name and their full last name. In the Havana phone
book alone, there are 500 households listed under the surname "Garcia."
So does a letter signed by "A. Garcia," for example, give us any
information?
This common practice of anonymity in the press is suspect at best. One
cannot criticize or make demands on anyone in specific when the
information taken from them isn't signed, in the end it could turn out
that their grievance wasn't true or, in the best case, they didn't
express important nuances to fully understand the situation being discussed.
However this is of course very useful when you want to manipulate
information in a certain way, or when you don't want people to really
know what's being said.
The criticisms made by Raul Casto during the last congress of the PCC
have generated some movement within the press, but it still can't be
assumed that anything will come of it. Perhaps one decision from above
isn't enough, as was suggested by Alfredo Guevara at a recent conference.
Apparently the dual position of president/party secretary — who on the
one hand recognizes the weaknesses of the press and other hand threatens
to be ruthless with those journalists who make mistakes — can be
confusing to the editors of newspapers. To me at least it's not
completely clear how a journalist can make a mistake.
Is it that there are some things that can be criticized and others that
can't? Or is it that the little phrase "don't give the enemy any
ammunition" still valid?
Anyway, it's apparent that change in the press will be a gradual process
and not resolved in a single blow – if at all. For now, they could start
by having their articles signed and at least gain a little credibility.
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