Wednesday, February 10, 2010

U.S. broadcasts to Cuba get stronger

Posted on Wednesday, 02.10.10
CUBA
U.S. broadcasts to Cuba get stronger
By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ
AP Hispanic Affairs Writer

MIAMI -- The U.S. government's official broadcasts to Cuba and the
government-funded Voice of America are for the first time regularly
sharing resources - a move officials hope will enhance both services and
which could blunt longtime criticism of the Cuban broadcasts.

Some also question whether the move signals the beginning of the end for
the controversial U.S. Office of Cuban Broadcasting.

Last week, the office's TV and Radio Marti services opened their studios
to VOA's Spanish division to jointly produce a regular half-hour radio
show. "A Fondo" or "In Depth" provides news and analysis from around the
hemisphere. It was developed in part to target Venezuela, where
President Hugo Chavez has cracked down on opposition and independent
media and frequently criticizes U.S. foreign policy.

"I am looking into this issue to ensure that this is an effort to
maximize resources to expand U.S. coverage in the region and not a back
door to reducing U.S. broadcasts to Cuba," U.S Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen,
R-Miami, told The Associated Press.

"If this reduces the capability of Radio and TV Marti, it would be
another concession to the Cuban regime who fears the uncensored
information these broadcasts offer," added the legislator, a
Cuban-American and champion of the decades-old U.S. embargo of Cuba.

Miami-based Radio and TV Marti, the government's only foreign broadcasts
based outside of Washington, have for years endured charges that the
virulent, anti-communist tone of some of their programs was ineffective.
Critics - particularly those who oppose Washington's Cuba policies -
also question whether anyone on the island even watches the more
expensive TV Marti. The Cuban government generally blocks it.

The association between the VOA and the Martis could help the latter's
reputation, said Nicholas Cull, a University of Southern California
professor who has studied the government's foreign broadcasts.

"My feeling is that Marti has had a checkered history, and that anything
that can pull its output into line with the high journalistic standards
of VOA would be for the good," he said.

U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., one of the Martis' most ardent critics,
had a more cynical take.

"I think they realize they're on borrowed time with the Cuba project, so
I think they're trying to merge it in as much as they can with Voice of
America," he said.

Alberto Mascaro, a Miami native and former Office of Cuban Broadcasting
executive, recently took the helm of VOA's Spanish-language service in
Washington. He says the cooperation is not about politics but about the
best use of resources.

"Miami being a gateway city, it's a place where we can glean information
and guests that in Washington just may not be as accessible. It's a
whole additional talent pool," said Mascaro, who hopes to serve as a
bridge between the two broadcasts.

VOA has news stringers south of the U.S. border but no longer has any
bureaus there - making the Miami studios all the more important as
Washington seeks to counter increasing criticism from Chavez, Bolivian
President Evo Morales and Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega.

Over the last year, the Marti studios have occasionally produced other
shows for VOA and served as a training hub for its journalists from
across the region. In recent weeks, VOA has also relied on Marti's Miami
studios for much of its broadcasting to Haiti, using local
Creole-speaking reporters from the area's large Haitian-American community.

Still, the change comes as the Office of Cuban Broadcasting faces budget
cuts. Last year it was forced to lay off more than 20 staffers. While
the larger VOA's 2011 budget request of $206.8 million is up slightly
over previous years, Cuban broadcasting's request of $29.2 million is
down about $4 million from 2007.

Mascaro insists both organizations adhere to the same standards and
serve important but distinct missions. Marti provides a counterbalance
to Cuba's tightly controlled, pro-government media.

"It's not trying to provide a pro-Castro perspective. They already get
that - and only that," he said. VOA's job is to offer a broader spectrum
of balanced news about the U.S. and the world, with politically and
culturally relevant information for each region.

The two services differ on the technical side as well. Because the Cuba
broadcasts are not welcome by the country's government, the U.S. must
beam them directly into the island via shortwave, AM broadcasts and
satellite. While VOA's broadcasts also use shortwave and satellite, and
now with "Al Fondo," some AM, they rely more heavily on local affiliates.

Yet that may change, too. VOA's Spanish-language radio is carried by
only a handful of affiliates in Venezuela, and its TV service by even
fewer. Given Chavez's recent decision to take the opposition cable and
satellite Radio Caracas Television International off the air, it could
soon lose even those platforms. And that would make it all the more
dependent on the same modes of transmission the Martis rely on.

U.S. broadcasts to Cuba get stronger - Cuba - MiamiHerald.com (10
February 2010)
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/cuba/story/1472809.html

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