Two weeks after the Cuban government withdrew the credentials to the journalists of the EFE agency without explanation, Cubadebate publishes this Friday an extensive article intended to justify the measure, which it attributes to the “prominent role” of the Spanish media in the “manufacture of news.” The official website makes it clear that the coverage of 15N made by EFE and CNN, to which he also dedicates half of the text, was not to his liking, a reason more than enough, apparently, to prevent journalists from exercising.
The note, titled CNN in Spanish and EFE on Cuba: Naivety or Collusion?, begins by explaining to readers how a political situation can be narrated in many ways and shown from different angles, forming a particular look at the facts and generating a specific political position in the receiver. The media have, he adds, the duty to show reality so that citizens can consciously choose their sources and build their version of events.
The journalistic theory class of Cubadebate it fits perfectly with what would be taught in a journalism school, but only up to that point. Next, the official media makes it clear that the only look allowed in Cuba is his and that any method is good if it is to prevent the public from forming another point of view.
The digital medium, directed by Randy Alonso – self-defined as Fidel Soldado de las Ideas – accuses EFE of “biased and tendentious actions”, specifically due to the informational treatment given to the preparation of the 15N marches. According Cubadebate, “the media usually report on events in progress or that have already had an outcome”, but both CNN and the Spanish agency “since several weeks before November 15, already systematically ‘reported’ on the alleged situation of instability in Cuba and on mobilizations that had not yet occurred and a ‘strong government response’ “.
In addition to forgetting the ruling party that the mere convocation, by means of a request presented in the institutions and in accordance with the law, of an opposition march was news because it was an unprecedented event, it ignores its own advice. A quick search is enough to verify that Cubadebate has reported calls for marches against “imperialism” and the blocking many times before they occurred. They have also advanced announced events, fulfilling the function of the press, such as the reopening of the country after the pandemic, the manufacture of vaccines or the attraction of investments, even if the latter were not carried out.
Cubadebate It not only points out what EFE should not have published, but it also indicates what it should have done, such as talking more about vaccines, improving the pandemic and reopening tourism. In this case, the little analysis carried out by the official media is perceived, since the agency offered – and continues to do so – daily the data of the pandemic after the press conference of Dr. Francisco Durán. Those cables also contained information on vaccination.
Nor has the Spanish agency spared news about Soberana and Abdala, even praising an effectiveness that has only been verified by the Cuban side, as in the note entitled The efficacy of Cuban formulas opens hope for the first Latin American vaccine and so many others that can be located in seconds with the help of a search engine. The same happens with the reopening of tourism.
On Saturday, November 13, the Cuban government withdrew the accreditations of the entire EFE team on the island and, hours later, returned two of them. Cubadebate ensures that two team members kept the credential all the time and were able to work, without giving any reason why the limitation or cut is justified. In fact, the official media considers it a demonstration of government benevolence that the agency published three articles between November 12 and 15 and 16 more articles on the day of the call and that the two authorized reporters could “move and actively report. “
It can be assumed that he was very actively in order to maintain the publication rhythm with such a decrease in the team that, to this day, it is still very limited, despite the fact that it recovered and adds this warning note in all its cables. “The decisions of the Cuban authorities in recent months have decimated the team of the Efe delegation in Havana, where currently only two journalists can continue to carry out their work. Efe hopes to be able to recover its information capacity on the island in the coming days.” .
Cubadebate He also points out that the relevance of EFE, the world’s leading news agency in Spanish, is one of his concerns and highlights some information that, in his opinion, should not have been disseminated, such as those related to the arrests, with the arrival of Yunior García Aguilera to Spain or even the withdrawal of his credentials, which apparently have “political intentions.”
Although this Friday’s note devotes ample space to deplore the activity of CNN in Spanish, this channel does not have an office in Cuba, although its headquarters in English does have a representative, whose ambiguity towards the Cuban regime has been pointed out on several occasions.
What is new this time is the head-on confrontation with the Spanish state agency, which had been established normally on the island for 40 years and which it now accuses of having a line similar to that of the US television as an “expression of a coordinated strategy by the large media. of the international press to make viable the policy of the North American Government against Cuba and achieve the final objective of destroying the Revolution and producing a ‘regime change’ “.
Press associations and governments around the world rejected the decision of the Cuban authorities to withdraw the credentials of EFE journalists, and the leadership of the agency accused the Plaza de la Revolución to demonstrate “an unequivocal desire to destabilize” their work.
“The harassment of the agency by the Cuban authorities is serious and sibylline,” EFE’s management said last week. The Spanish Government could also respond to the note, since EFE is a company in which the State is the main shareholder. Two ministers, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of the Presidency, have already demanded the return of the accreditations and, even, summoned the Cuban charge d’affaires in Spain, who declined to attend the urgent meeting claiming to have covid.
The ruling party, however, does not back down and in today’s article threatens to continue to wage war on the press. “Our battle against such petty interests is prepared, right on the same terrain where they intend to fight it to deprive us of the freedom and independence conquered based on a lot of blood from worthy Cubans.”
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