The official press will begin to incorporate advertising in the midst of the economic crisis that Cuba is experiencing, it reported on Monday Escambray, which describes this new stage as an “experiment” in which another 15 state media participate. Although the newspaper insists that there will be a change in editorial managementalso says that the press will continue to be governed by the political model of the Revolution.
Escambray He says that “sooner rather than later” the possibility of receiving advertising or including in his business portfolio the development of campaigns and communication plans for legal persons (companies) and natural persons will materialize, although he does not specify what type of companies may advertise. Radio Sancti Spíritus will do the same, which will have an air-conditioned room and a recording studio for “its potential clients”.
From this change, the “financial support” for the official press will be distributed among the income it receives from the state budget, assignments with “special treatment” and as a communication company. Until now, the Government has maintained the discourse that the announcements and publicity in newspapers, radio, television and any official media are practices of capitalist media and associated with the Cuban republican past.
However, the newspaper wonders if the conditions are right now for that change, since “the public media system, which worked in another context, walks, with great difficulty, on crutches in the 21st century.”
Despite the fact that the outlet insists that the change “is a window wide open” and occurs in a context that calls “loudly” for a new management model for the public press, it acknowledges that the official media are they will keep “Cuban-style socialism” aligned around the “solid foundations and strong posts” of the Revolution.
The new “ideological paradigm” poses another challenge: to regain the credibility of public media, in a context where audiences have grown in “informal communication channels”
The official press is part of the government machinery aimed at extolling the political and economic model, in addition to disseminating its slogans, although, from time to time, the regional media publish implacable reports on the deterioration of economic and social activity in their territories. Pressured by social networks, the media have also had to deal with issues that are rarely addressed by the ruling party, such as the wave of violence suffered by Cuba and the migratory exodus.
Even so, Escambray considers that the press has been an “essential pillar” in state management, but that the new strategy tries to “bury from its letter and spirit” the “verticalist, unidirectional and dusty paradigm of the mass media”, that “fulfilled its mission in another context”.
The article constantly defends that the incorporation of its advertising in its contents “enriches” its purposes, but that it poses “ethical challenges”, such as defining how the media will deal “with a market for goods and services not explored by the majority of the Cuban media “.
The new “ideological paradigm” poses another challenge: regaining the credibility of public media, in a context where audiences have grown in “informal communication channels” associated with information technology, clearly alluding to social networks.
Neither does the newspaper miss an opportunity to blame the “permanent economic and media hostility of the United States”, which, in its opinion, conditions the press as a mechanism of political control.
Finally, Escambray recognizes that the much acclaimed “modernization” also requires integration into digital media, a space that is not used “optimally” due to the lack of technological infrastructure and professional knowledge of employees.
The change in the management of the state media is the prelude to the XI Congress of the Union of Cuban Journalists, which will be held next July and where the advances of the model will be discussed. Escambray It issues a warning that if these changes do not contribute to raising the “credibility of journalism and social authority,” “we will not even stay halfway in the transformation of the Cuban press.”
________________________
Collaborate with our work:
The team of 14ymedio He is committed to doing serious journalism that reflects the reality of deep Cuba. Thank you for accompanying us on this long road. We invite you to continue supporting us, but this time making you a member of our newspaper. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
