The Minister of Finance and Prices, Vladimir Regueiro Ale, announced that 28 island media They have joined a transition process towards self-financing, as part of the reform of the economic management model of the budgeted sector.
During the sixth National Virtual Press Festival, the owner explained that the initiative seeks to reduce direct dependence on the State budget and strengthen the sustainability of the media, without altering its “public character or its social function.”
The new scheme maintains a basic state subsidy fund, while the publishing groups develop their own management capabilities to generate income, the minister detailed in a speech. spread in Facebook by the president of the Union of Journalists of Cuba, Ricardo Ronquillo Bello.
“It is not about commercializing information or giving up our principles,” he stated, but rather about creating “our own, ingenious formulas,” compatible with “the socialist project.”
Among the expected impacts, the improvement in the working and salary conditions of journalists, technicians and creators stood out, by linking remuneration to economic results.
In addition, he stressed the need to move towards more agile organizational structures, with rationalized workforces and more efficient use of human capital.
The minister linked this process with the Government program to correct distortions and re-boost the economyaimed at resizing the budgeted sector and stimulating the generation of income in areas with productive potential.
In closing, Regueiro Ale asked press professionals to actively get involved in the transformation, which he considered “an administrative decision with a marked political component.”
Advertising, three years after the Communication Law
Three years after the Social Communication Law was approved, the results of the transformations in the media environment in terms of advertising are still not clearly seen, despite the fact that the regulations have already given the green light.
Published in the Official Gazette In June 2024, the Law will be accompanied by two regulatory decrees. It is the first of its kind on the island in 70 years and combines the political alignment of “authorized” media, the regulation of digital phenomena, including influencers, and a certain openness towards advertising and commercial sponsorships.
Cuban media will have advertising with “restrictions,” say managers
“A cycle of more than 40 years of debates, aspirations, dissatisfactions and dreams of professional and academic sectors that raised the need to transform Cuba’s communication system is coming to an end,” said then Onelio Castillo Corderí, vice president of the Cuban Institute of Information and Social Communication.
However, it was announced that advertising in the island’s media would have “restrictions” based on new regulations on the subject.
So, Castillo Corderi confirmed that the regulations developed in this regard contemplate restrictions for topics such as alcoholic beverages, cigarettes, food and medicines.
“There cannot be advertising and sponsorship in Cuba, and within sponsorship patronage, if there is not a contractual relationship established with obligations, in accordance with Cuban legislation on economic contracting and other elements that are established in the Law and are also reiterated in some way in the regulations, which have to do with the legality of the sources of financing to carry out advertising and sponsorship actions,” commented the manager.
Regarding the regulations regarding advertising and sponsorship, he noted that it is “extensive, with 182 articles” and that it has “many fields.”
The official referred to “legitimate concerns” about the presence of advertising in the Cuban media and its possible impact on the “Cuban social system.”
