Media Reality Check. 'A
weekly report on major news stories distorted o ignored.' Thursday, June 28,
2001 - Vol. 5, No. 21.
Fidel Castro got what he wanted in selecting Andrea Mitchell as the
only U.S. television reporter allowed to check up on Elian Gonzalez one year
after he was sent back to the Communist-controlled island by Janet Reno's
Justice Department. NBC viewers saw a portrait of a happy Elian in Cuba who has
forgotten all about his Miami relatives and now lives with his father, who is
sure he made the correct choice to live in Cuba. The dictator was apparently so
pleased that he rewarded Mitchell with a one-on-one interview that stretched
until early Thursday morning.
On Wednesday's NBC Nightly News, Mitchell vouched for the youngster's
happiness: "A year ago, the boy was the center of an international
tug-of-war. Now he appears to me to be a typical kid, playful, even mischievous."
As for Elian's father, Juan Miguel, Mitchell said "he told me he never
second-guesses his decision to raise his son here instead of in the United
States. A Communist Party loyalist, up front at Castro rallies, he insists the
decision to stay was his, not Castro's."
Mitchell mentioned none of the drawbacks to life for Elian and his
father in the socialist dictatorship. Instead, she painted their hometown in
quaint Rockwellian colors: "Cardenas, a small fishing village two hours
from Havana, where people still get around by horse and carriage."
Late Wednesday, Mitchell was granted another exclusive — a late
night, three-hour conversation with Castro himself. If she asked Castro any
tough questions about the human rights abuses which have occurred during his
42-year rule, none were included in her report filed for Thursday's Today.
Instead, she relayed Castro's view that he was a force for moderation during
last year's contest over Elian.
"During three hours of conversation with Fidel Castro,"
Mitchell related, "he told me that the Cuban people last year were so
determined to get Elian back that some extremists even wanted to send military
commandos to the United States."
"Fidel Castro clearly views Elian's return as a political victory
over the United States," Mitchell parroted as she allowed Castro to brag
about how his resting pulse rate is like that of a professional athlete. "Approaching
his 75th birthday this August, the world's longest surviving leader also
believes he is politically strong, partly as a result of that struggle over a
seven-year-old boy."
Mitchell has fawned over Castro before. In a December 15, 1999 piece
from Cuba, when Elian was in the U.S., Mitchell oozed, "What's astounding
is how much Castro is personally micro-managing the Elian case. He's not just
the country's head of state, he's the CEO." She even described Castro as "old-fashioned,
courtly — even paternal."
But talking to Katie Couric on Wednesday morning's Today, Mitchell
insisted she was granted access because of her connections to the Gonzalez
family, having previously met Juan Miguel and Elian's grandmothers. It's
gullibility like that which is bound to earn Andrea Mitchell yet another
audience with El Jefe. -- Brent Baker and Rich Noyes
Mitchell's showed Castro saying Bush "appointed" / Cyber Alert
The
1,103rd CyberAlert. Tracking Media Bias Since 1996. | Friday June 29, 2001
(Vol. Six; No. 105)
Andrea's All-Nighter with Fidel. Though the Committee to Protect Journalists
in May named Fidel Castro one of the "Ten Worst Enemies of the Press"
for 2001, NBC's Andrea Mitchell had an amiable chat with him Wednesday night
which was featured on Thursday's Today and NBC Nightly News. Only in one
sentence in her evening report did she mention the lack of political freedom in
Cuba.
On Today Mitchell relayed how Castro insisted Juan Miguel and Elian
were free to stay in the U.S. and how "he told me that the Cuban people
last year were so determined to get Elian back that some extremists even wanted
to send military commandos to the United States."
Later, on Nightly News, she showed Castro denouncing Bush: "He was
not elected. He was appointed President of the United States." Sounds like
Castro watches Geraldo. And who exactly "elected" Castro?
-- Today, June 28. MRC analyst Geoffrey Dickens took down her summary
of her session with the dictator, though she never employed the term: "Well
on this first anniversary of Elian Gonzalez's return home to Cuba the Fidel
Castro government is not planning any big anniversary celebration. But during
three hours of conversation with Fidel Castro that went into the early hours of
this morning he told me that the Cuban people last year were so determined to
get Elian back that some extremists even wanted to send military commandos to
the United States. Castro met me at his offices where he typically works all
night. [Clip of Mitchell shaking hands with Castro: "Thank you for seeing
us."]
"During the Elian crisis that met orchestrating the campaign to
get the child back. But Castro insists that the boy's father was free to stay in
the United States if he had wanted to. He made the decisions about where to live
and returning to Cuba."
-- NBC Nightly News. A few hours later NBC had time to put together a
regular taped report with soundbites from Castro. As transcribed by the MRC's
Brad Wilmouth, Mitchell began by expressing her typical awe of Castro's hard
work:
"It was already getting late when Castro greeted me at one of his
many government offices. It is here that Castro spends most nights in meetings
that usually last until dawn. This night we talked for three hours, brief by
Castro's standards. About to turn 75 in August, who would replace him? Cuba's
next comandante would likely be Castro's brother Raoul, head of Cuba's armed
forces, but only five years younger than Fidel."
To Castro: "Have you thought, have you planned about having a
younger generation of leaders to carry on your legacy?"
After some discussion about succession which Mitchell raised because
of Castro's collapse at a rally over the weekend, Mitchell continued: "Castro
has been in office so long, he's antagonized ten American Presidents. Now he's
sizing up George W. Bush, especially because of Bush's close political and
family ties to anti-Castro voters in Florida."
To Castro: "Do you see any chance of better relations? Would you
see a potential crisis here?"
Castro, through interpreter: "He was not elected. He was appointed
President of the United States. [some cross talk] It's not his fault he's
ignorant."
Mitchell concluded: "Castro was combative when I asked why he
won't hold free elections or release political prisoners as American Presidents
have been demanding for 40 years. In fact, he says his revolution will outlive
him. And the man I saw last night shows no signs of yielding power any time
soon."
You'd think Mitchell might have wondered why Castro gave her such a
free hand when he oppresses other journalists. Maybe it has something to do with
how her stories don't require any censorship to comply with Castro's standards.
The MRC's Rich Noyes alerted me to how in May the Committee to Protect
Journalists named Fidel Castro one of the "Ten Worst Enemies of the Press"
for 2001. They asserted:
"Fidel Castro's government continues its scorched-earth assault on
independent Cuban journalists by interrogating and detaining reporters,
monitoring and interrupting their telephone calls, restricting their travel, and
routinely putting them under house arrest to prevent coverage of certain events.
A new tactic of intimidation involves arresting journalists and releasing them
hundreds of miles from their homes. Meanwhile, foreign journalists who write
critically of Cuba are routinely denied visas, and early this year Castro
threatened some international news bureaus with expulsion from Cuba for
'transmitting insults and lies.' Cuba is the only country in the Western
Hemisphere that currently holds a journalist in jail for his work. Bernardo Arévalo
Padrón continues to serve a six year sentence for reporting critical of
Castro and the Communist Party." | 
