Glenn Garvin/Tv critic.
The Miami Herald, February
19, 2002.
''News you can use'' is an old concept in journalism, but let's give CNN
credit for expanding it into brave new frontiers. A few days ago, in a bold bid
for the all-important Felons Aged 21-55 ratings demographic, CNN Headline News
offered a detailed primer on how to travel to Cuba illegally.
Early-morning anchor Robin Meade and Atlanta travel consultant Chris
McGinnis, who regularly contributes travel pieces to the network, offered the
advice in one of those cute live interview segments that Headline News added
last year when it discovered the median IQ of its viewers was rising dangerously
close to average.
Explaining how to celebrate ''a romantic getaway to Cuba,'' McGinnis noted: "There
are ways you could go legally, some ways you can go illegally. Now, of course,
we need to tell you that you probably should try to go legally first.''
But that, he admitted, isn't easy, since the U.S. government generally
approves trips only for government officials, journalists, athletes competing in
a specific event or those with close family members living in Cuba.
''If you want to kind of go around the legal way to go, you have to travel
to a third country,'' McGinnis told the ever-smiling Meade. ''So you have to go
to either Nassau in the Bahamas, a few cities in Mexico, Toronto in Canada, or
via Montego Bay.'' A slide prepared by CNN's art department popped onto the
screen to diagram the routes helpfully.
BREAKING THE LAW
McGinnis followed that with information on hotels and currency exchange
rates, and then warned viewers not to pay for anything with credit cards lest
the fed snoops find out. ''What you're doing down there is trading with,
supposedly, the enemy, and it's illegal,'' he said. He failed to mention that
violators can be fined $55,000, a fact that might have caused even Meade to
de-perkify.
Plenty of news organizations have done stories on U.S. tourists illegally
visiting Cuba; that's a legitimate story. (And, certainly, from those stories, a
reader or viewer could figure out how to do it.) But helping them to break
American law crosses a line into something that's not journalism. I've been
watching television for more than 40 years, but this was the first time I've
ever seen a network provide a detailed blueprint on how to violate the law.
Alas, no CNN news executive was willing to talk to me about it. So I can't
tell you if the network plans further features on how to freebase cocaine, cheat
on your taxes or smuggle a box cutter onto an airliner. But rest assured, CNN
would never urge you to do any of those things without pointing out that they're
illegal. ''The report made it very clear it was illegal for American citizens to
visit Cuba except under under special circumstances,'' CNN spokeswoman Edna
Johnson said.
I wish somebody from CNN's news side would have talked to me because there's
something I would have liked to ask: What is it about Cuba that makes TV newsmen
go soft in the head?
It's illegal for Americans to visit North Korea, too, but I guarantee CNN
will never do a how-to piece on visiting Pyongyang. Just as I can guarantee that
Ted Turner will never travel there to go duck-hunting with Kim Jong Il, or offer
him a free satellite dish to watch CNN -- though he did both with Fidel Castro.
CASTRO MEETINGS
Turner and CNN are not the only ones to turn lapdog in the presence of
Castro. CBS President Les Moonves went to Havana last year for four days of
partying and came back with Castro's autograph on a cigar box. 60 Minutes once
ended a piece on Castro with tape of Dan Rather escorting him to his limousine
and calling out, as it sped away, ''Goodbye, Mr. President, take care!''
(Contrast that with the insults Rather shouted at George Bush during that
infamous live 1988 interview.)
And ABC's Barbara Walters, in a stunt so stupid it sounded like a right-wing
conspiracy nut's fantasy, once helped Castro host a dinner party for a group of
powerful executives from Time, Newsweek, ABC, NPR, The Washington Post and other
elite news media. To be fair, it wasn't just a social occasion; the news
executives bravely raised the question of human rights -- their own. The Post's
Sally Quinn wrote plaintively that dinner wasn't served until after 11 p.m. and
the air conditioning was turned very low.
I spent 18 years as a foreign correspondent and I've probably interviewed 20
presidents. Let me assure you, this is not the way it's ordinarily done. I can't
imagine an American journalist offering Alberto Fujimori a free satellite dish,
or calling ''take care!'' as Augusto Pinochet's limo pulled away, or hosting a
dinner party with Papa Doc Duvalier. I look forward to the day when the network
explains to me why the rules are different for Castro.
But enough unpleasantness. Let's get back to the cheerful stuff. In my next
column, I'll provide detailed instructions on how to steal CNN's signal off the
satellite without paying for it. But don't worry, I'll make it very clear that
it's illegal.
Glenn Garvin is The Herald's television critic. |