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Messages of hope and democracy
for Cuba
Credible efforts by radio, TV Marti
to widen audience
Posted on Thu, Jan. 04,
2007 in The Miami Herald, January 4, 2007.
Recent experiments by Radio and TV Martí
in buying time on two Miami stations are
credible efforts to deliver information
to audiences in Cuba. These attempts, however,
must prove to be: 1) cost effective and
2) within the bounds of a U.S. anti-propaganda
law.
The issue is not about Radio and TV Martí's
mission. We fully support the goal of providing
independent news and information to the
Cuban people, who have been bombarded with
only the Cuban regime's message via state-controlled
media for 48 years.
Cuba jams signals
To achieve their goal, the Martís'
programming must be balanced, engaging and
widely accessible in Cuba. This is no easy
task. Since Radio Martí began broadcasting
in 1985, followed by TV Martí in
1990, both have been subjected to aggressive
jamming by Cuba. Still, Radio Martí's
broadcasts to Cuba can be heard in much
of Cuba, while the TV shows are seen only
in certain areas, mostly outside Havana.
Audience polls are unreliable in Cuba, where
repression is relentless, and people are
reluctant to admit using an illegal medium.
Even so, at least 100,000 Cubans are thought
to hear Radio Martí weekly. Fewer
Cubans seem to view TV Martí.
The Martís aim to expand their Cuban
audience by buying limited air time on Radio
Mambí 710 AM and WMFP-TV 38, which
can be seen in Cuba via satellite dishes
that appear to have mushroomed in Havana
and elsewhere. One hitch is that Miami audiences
can tune in to the programs, too. U.S. law
generally bars domestic consumption of U.S.
government broadcasts aimed at foreign audiences.
The danger is that such broadcasts could
disseminate propaganda to U.S. audiences.
Legal transmissions
However, provisions in Radio Martí
statutes allow transmissions through domestic
stations when needed to thwart jamming.
Curiously, TV Martí provisions don't
include the same exemption, but allow broadcasts
when domestic ``dissemination is inadvertent.''
Some critics say that these local transmissions
violate the spirit of the law. The Broadcasting
Board of Governors, which oversees the Martís,
and Congress must ensure that the transmissions
are legal. The Martís must provide
fair and objective programming, and their
operations should be free of patronage and
partisanship. For the experiment with Miami
stations to succeed, they must be cost effective
and expand the Martís' reach. Ideally,
the TV transmission would be a viable alternative
to expensive broadcasting via U.S. airplane
flights.
The Cuban people are starved for credible
information that isn't filtered by the regime.
A window to the outside world, the Martís
offer hope and a sliver of democracy to
people trapped in a totalitarian society.
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