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More on the MSM and Cuba (UPDATED)
UPDATE: Corrected link in first paragraph.
Two days ago I posted an article in Time about Cuban-Americans wanting to go back to Cuba and reclaiming property taken away from them by the castro regime. Although the article was balanced in that it leveled criticism against castro and che, it also took shots at Cuban-Americans which for the most part were unwarranted.
In the comments, I expressed my displeasure at Cuban-Americans being once again shown in an unfavorable light by the MSM. Granted, the Time article wasn't exactly exhibit A, but simply one in a long list of articles which, in my humble opinion, take unnecessary shots at a group of people who simply want to see their homeland free.
Responses to my comment by Gansibele mention that I am being oversensitive to this particular article, and that Cuban-Americans are in part responsible for the bad press we receive due to our criticism of the press for not reporting the truth about today's Cuba.
Am I oversensitive? Yes, and I have no problem admitting it. It means I care, for whatever that's worth.
Gansibele goes on to say that Cuban-Americans are naive for demanding that the press should be impartial and report the truth. Isn't that what the press is supposed to be and do? If that's considered naive thinking these days, then we as a society are in worse shape than I thought.
Whatever happened to demanding that people be honest and do their job? Reality aside, asking that people in powerful positions, such as journalists, act ethically is our duty.
I would typically say much more about this, but Val was similarly inspired this morning and wrote a great calling-out piece to the MSM.
Read it and let it marinate for a while.
Two days ago I posted an article in Time about Cuban-Americans wanting to go back to Cuba and reclaiming property taken away from them by the castro regime. Although the article was balanced in that it leveled criticism against castro and che, it also took shots at Cuban-Americans which for the most part were unwarranted.
In the comments, I expressed my displeasure at Cuban-Americans being once again shown in an unfavorable light by the MSM. Granted, the Time article wasn't exactly exhibit A, but simply one in a long list of articles which, in my humble opinion, take unnecessary shots at a group of people who simply want to see their homeland free.
Responses to my comment by Gansibele mention that I am being oversensitive to this particular article, and that Cuban-Americans are in part responsible for the bad press we receive due to our criticism of the press for not reporting the truth about today's Cuba.
Am I oversensitive? Yes, and I have no problem admitting it. It means I care, for whatever that's worth.
Gansibele goes on to say that Cuban-Americans are naive for demanding that the press should be impartial and report the truth. Isn't that what the press is supposed to be and do? If that's considered naive thinking these days, then we as a society are in worse shape than I thought.
Whatever happened to demanding that people be honest and do their job? Reality aside, asking that people in powerful positions, such as journalists, act ethically is our duty.
I would typically say much more about this, but Val was similarly inspired this morning and wrote a great calling-out piece to the MSM.
Read it and let it marinate for a while.
posted by Robert at 5:05 PM
6 Comments:
No Robert, what I'm saying is that Cuban Americans have been notoriously bad at PR, while castro, ever since that famous Matthews interview, has been a master of using the press to his advantage.
In an ideal world, PR would not exist. But this is far from an ideal world, and at some point yu have to be more concerned with the end result than with the methods. Val's piece, for example, is misguided in saying journalists inside Cuba should report much more aggressively (even though most of what they report is already pretty critical of the regime), even if it costs them expulsion from the country. Well then what you'll have is one article with a one-day shelf life and one less journalist in Cuba. Oh yeah, and your principles "intact". Much goood that does next time a dissident group wants to have a press conference and there's nobody to report it. I'd rather have the opposite.
The lost PR battle comes at least partially from people not knowing the truth in Cuba, which of course leads to the press' lack of ability to properly convey the truth.
Let's face it, the liberal media has allowed for castro to win the PR battle despite facts which have stacked up decidedly against the tyrant. What does that tell you about the media? There are more than enough intelligent exiles who have eloquently expressed our side to the press and to the rest of the world, so the media doesn't have the excuse that they haven't heard the exiles' side of the story.
As long as the press continues to misinform people about Cuba, the end result will be much harder to achieve.
Report the truth, let the people decide.
Robert; that's just a chicken or the egg argument. CAs have had an adversarial attitude against the press from the get go. This is not a "liberal media" issue, many people on the right manage the press effectively, Rove for one. Don't tell me either it's because the press has a soft side for Communist dictators - I guess that's why Kim Jong Il has such a nice image. And I'm sorry, who are those "more than enough intelligent exiles" eloquently expressing our side? Fontova? No me hagas reír. CAs have not even managed to convince everybody else in Miami, much less the rest of the country, much less the rest of the world.
What's so pitiful here is that there's plenty to counteract Castro's propaganda with, yet exiles keep repeating the same mistakes. Intolerant attitudes. "We against the world" arguments. Picking no-win battles like Elián or "Vamos a Cuba", and playing for the audience at home only. Even people with impeccable credentials like Montaner or Oppenheimer get accused of being "vendidos" in Radio Mambí if they so much as offer a more rational line.
And I'm sorry, did I hear a little poodle barking in the background there?
That's OK Gansibele, you can continue to criticize Cuban exiles and make excuses for the liberal press' poor ass job in Cuba.
Admit it, the media has been irresponsible.
C'mon, you can do it!
Exactly.
Robert; I'm more than happy to say the press does a shitty job when reporting about Cuba and from Cuba. I've said so in many places. That's not what we were debating here, but the image of Cuban Americans and why is lopsided. That is a reality, now how do you influence that?
Stay tuned...this will be addressed in an upcoming post.
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