Marcelo pointed me to this excellent article by Toni Solo, based in Central America, which highlights the bias in the reporting about Cuba in the UK and US media. It’s worth reading, even if you don’t give a damn about Cuba, in order to better understand how the media works to discredit people or countries which buck the system. Thanks again for the link Marcelo.
| Cuba was ranked at 51 in the 2007 UN Human Development Index. One place above Mexico. You will never read that fact in corporate mainstream reporting on Cuba. Nor will you read that around 90% of those eligible voted in Cuba’s recent elections. Nor will you read a thorough comparison between Cuba and similar countries like, say, Jamaica or the Dominican Republic. |
| The Human Development Index is a comparative measure of standard of living among UN member countries. In last year’s Human Development Index, Jamaica sits at 101 and Dominican Republic at 79. Among Caribbean countries only the Bahamas, at 49, and Barbados, at 31, do better than Cuba. Among Central American countries only Costa Rica, at 48, does better. |
| Reporting on Cuba in the corporate liberal press goes to incredible lengths to avoid any realistic account of Cuba. |
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All valid points and the left wing press in both the UK and America would love to report these things but as far as I know (and I could be wrong) they’re not allowed to freely enter Cuba to report these things (http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=20534). I’m suspicious of any government that won’t allow freedom of the press or internet access.
Charlie, if you understand the amount of money that the US has been throwing at trying to bring Cuba down over the last 50 years, including using propaganda, it’s easy to understand why they maintain a certain level of control over their media.
Here’s another point – we in the West like to think that we have a “free media” but that, too, is pretty much bullshit. Look at who owns the media companies in our countries. Rich guys and the government. Until the net started to break down those boundaries, the media has been controlled in the West. It’s controlled by only issuing licenses to wealthy individuals or corporations, through the restriction of commercial support for media who support the acceptable messages, and through censorship.
Let’s not believe the hype we get sold by our governments. We don’t have “free” media either. We have a very tightly controlled media, it’s just controlled in different ways.