U.S. newspapers given go-ahead in
Havana
(UPDATE: details on New York Times' departure, adds
Washington Post editor's comments)
By Andrew Stern
CHICAGO, Sept 8 (Reuters) - The Chicago Tribune and the Dallas Morning News said in their
Friday editions that Cuba has granted permission for them to open reporting bureaus in the
communist-ruled nation, the first permanent U.S. newspaper presence in Cuba since the early
1960s.
Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque told executives for the newspapers that approval of the
news bureaus had been granted in meetings at the Cuban mission to the United Nations in New
York, where Cuban President Fidel Castro has been attending the U.N. Millennium Summit.
Although foreign news organisations such as Reuters and other non-U.S. agencies and a scattering of
non-U.S. newspapers have long had a presence in Cuba, the only U.S.-based news organisations to
be allowed bureaus in Havana are Cable News Network (CNN) and The Associated Press, since
1997 and 1998 respectively.
Other U.S.-based journalists can make only limited reporting trips to the island.
``The Cuba story is one that needs to be told properly,'' Tribune (NYSE:TRB - news) Chairman
John Madigan said. ``Being there allows you to do that. We have a lot of interest in events in Cuba
and this is another way to bring to our readers in-depth coverage of subjects important to them.''
The Tribune also owns the Sun-Sentinel and the Orlando Sentinel, both newspapers in Florida,
which has a large and vocal Cuban American population.
Cuba's approval of the newspaper bureaus is bound to be viewed as signalling widening acceptance
of U.S. media by Havana and also continues a recent trend of closer ``people-to-people'' ties
between two nations, which have no diplomatic relations.
But at a government level, relations remain chilly. The 38-year-old U.S. economic embargo on Cuba
remains in force, and Castro, 74 and in power since the 1959 revolution, remains committed to his
one-party socialist system.
The U.S. government in 1997 gave permission to several U.S. newspapers to open bureaus in Cuba
but the newspapers have up to now been unable to get authorisation from Havana.
The New York Times was the last U.S. newspaper to have a bureau on the island until its
correspondent was not allowed to return in 1965. The Associated Press became the last U.S.-based
news organisation to leave, in 1969, before it returned two years ago.
HAVANA OPENS
As it realigns its economic ties after the collapse of its old ally the former Soviet Union, Havana has
become more open to Westerners, allowing investment from Canada and Europe and rapidly
expanding its tourism sector over the last decade. But Castro's government remains wary of Western
reporting.
Foreign reporters working in Havana, who number more than 100, are not subject to censorship but
officials scrutinise their work continually and critically and occasionally dole out informal or formal
complaints. Over the decades foreign reporters have occasionally been expelled from the island,
although this has seldom happened in recent years.
``Cuba is like any authoritarian society where they watch you,'' said Stuart Loory, a professor at
Missouri School of Journalism and a former CNN news executive. ``You learn to accommodate
with (being watched) and still develop sources and opposing points of view. I think it's harder for
people who go in for a quick trip to do that.''
It was not immediately clear exactly when the U.S. newspapers would open their bureaus.
``This is an important recognition of the role The Dallas Morning News has played in bringing insight
and understanding of Latin America to Texas and throughout the United States,'' said Dallas
Morning News publisher Burl Osborne.
Havana has denied a bureau to the U.S. newspaper that would arguably have most interest in having
one, the Miami Herald, which it sees as partisan and hostile to it.
The Herald and its Spanish-language sister paper El Nuevo Herald have a large Cuban American
readership and their columnists regularly rail against the Castro government.
The Herald on Friday quoted its executive editor Martin Baron as saying ``We are not pleased to
have a competitor who has a bureau in Havana,'' referring to the Tribune-owned papers. ``We will
continue to cover Cuba as best we can ... and to have reporters get in there. And there are other
sources of information besides the Tribune bureaus. We'll rely on those sources until we get a
bureau. We hope it's soon.''
Havana appears to be more open to American newspapers having bureaus there, according to
Washington Post assistant managing editor for foreign news Philip Bennett, citing talks he and other
Post executives had in Havana last month.
``While we were in Havana, we also discussed the issue of raising a bureau there ... they seem to be
actively considering these requests in a way that perhaps they hadn't before,'' Bennett said.
``They seem to be more open to the possibility of having not just two but perhaps several American
newspapers and perhaps other media being there.''
biz.yahoo.com
Within the decade we'll be trading the BCV, i betcha ... [that's the bolsa cubana de valores] ... of course there will also be CDR vehicles on Toronto .. [that's canadian depositary receipts] -g- |
