Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Today's Detour

There's a wonderful post by Tracy Eaton from Along the Malecon. It expands on a recent article by Juan O. Tamayo for El Nuevo Herald which reviews two books on the difficulties reporting inside Cuba. The Tamayo article is the typical negative story about Cuba, and not surprisingly recently used by Radio Mambi as part of their propaganda.

But, Eaton's post provides an important dimension which Juan O. Tomayo neglected to report:

"I've heard some say that if they had the chance to run a news bureau in Cuba, they'd write about nothing but human rights abuses and prison conditions until the Cuban government kicked them out. Then they'd make a heroic exit...

"But I wanted to write about Cuba over the long haul. I wanted to maintain relationships with Cubans of all political persuasions, from government officials and press spokesmen to activists who don't agree with the government. I also wanted to stay in touch with those who have had enough of the Castro brothers, including U.S. officials, diplomats and some Cuban-American activists...

"Cuba is a complicated place. I know that we journalists only cover a tiny fraction of what goes on. We skim the surface. We write about the people who have the most extreme views, but fail to talk to those in the middle. We write about blacks and whites, not the subtle tones of gray."

Full post here.

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