Cuba Libertad Letter to Turner Broadcasting Systems CEO Jamie Kellner on CNN Cuba COverage 5/9/2002
From: Jim Hale, 202-543-8480 for Cuba Libertad, WASHINGTON, May 9 -- The following was released today by Cuba Libertad: This letter has been sent to Turner Broadcasting Systems CEO Jamie Kellner. It call his attention to a Media Research Center Special Report. The report was released at a press conference in Washington, D.C. --- May 9, 2002 Jamie Kellner Chairman and CEO Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. P.O. Box 105366 Atlanta, GA 30348 Dear Mr. Kellner: In 1997, CNN was licensed to open the first U.S. news bureau in Havana, Cuba. The Clinton Administration as well as many fighting for democracy and human rights believed opening this window into Cuban society would provide Americans with the unvarnished truth and shine the light of American journalistic scrutiny onto the realities of life on the island. Not only have these expectation not been met, they have been dashed by the realities of CNN's deeply flawed coverage of Cuba. A report just released by the Media Research Center (MRC) documents and analyzes CNN's coverage since the opening of its bureau in 1997. Instead of offering balanced reports on critical issues, CNN's Cuba coverage has provided a platform for the dictatorial regime while virtually ignoring repression, human rights abuses and those valiantly struggling for democracy. CNN Havana has turned into nothing more than a megaphone for Fidel Castro and his minions. The MRC analysis reveals that CNN has turned a blind camera eye to major stories across a wide range of issues that are regularly covered in other closed societies and by other American journalists in Cuba: unrelenting persecution of democracy activists; incarceration of political dissidents; strict press censorship; and economic apartheid. These issues are not secret and they are not impossible to cover; on the contrary, they are well-known and the subject of reports by many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as well as American and international journalists: -- The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an NGO dedicated to protecting the rights and safety of journalists, reports that Castro's dictatorship conducts a "scorched earth assault" on journalists. CPJ has put Castro on their "Enemies of the Press" list for many years. CNN has run only two stories in the last five years on press restrictions in Cuba and has not covered CPJ's reports -- or anyone else's -- on the lack of press freedom in Cuba. -- Freedom House, an NGO dedicated to promoting democracy states, "Cuba under Castro has one of the highest per capita rates of imprisonment for political offenses of any country in the world." CNN has filed just seven stories since 1997 on freedom activists and political prisoners. -- According to Amnesty International, an NGO dedicated to the observance of internationally recognized human rights, Castro's government represses the exercise of the "rights to the freedom of expression, association and assembly." CNN has run only four stories since the Havana bureau opened on the lack of democracy in Cuba. The MRC report makes clear that -- for whatever reason -- CNN has failed to live up to its stated commitment to provide comprehensive, fair and balanced reporting in Cuba. It may be that you, your editors and your reporters have decided it is too difficult or too dangerous to provide full, fair and accurate coverage of the major stories in Cuba. It may be that your organization cares more about Castro's office dicor or cigar smoking tourists than about the ongoing struggle for freedom in Cuba. Whatever your reasons, CNN is regularly out-reported by journalists and news organizations with far fewer resources at their disposal. The reality is that the CNN bureau in Havana has become just another tool of Castro's propaganda machine. If your organization is not willing to dramatically change course, begin impartial and complete reporting in Cuba, and uphold America's proud journalistic tradition, you should close the bureau and end the manipulation. Sincerely, Leopoldo Fernandez Pujals President -- Cuba Libertad |