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Adventures In Cuban Broadcasting: Remember Radio and TV Marti, the U.S. funded stations that broadcast anti-Castro propaganda into Cuba (which most people in Cuba don't actually see or hear because the Cuban government regularly jams the signals)?

Well, in the wake of rumors that Fidel Castro may be on his deathbed, $377,500 is now being spent "to air select programs on South Florida broadcast stations over the next six months, using loopholes in a law that prohibits the propaganda channels from distribution within the United States." While the stations have primarily U.S. audiences, experts told the Miami Herald that signals from a South Florida AM radio station can reach Cuba "very clearly at night." While the U.S. Office of Cuba Broadcasting argues the move is "another method to get our signal in," critics argue the move is political. Joe García, executive vice president of the New Democratic Network, called the investment "a fraud." He told the Herald: "This is using taxpayer dollars for a political payoff to benefit the most Republican and politically charged radio station in Miami. They know well that the station isn't heard in Cuba, because Cuba transmits Radio Rebelde over the exact same frequency."

More Drama In Santa Barbara: In case you don't follow the journalistic drama that's been plaguing Santa Barbara's community, let us fill you in. This past July, nearly every top editor and several employees of the Santa Barbara News-Press abruptly left the paper. American Journalism Review reporter Susan Paterno wrote an article in AJR's recent issue about the melee, called "Santa Barbara Smackdown," in which she "talked with former staffers, some of whom accused News-Press owner and publisher Wendy McCaw of meddling in the newsroom." Now the company that publishes the News-Press is suing Paterno for "libel and product disparagement," according to the AP. In a court filing, the company calls the article "nothing but a biased, false and misleading diatribe against plaintiff." AJR's Senior Vice President told the AP that "the article was carefully reported and News-Press management had 'ample' opportunity to respond to questions but refused."

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The swath of attention that Miami Herald-TV Marti flap is generating appears to be affecting more than just the journalists who are moonlighting at TV and Radio Marti.

It was Josh Gerstein of The New York Sun who noted last Tuesday, just as the TV Marti issue was heating up, that the controversy raised some questions about other similar arrangements: "A flap over government payments to Cuban-American journalists in Miami is prompting similar ethical questions about payments Washington reporters receive for appearances on the Voice of America," he wrote. VOA is a "multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors," according to its Web site. "VOA's charter calls for editorial independence," wrote Gerstein, "but the organization is overseen by the International Broadcasting Board, the same body that manages Radio and TV Marti." Journalists who appear on the weekly VOA program, "Issues in the News," are paid far less than what the El Nuevo Herald journalists were receieving for their work for Radio and TV Marti -- between $100 and $150 a program.

However, journalism ethicist Al Tompkins described the VOA arrangement as "the same kind of conflict, obviously. What you're working for is a part of the government. … There's a conflict when you receive government dollars, however that money is filtered," according to the Sun.

David Lightman, the Washington bureau chief of the Hartford Courant who was paid $100 per program for appearances on "Issues in the News," told the Sun: "This is nothing like Radio Marti. Nobody at VOA has ever told us what to say or suggested what we should say," he said. "My view is, I'm a professional. I should be paid for my time. … I don't just wing it."

Similarly, he explained to El Nuevo Herald: ''I do not cover the State Department or the Pentagon or any governmental agency. Second, they pay me very little, and they pay me because I am a professional and they remunerate me for my time. In general, I do not cover the topics we're talking about.''

Nonetheless, the Courant reported Saturday that Lightman would no longer be appearing on the program.

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