The Fallout That Followed The Fallout
(AP Photo/ Jorge Rey)
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October 3, 2006 11:55 AM So, remember those reporters at El Nuevo Herald (The Miami Herald's Spanish-language sister paper) who were fired because they accepted payments for appearances on Radio and TV Marti while they worked at the paper? Well, they're not fired anymore. And the guy who fired them, Jesús Díaz Jr., president of The Miami Herald Media Co. and publisher of The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald, has resigned.
September 18, 2006 2:10 PM 
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.
Questions About TV/Radio Marti Contributors Beget Questions About "Voice Of America"
(CBS/AP)
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.
September 13, 2006 4:20 PM
TV Marti-Miami Herald Controversy Heats Up
It was revealed this weekend that 10 Miami journalists from various outlets were being paid by the U.S. Office of Cuba Broadcasting to provide commentary on Radio/TV Marti, a U.S.-funded outlet that broadcasts anti-Castro material in Cuba. (We took a look at Marti last month, when the U.S. increased its funding for programming. Notably, Radio/T.V. Marti is rarely actually seen or heard by people inside Cuba because the signal is routinely blocked by the Cuban government.)
Three of those paid journalists were employed at El Nuevo Herald, the Spanish-language newspaper of The Miami Herald. After news hit that the three journalists - Pablo Alfonso, Wilfredo Cancio Isla and a freelancer, Olga Connor – were paid for their work for Marti, they were fired, because the publisher said the payments posed an unethical conflict of interest. As some are drawing similarities between this situation and last year's Armstrong Williams brouhaha -- when USA Today revealed that the commentator was being paid to promote the Bush administration’s education initiatives – it’s drumming up a lot of attention.
However, Cancio told The New York Times on Saturday that “his supervisors had known and approved of his appearances on Radio and TV Marti, during which he said he always expressed his own opinions and not the government's.”
The Times also reported that Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, “a Republican congressman and one of Miami's most stridently anti-Castro voices,” said that “he believed editors at El Nuevo Herald and The Miami Herald had known that the three writers for El Nuevo had worked for the Office of Cuba Broadcasting. He pointed to articles from both papers in 2002 that describe Mr. Alfonso as a moderator for a program on Radio Marti and Ms. Connor as a paid commentator for the station.”
The story advanced again yesterday, when Connor, who wrote freelance articles about Cuban culture for El Nuevo Herald, came forward herself to say that “it was widely known inside the paper that she was paid by the U.S. government for work she did for an anti-Castro broadcaster,” according to the Associated Press.
Three of those paid journalists were employed at El Nuevo Herald, the Spanish-language newspaper of The Miami Herald. After news hit that the three journalists - Pablo Alfonso, Wilfredo Cancio Isla and a freelancer, Olga Connor – were paid for their work for Marti, they were fired, because the publisher said the payments posed an unethical conflict of interest. As some are drawing similarities between this situation and last year's Armstrong Williams brouhaha -- when USA Today revealed that the commentator was being paid to promote the Bush administration’s education initiatives – it’s drumming up a lot of attention.
However, Cancio told The New York Times on Saturday that “his supervisors had known and approved of his appearances on Radio and TV Marti, during which he said he always expressed his own opinions and not the government's.”
The Times also reported that Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, “a Republican congressman and one of Miami's most stridently anti-Castro voices,” said that “he believed editors at El Nuevo Herald and The Miami Herald had known that the three writers for El Nuevo had worked for the Office of Cuba Broadcasting. He pointed to articles from both papers in 2002 that describe Mr. Alfonso as a moderator for a program on Radio Marti and Ms. Connor as a paid commentator for the station.”
The story advanced again yesterday, when Connor, who wrote freelance articles about Cuban culture for El Nuevo Herald, came forward herself to say that “it was widely known inside the paper that she was paid by the U.S. government for work she did for an anti-Castro broadcaster,” according to the Associated Press.
August 10, 2006 2:45 PM 
We’ve heard about the many ways in which information is controlled within Cuba, so the government’s condemnation of a recent move by the U.S. to increase the frequency of its TV Marti broadcasts in the country isn’t terribly surprising. TV Marti is a U.S.-funded radio and television station based in Miami and run mostly by Cuban exiles. According to the Associated Press, “Congress has approved roughly $500 million for both broadcasts since Radio Marti opened 21 years ago, and TV Marti five years later, in an effort to promote the free flow of ideas within Cuba.”
On Saturday, the U.S. “unveiled a G-1 twin turbo propeller plane that is increasing [TV Marti] transmissions from one afternoon a week to six. The privately owned plane was set to go up in mid-August, but TV Marti pushed the date forward after Castro's surgery,” according to another AP story. The problem with TV Marti, however, is that the signals are frequently jammed by the government – apparently, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone in Cuba who actually has seen the station. Wayne Smith, head of the U.S. interests sections in Cuba from 1979 to 1985 told AP: "‘They were told 16 years ago that to transmit a TV signal that far, it would be child's play to block it out at the other end. It was child's play, and it's been blocked out.'"
The headline of a January Los Angeles Times article about TV Marti indicated as much: “Broadcasting a Vision of Democracy Into a Void; The U.S. has sunk nearly $200 million into TV Marti's programming aimed at Cuba. But one scholar estimates it has 'nearly zero viewership.’” The article noted TV Marti executives' argument -- "that the broadcast is a good investment because it will be a vital means of communicating with Cubans when Castro dies and the country needs guidance on how to reinvent itself after the failed experiment with communism." CBS producer Portia Siegelbaum told us she’s never seen TV Marti, and has never found anyone who’s seen it because it’s always jammed. The AP did speak with "one man in western Havana" who said he caught "some of the Monday night broadcast before it was jammed by the government."
It should be interesting to see whether the U.S.’s most recent investment in the station proves useful in deterring the Cuban government from jamming the signal. While there are clearly challenges in getting information out of Cuba, getting information in seems just as complicated.
An Island In More Ways Than One
(AP)
On Saturday, the U.S. “unveiled a G-1 twin turbo propeller plane that is increasing [TV Marti] transmissions from one afternoon a week to six. The privately owned plane was set to go up in mid-August, but TV Marti pushed the date forward after Castro's surgery,” according to another AP story. The problem with TV Marti, however, is that the signals are frequently jammed by the government – apparently, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone in Cuba who actually has seen the station. Wayne Smith, head of the U.S. interests sections in Cuba from 1979 to 1985 told AP: "‘They were told 16 years ago that to transmit a TV signal that far, it would be child's play to block it out at the other end. It was child's play, and it's been blocked out.'"
The headline of a January Los Angeles Times article about TV Marti indicated as much: “Broadcasting a Vision of Democracy Into a Void; The U.S. has sunk nearly $200 million into TV Marti's programming aimed at Cuba. But one scholar estimates it has 'nearly zero viewership.’” The article noted TV Marti executives' argument -- "that the broadcast is a good investment because it will be a vital means of communicating with Cubans when Castro dies and the country needs guidance on how to reinvent itself after the failed experiment with communism." CBS producer Portia Siegelbaum told us she’s never seen TV Marti, and has never found anyone who’s seen it because it’s always jammed. The AP did speak with "one man in western Havana" who said he caught "some of the Monday night broadcast before it was jammed by the government."
It should be interesting to see whether the U.S.’s most recent investment in the station proves useful in deterring the Cuban government from jamming the signal. While there are clearly challenges in getting information out of Cuba, getting information in seems just as complicated.
How gold pays for 