In Cuba, online media pry open state grip on news

In Cuba, online media pry open state grip on news
October 27, 2016

Havana (AFP) - Abraham, Elaine and Jose are under 30, and they've pulled
off the unthinkable in Cuba -- they are producing online news, prying
open the state's half-century grip on the media.

The Castro government created a crack in the Cuban media wall, allowing
this small revolution, when it opened up internet access to the public
in 2013.

What followed was a progressive rollout of 200 Wi-Fi hotspots across the
Caribbean island of 11.2 million people.

Access is limited. Few Cubans can afford the sky-high connections fees
of $2 per hour and the government only rarely authorizes an internet
connection at home.

Still, the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists counts about 3,000
blogs and portals dedicated to Cuba that are published on the island or
by Cubans living abroad.

Sites like The Sneeze (El estornudo), Neighborhood Journalism
(Periodismo de Barrio), El Toque and the most well-known, OnCuba, are
key voices in this flourishing cyber-media field.

Some of the journalists were educated at the University of Havana's
communications school, the traditional launch pad for careers at state
media and the Communist Party newspaper Granma.

"We all came from classes at the University of Havana, and we were kind
of left homeless, in the sense that for us, the state press isn't an
option," Abraham Jimenez, the 27-year-old who heads The Sneeze, told AFP.

Jimenez and his colleagues launched the portal in March. Like other
independent media, they chase a variety of funding sources, including
selling what they can to survive month-to-month.

"Internet access is very expensive, we don't have an office or
anything," Jimenez explained, saying that articles and photos are sent
by email abroad to be put online.

"Without state economic support, we must look for other ways to manage
finances," said Elaine Diaz, 30, director of Neighborhood Journalism.

"Some turn to paid advertising, or payment for content or a service, or
partnerships with other media or nonprofit organizations, or a
cooperative financing group," she said.

At times, like at The Sneeze, it takes another job to survive -- the
price of realizing the dream of being an independent journalist in Cuba.

- 'Honest' journalism -

With sleek homepages, full-screen photos, polished writing and reporting
that tends toward features rather than hard news, the publications for
the most part are trying to depict the reality of Cubans' everyday lives.

But unlike others, such as 14yMedio launched in 2014 by
journalist-dissident Yoani Sanchez, or independent portals published in
Spain, like Cuba Daily, or in Miami, Cubanet and CiberCuba, these new
media eschew confrontation with the authorities.

We present "very honest viewpoints, stemming from life experiences, and
we don't want to respond to the combative visions of extremists," said
Jose Nieves, 28, the editorial coordinator of El Toque.

The authorities, who block access to the main dissident portals,
tolerate these new sites. But the first rumble of a counteroffensive is
being detected in the state media and on social networks.

In Granma, official blogger Iroel Sanchez recently condemned
"journalistic bias, marked by superficiality, lack of context and
inaccuracy, which serves the media war and those who hope to dismantle
socialism in our country."

But the state's messages can be more direct, like the September firing
of a reporter for radio Sagua la Grande who collaborated with
independent media, or the one-day arrest of Diaz, the head of
Neighborhood Journalism.

She was arrested in early October because she lacked an official permit
to cover the damage from Hurricane Matthew in the far west of the island.

The law only recognizes state media and accredited foreign journalists,
and the online media operate in a legal limbo.

For now, the new media outlets present no real threat to the Communist
authorities, whether by their tone or their audience.

In Cuba, only a tiny fraction of the population goes online regularly.
And, reading the independent press generally is not a priority.

"I'm probably the only crazy one connecting by WiFi to send an article
or read the press," said The Sneeze's Jimenez.

"Everyone would rather talk to their mother who left (Cuba), with their
brother, or look for a tennis partner," he joked.

Source: In Cuba, online media pry open state grip on news -
https://www.yahoo.com/news/cuba-online-media-pry-open-state-grip-news-020224243.html