JOURNALISM IN CUBA

November 22, 1999
		Freedom of expression and press were abolished in Cuba more than 40 years ago. The government directly censors journalists who work for state-run news organizations. Independent journalists are routinely harassed, according to press freedom organizations outside the Caribbean nation.

Online Special: International Press Freedom Awards Nov. 22, 1999: A profile of Cuban journalist Jesús Joel Díaz Hernández. Oct. 21, 1999: A journalist and the story that landed him in a Malaysian jail May 21, 1999: Former New York Times editor Max Frankel talks about journalism today March 29, 1999: Disseminating war news on the Web Nov. 25, 1998: Gustavo Gorriti, a 1998 Press Freedom Award winner Nov. 25, 1998: A poem by 1998 Press Freedom Award winner Goenawan Mohamad Browse the NewsHour's coverage of the media.     Committee to Protect Journalists CubaNet The Freedom Forum Human Rights Watch Inter American Press Association International Freedom of Expression Exchange

Cuba's state-employed journalists are "the voice of the Cuban government. It's a very somber and unimaginative journalism," according to Dr. José Alberto Hernández, president of CubaNet, a U.S.-based nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to foster press freedom in Cuba. "The second you become an independent journalist, immediately the government will identify you," Hernández said. "They will not allow you access to sources of information. Forget about going to a library and asking for material. Some have been removed from their homes and have to stay with family members. On a daily basis, they make your life miserable." Marylene Smeets, Americas program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said doing independent journalism in Cuba "means being called in by state authorities very regularly. It means having your phone line cut off, it means being followed around by security agents …" The Paris-based free press organization, Reporters sans Frontiers, reported that repression of the Cuban press has increased since a law was enacted earlier this year calling for a 20-year prison sentence for any person who makes contact with the foreign media or disseminates documents considered "subversive." Four journalists, including Jesús Joel Díaz Hernández, winner of a 1999 International Press Freedom Award, are in jail for alleged "crimes of information." In addition, more than 20 Cuban independent journalists have been exiled during the last six months, according to the Inter American Press Association, a nonprofit organization of publishers and editors defending freedom of the press throughout the Americas. Still, independent journalists continue to get their reports out of Cuba. They dictate stories over the phone to colleagues abroad for posting on Web sites, where they are picked up by newspapers in the United States and Europe and sometimes broadcast back to Cuba, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.