COM 224T: mass media & societY
Travel Course to Cuba
Most of the media companies in Cuba are state run. Many people believe that this means that they only publish information that is pro-Castro. This is not necessarily true. Most of them are able to publish whatever they would like. The only restriction is that they may not publish anything that may be considered anti-revolutionary. Much like in the United States, the radio station we visited, Radio Habana Cuba, was a station that varied in all sorts of media. It broadcasts information on both national and international news, ranging from sports, entertainment, and many more. It also attempts to broadcast to various demographics as they have a show in seven different languages, that are all constantly running. Since it is state run, they receive their primary source of income from the government itself. This is the same as Trabajadors, the newspaper company that we visited. Here they said that they keep to writing for the workers, the “trabajadores”. The sole purpose of all the articles is to inform the workers on information that may relate to them or may be beneficial to them. It was also said that the newspaper company could receive entries from readers to do a further investigation on certain things that may have a potential benefit to them. While visiting Radio Habana Cuba, our tour guide analyzed and came to the realization that we were most likely welcomed by the head of the ideological department. This is the department of the radio station (or any media company in fact) that channels through the ideas of the government and makes sure that those are kept in tact. When we visited Trabajadores, we were received with open arms and with a pretty big group of workers that followed us and were willing to answer any of our questions. Again, our tour guide seemed to notice that some of the people that walked with us had a different demeanor to them compared to the regular editors the newspaper. The person he picked specifically was the photographer. It seemed as though he was not actually taking pictures, but mostly following us around. Don’t take me wrong, we never felt threatened for a second. We didn’t even feel as if there was something wrong until our tour guide had mentioned it to us. After further deliberation and analysis with the rest of the classmates, we began to understand the situation that was going on. This was to make sure that the guests that visit the radio station or newspaper company, in our case a group of Americans such as us, can be kept under close watch as to what they are doing, asking and the way they are interacting with the workers of the radio station. With the relations with Cuba being newly opened to all of the United States, it is quite forthright for them to take precautions with who they let into their company. Cuba puts restrictions on what is allowed to be publish, because they do not want to publish anything that will speak badly of the government or anyone in a leadership position. Not only does the government want to make sure that that does not happen, but neither do the individual companies. To further understand my point, let us look at the media companies in the United States as a comparison. When we watch television in the U.S., you are constantly bombarded with commercials. Everything ranging from Coca Cola, to Walmart, to Disney World, even more local commercials such as your neighborhood carpet cleaner or car salesmen. Even the Super Bowl over the years have become less about the game, and more about the lucrative million-dollar business that revolves around the commercials that play during the actual game. This year’s game alone had amazing income for the NFL and its television channels. "According to Variety, Fox is charging marketers anywhere between $5 million and $5.5 million for a 30-second ad this year. This cost does not depend on the two teams that actually take the field on Feb. 5 at NRG Stadium in Houston—Fox sold 90% of its commercial slots by December, before the Patriots or Falcons had reached the Super Bowl." (Sports Illustrated) On radio stations as well, there is payola and commercials that play on the air. Payola is the practice by which record promoters pay deejays to play particular records. That is how the stations receive their form of income in the United States. These companies, deejays, corporations, etc., pay for air time on television and radio. This is the primary source of income for these media services. Now if you were a major corporation among the likes of Coca Cola, you would do a collection of things. You would want to seek out the media company with the highest amount of viewers. That is quite easy for the United States, since there is a clear distinction, but also a wide variety of choice among the TV companies and their success. Besides that, you will also want to partner with a company who agrees with the product that you are selling. Even better than that, partner with a company who will never speak poorly of your product. Why would you want to spend your money promoting your product on a television channel that will constantly speak poorly about it. Even if this were to happen, people talk, and so do companies. A station that would speak poorly about a certain corporation, would immediately gain a bad reputation in the corporate world. You can not bite the hand that feeds you. Of course this does not apply to all media companies in the United States. Certain companies such as Tampa’s local WMNF radio station bases their funding solely off of donations and pride themselves from not taking money from the “corporate world”. Yet again these companies are in the minority and do not necessarily apply for this example. This is the same situation with Cuba. Since the media station are primarily sponsored by the government, they are in the same boat as the United States. If the media stations were to speak poorly over the government, or in this case the revolution, the worker and the station would immediately be under revision and most likely also be removed. These ideological departments are set into place and a precaution for any of that to happen. The government wants to make sure that the companies do not even get as far as to the point where they want to speak badly about the revolution, and this is why all the publications are reviewed before they are sent out or though of. We were also most likely followed as to make sure that we did not spread any anti-revolution propaganda to the workers of the company. Since the Cuban government has the control, the democracy is immediately taken out of the question, and it becomes more of an illusion of choice. A solution to this strict publication of selected news has become “El Paquete”, or “The Package”. The package has been a distribution service for media that people can pay for in Cuba. The way it works as that there are certain people in charge of selecting the media. A group of people use their LAN, their wifi cards, illegal importation from the United States or hack into satellite signals from the United States, and use this to download the necessary videos, magazines, movies, etc. "In the sleepy, residential area where the paquetes were made, there was a line about nine or 10 people deep outside an open door, ground-floor apartment. Most of the clientele appeared to be in their twenties and stoical in that uniquely Socialist way to a long wait. No one seemed perturbed about a possible raid. It was a family-run operation, mother and two sons at their desktops busily scrolling through pages of content, clicking and dragging titles to thumbdrives. One of the sons told me in Spanish that each order took around half an hour to fulfill. The cost was the equivalent of two to three Canadian dollars, not a small amount in country where the average monthly wage is $30 to $35". (theglobeandmail.com) They then sort this collection out, and put them into external hard drives. These external hard drives get distributed to paid couriers, and these couriers go around the city to the houses of their subscribers to give them their “package”. The individual people or families can then pay, and upload the information that they would like to keep onto their laptops and/or desktops and view this acquired media. Some people even go a step further and distribute their data to neighbors and family free of charge, as a form of solidarity. Since the package is technically illegal in Cuba, they have the ability to put whatever they would like on the external hard drives and have that distributed to the Cubans. The primary money of the package comes from the subscribers in the towns that pay to download the content. Even so, local business and corporations in Cuba are beginning to look at this distribution device as the perfect platform for their advertisements. Not many people view Cuban television or movies, but many citizens use the package for their media. Even though the creators of the package have this ability to spread anti-revolutionary text on these packages, it is not ever necessarily seen. This is because of the conspiracy that the government runs the package. If it is illegal and can harm you, they might as well take control of it to make sure it is at least being illegal within the rules and without harming the view of the government. In the United States all citizens have the right to freedom of speech, which is protected by the first amendment, but even that is restricted sometimes. Even though people can hypothetically say whatever they would like, many things are forbidden or unlawful, especially in huge media corporations that have a lot to lose. This is especially because money talks, and companies will much rather build up a front and publicize whatever they are being told to publicize, then do something that will get them defunded. So is that really any different from Cuba and the way that they work? The only notable difference is that the Cubans are being told what to do and what not to do directly by their leaders. Here, we get told what to do by our society, which gets told what to do by our media, which gets told what to do by huge companies and corporations that have money, which essentially get told what to do by our government. Even though it seems different and we would like to think that we operate in a different way compared to them, we are most likely just lying to ourselves. In the capitalistic world of the United States, the goal is to make a profit out of everything. But this is not only the case when it comes to media. This can be seen in almost everything that is run in the United States, even when it comes to the medical services given to society. It needs to be lucrative or it needs to get out. This means that certain topics or certain other things become off limits, because it does not fit in the corporate ideology of what the media companies and advertisement should be. Even though it is not necessarily the same basis that the government of Cuba works off of with the media companies, it can still closely relate. The government is solely concerned with the revolution and making sure that the public contains that revolutionary mindset. If they feel that this purpose is being threatened, they begin to asses the problem and make sure that it gets resolved. Even before that, they attempt to make sure that it does not even get as far as to it becoming a problem that they have to concern themselves with. So is there a solution when it comes to this problem? Yes, but the solution does not start with the people that run the government as of now. The solution starts with those who are being ruled by the government, primarily those of the younger generation. The young Cubans that are being influenced by other worldly perspectives and have witnessed what it is like to live in Cuba, and have heard what it is like to live in other countries. To hear these different things that they can strive for. By putting themselves into power, and finding a way to have the government uphold their ideas, is the only way they will see this change happen. But then again, the younger generation is manipulated over time and is maliable to the mold and ideals that is set forth by their predecessors. So the question is, will they ever truly be able to get in power and portray their ideas of a new Cuba, or would they have already grown up with the ideals that are set in the country right now? But even then, with the way America runs things, are they truly striver for something that is greater and that will truly make a difference, or will they just open a door to newer problems? Works Cited Offman, Craig. “What a Cuban phenomenon called 'The Package' tells us about Fidel Castro's Cuba.” The Globe and Mail, 26 Nov. 2016, http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/what-a-cuban-phenomenon-called-the-package-tell-us-about-fidel-castros-cuba/article33057946/. Accessed 1 May 2017. Sports Illustrated Wire. “Super Bowl commercials: How much does a spot cost in 2017?” Sports Illustrated, 16 Jan. 2016, https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/01/26/super-bowl-commercial-cost-2017. Accessed 1 May 2017.
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