It is often said that the Cuban reality in terms of communication is limited to some big public media that report on the island and the socialist revolution. However, the technological advances on the one side, and the need to extend the range of voices on the other, has generated in today´s Cuba a network of alternative media with increasing influence in the population.

This is what Tamara Rosello, member of the Martin Luther King Center from Cuba, said in an interview with Real World Radio with reference to the presence of alternative media in the continent. The interview was held at the Meeting “Building a Democratic Communication Agenda” organized by the Latin American Information Agency (ALAI) and sponsored by UNESCO in Quito, capital city of Ecuador.

“In Cuba, there is a group of media that have the challenge to bring the reality of people to the TV screens, the radios, the Internet. These are the alternative or community media, of which very little is said. There is a movement that is becoming stronger with the development of some technology capacities, generating a dialogue by the active population with communication media”, said Tamara.

The journalist, editor of “Caminos”, a magazine published by the CMLK, said that these community media respond to the need of the population to have the current discussions in their country reported in a realist way. She also said that, despite the high cultural level of the population, people are not able to have the critical viewpoint needed with reference to the media and their messages.

The meeting was held in the building of FLACSO Ecuador and aims to share the common agenda of the media and establish a network of collaboration at regional level, not of resistance, but as an initiative towards an alternative model of society.

“The timing is right” for these agreements, which are deeply needed to support a historical process of resistance and the building of alternatives”, said Osvaldo Leon, Director of ALAI.

He also said that the media coverage about the coup d´etat against former Honduran President, Jose Manuel Zelaya in June, 2009, reflected the need to have alternative communication networks to denounce and express solidarity, although he also made reference to some weaknesses that need to be solved.

Finally, Tamara Rosello said that among other things, communication spaces need to be extended and considered as an instrument to build a new model of society, even modifying inter-personal links.

Photo: ucr.ac.cr