27 Sept 2006

U.S. Pushes Anti-Castro TV

 "Cuban exiles in Miami do most of the writing and acting for TV Martí, which was moved here from Washington in 1996 after intense lobbying by exile leaders. On a recent episode of “Office of the Chief,” which TV Martí calls its most popular show, an actor playing Raúl Castro said he would mummify Fidel Castro when he died by wrapping him in the pages of a book by Karl Marx, then display him on Havana’s seaside boulevard.

The laugh track went wild.

For years, though, critics of the stations have called them overly blunt tools in what should be a nuanced campaign to promote democracy in Cuba.

“The really shrill, outrageous kind of stuff they broadcast has no credibility in Cuba,” said John Nichols, a communications professor at Pennsylvania State University who studies Radio and TV Martí."

Source: U.S. Pushes Anti-Castro TV, but Is Anyone Watching? - New York Times and TV Marti

Rice spoke on TV Marti -- which aim to provide balanced news coverage -- are produced by the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, an element of the U.S. International Broadcasting Bureau.

 And see Radio and TV Martí: Washington Guns after Castro at Any Cost