Stations Aim to Promote Change in Cuba

Stations Aim to Promote Change in Cuba
By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ
The Associated Press
Thursday, August 10, 2006; 8:02 AM

MIAMI -- As a taxpayer-funded radio and TV station run mostly by Cuban
exiles expand broadcasts to Cuba in the wake of President Fidel Castro's
ceding of power, they are also countering longtime critics who question
their relevance, credibility and reach.

Congress has approved roughly $500 million for both broadcasts since
Radio Marti opened 21 years ago, and TV Marti five years later, in an
effort to promote the free flow of ideas within Cuba. In 2006, it
approved $10 million to beam TV Marti into the island in addition to the
stations' annual budget of $27 million.

But many say it is a waste of tax dollars because the Cuban government
jams much of the TV signal.

"They were told 16 years ago that to transmit a TV signal that far, it
would be child's play to block it out at the other end. It was child's
play, and it's been blocked out," said Wayne Smith, head of the U.S.
interests sections in Cuba from 1979 to 1985.

Because of the exiles' involvement, Smith said, those on the communist
island believe the station, named for Cuban poet Jose Marti, has an
anti-Castro bias. Many find it no more credible than private Miami-based
AM stations that reach the island, Smith said.

A 1999 report by the State Department's Office of the Inspector General
found that the radio station failed to meet Voice of America
broadcasting standards and lacked external oversight.

"It became just another exile radio station, and people in Cuba
recognize that when they hear it," Smith said of Radio Marti.

But Pedro Roig, an attorney and Bay of Pigs veteran who took over the
U.S. Office of Cuba Broadcasting in 2003, which produces Radio Marti,
said in recent years it has revamped broadcasts to focus more on news
and ensure programs are more balanced.

"You've got to believe in the mission," Roig said. "The point is to show
debate _ that democracy is people expressing their ideas without reprisal."

On Saturday, TV Marti expanded its four-hour a night transmission to six
days a week, using a new Lockheed Martin G1 aircraft to beat the
jamming. The programming adds to weekly broadcasts transmitted since
2004 from an Air Force C-130 plane.

The new plane was unveiled days after an ailing Castro announced he was
temporarily transferring power to his brother Raul.

Although anti-Castro messages remain the main dish for the stations,
Roig said diverse viewpoints are encouraged.

"We have people who discuss the pros and cons of the U.S. embargo of
Cuba, abortion, stem cells, so that they know there's not one dogma," he
said.

The radio station transmits a mix of news from Cuba, the U.S. and around
the world. This week the station has also been airing excerpts from a
recently released presidential commission report on Cuba, and urging
Cubans not to take to the sea in rafts.

The most popular show, Roig said, is a sitcom called "The Chief's
Office," a satire on life behind the scenes in the fictional office of a
military leader with an extraordinary resemblance to Fidel Castro.

The Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which oversees both stations, holds
focus groups with recent arrivals to find out what they want to see and
hear. TV Marti now beams several youth-oriented shows with pop music
videos but no overt political themes.

The broadcasts can be significant as long as they encourage change
without sounding as if they encourage "meddling in Cuban affairs," said
Tomas Bilbao, executive director of the Cuban Study Group, a nonpartisan
organization of business and community leaders.

"To the extent those messages are transmitted, it's a great thing," he said.

An independent survey by Intermedia Group pegged Radio Marti's
listenership at roughly 1 million, though station officials acknowledge
it is difficult to get accurate information.

"It's difficult to know," said Alberto Mascaro, chief of staff of the
broadcasting office. "It's not like in a place like Cuba you can take a
public poll."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/10/AR2006081000195.html