While conservatives have long complained of liberal media bias, Cubans have long complained of the the media's partiality towards the Castro regime. Especially the Miami Herald. As if to solidify itself in the camp of Fidel and company Herald.com is now republishing items from the official Cuban (government) news (propaganda) agency ACN.
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5 comments:
The Herald is in dire straits, and I suppose that could drive it to be even less rigorous than usual regarding Cuba issues. However, what you report indicates slack, careless and irresponsible journalism, even if there was no deliberate bad faith or ulterior motive.
The problem is, of course, that given the Herald's, uh, spotty track record in Cuba-related reporting, it's impossible not to be suspicious, and surely the Herald is aware of that, or most certainly should be.
In other words, this looks, or could easily be seen as, pretty damning. Parroting the official propaganda of a known, hardcore totalitarian dictatorship is not a respectable practice, to say the least.
Wait, let me get this straight. The hereditary dictator of a Stalinist regime presides over the anniversary of that regime's version of the Nazi Gestapo, the East German Stasi, the Soviet KGB--take your pick. An official "news" agency of said regime, which only reports what the regime wants, how it wants and when it wants, and absolutely NOTHING else, puts out a typical self-serving piece, without even the slightest bit of remorse or shame over the subject of the piece (the Cuban Gestapo) and its obvious implications (obvious, of course, to those who are not frankly retarded). And the Miami Herald just regurgitates the stuff verbatim, as if it came from a reliable, reputable source, without any overt indication to the contrary? WTF???
Is this a REALLY sad, inept, grossly negligent joke of a journalistic outfit, or something considerably worse? Hell, they even parroted the stuff about the so-called Cuban Five convicted spies being "antiterrorist fighters unjustly incarcerated in US jails." Who the hell is minding the store at Herald Plaza? Mariela Castro? This is absolutely disgusting.
What can the Herald possibly have to say for itself to explain this unbelievable gaffe? That it's in the grip of pre-bankruptcy psychosis? That would be bad enough, but this smells a lot worse than insanity. I'm APPALLED.
Look, McClatchy's cutting corners wherever it can, journalism be damned. It may be that a disgruntled employee posted this as a joke to embarrass the bosses or that the Herald has hired some inept rookie that can't tell the difference between AP and ACN.
The thing that shocks me [as a longtime journalist] is that HOURS after this error was discovered and openly mocked, the propaganda still remains posted.
Apparently this is not an isolated case. Babalu blog reports there are currently several (like six) other articles from ACN currently being hosted on Herald.com. Somebody better clean up this mess fast.
Well, maybe I should keep my trap shut, since I'm just a Chihuahua that needs to be doing fast-food commercials instead of questioning the Holy Herald, which is all about talking truth to power (or so it says in the Gospel According to Fiedler), but Judas Priest!!! This is some nasty-looking shit, fer shure.
But of course I'm over-reacting. I'm one of "those people," and everybody knows they always over-react. Too emotional and stuff. Just like battered kids, who tend to duck for cover even when somebody wants to show them physical affection. I'm sure that's it. The Herald really wants to show us Chihuahuas it loves and respects us. It's just we're too nervous and high-strung to take it in the right spirit. After all, what can you expect from yappy little dogs?
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