When I was in charge of Voice of America broadcasts to Poland in the 1980s, while the independent Solidarity trade union led by Lech Walesa launched its struggle for freedom and democracy, the news the Polish Service received from the central English VOA newsroom was not always well presented, but it was not slanted and biased in favor of the communist dictatorship. The same cannot be said for the VOA report on the Cuban protests, which shows that it was updated at 4:20 a.m., July 12, 2021, but was still misleading and lacking balance.
The VOA News English-language report, titled “Rare Protests Hit Cuba Amid Economic, Coronavirus Crises,” carries a Havana, Cuba, dateline, but the report does not quote a single anti-Castro Cuban protester. Anti-government protests are not rare in Cuba, but the size of the crowds yesterday may have been. That is not the same as saying that anti-regime protests in Cuba are rare. Does VOA News really have a reporter in Cuba, as the VOA dateline implies?
The VOA News English headline and the lead sentence also strongly suggest that the protests were primarily COVID-19 and economy-related. Only in the second sentence the words “freedom” and “liberty” briefly appear. There are no references in the VOA News report to decades of massive and brutal human rights violations in Cuba, Cuban political prisoners, or Cuban refugees.
There is also not a hint in the VOA report that Cuba has a communist government. Such terms as “communist” and “communism” are not used by VOA in this report. The VOA News also does not mention that Cuba has a state socialist economy. The word “socialism” is not used.
On the other hand, the VOA News report provides extensive coverage of the Cuban regime’s claims that economic problems in Cuba are caused by U.S. sanctions and that what a Cuban government official referred to as a “Cuban American mafia” had instigated the protesters. The report focused on the Cuban regime’s criticism of U.S. sanctions imposed by the Trump administration but did not note that they were imposed in response to human rights violations.
If American citizens are being accused by a foreign communist government official, I would expect VOA to ask some Cuban Americans for at least a brief response. It is a journalistic and a legal requirement under the VOA Charter, a 1976 U.S. law. The VOA report did quote two Biden administration officials and, in one sentence, President Joe Biden, but failed to point out criticism from Republican members of Congress that the administration’s response to the latest protests in Cuba was late and weak.
VOA not only described the anti-regime “protests” as “rare,” but it also minimized arrests and provided no information about police brutality: Protesters “marched in the capital, Havana, until police eventually broke up the march while making some arrests,” was all that VOA News chose to report.
However, VOA did report that a Cuban official called the protests “provocations.” It was another accusation that required a response from the Cuban demonstrators. How difficult would it have been for VOA to make a few phone calls or obtain a video? In the 1980s, the VOA Polish Service called Polish Solidarity human rights activists almost every day and provided their comments to the central VOA English newsroom.
The last word in the VOA News report went to a Cuban regime official: “Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, the top Cuban official in charge of relations with the United States, accused the U.S. State Department and its officials of ‘promoting social and political instability in Cuba,’ and said they should ‘avoid expressing hypocritical concern for a situation they have been betting on.’”
“‘Cuba is and will continue to be a peaceful country, contrary to the U.S.,’ he tweeted Sunday,” the VOA report left as the final word.
If we had reported on Solidarity protests in Poland in the 1980s the way the VOA central English newsroom has reported over the weekend on the latest protests in Cuba, the Poles might still be waiting for democracy. We would also have been roundly condemned by the Polish American community and by our radio listeners in Poland if we practiced the kind of journalism reflected now in many VOA English News reports.
In another failure of journalism at the Voice of America, the initial VOA News report had nothing on Republican Sen. Marco Rubio’s criticism of the Biden administration’s response to the protests in Cuba, even though the VOA Charter, which is U.S. law, says that the Voice of America “will represent America, not any single segment of American society, and will therefore present a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant American thought and institutions.”
VOA News eventually issued another report later in the day on July 12, which included critical comments from Republican lawmakers, but it was a day late and a dollar short. Many Voice of America foreign language services had already translated and used the first VOA News report, which gave the Cuban regime at least a partial propaganda victory around the world.
I have seen in recent years many such biased VOA News reports, some even much worse than the VOA News Cuba report. They repeated propaganda from communist and other authoritarian governments, including China, Russia, Iran, and Cuba.
VOA has no business praising foreign politicians. The Voice of America, under the management of the $800-million U.S. Agency for Global Media, has lost much of its former relevance, which came from its previous focus on basic human rights, a U.S. taxpayer-funded mission now greatly diluted by personal and partisan preferences of the current leadership. The mismanagement at USAGM is now threatening not only VOA but also the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks.
In April, Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, expressed his concern about some of the USAGM personnel decisions with regard to Cuba. Anyone who was previously associated with USAGM and who had advocated for a soft approach to China, Russia, Iran, or Cuba, and anyone who has done corporate business in these countries, should be disqualified from holding any job in U.S. international broadcasting.
Nothing will change unless Biden takes immediate action to appoint new leaders who are not afraid to confront dictators.
Ted Lipien is a journalist, writer, and media freedom advocate. He was Voice of America’s Polish service chief during Poland’s struggle for democracy and VOA’s acting associate director. He also served briefly in 2020-2021 as RFE/RL’s president.
