Note first this introduction to a piece posted yesterday by Editor & Publisher, the website of a journal dedicated to covering all aspects of the US newspaper scene including, of course, journalistic ethics. "At a momentous moment in Cuban history - with long-time strongman Fidel Castro in a sickbed and transferring his power to his brother - foreign journalists are being shut out of the Communist island."
Forget the pejorative tone and concentrate on the substantive issue. Journalists have been shut out of Cuba. Well, that's a scandalous story, is it not? Locking out the press is a denial of freedom of expression and yet more proof of communist evil in general and Castro's in particular. But let's read on. The E&P posting attributed the claim to a German agency, Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, which evidently stated that "more than 150 foreign journalists trying to enter Cuba with tourist visas have been turned away at Havana airport" since Castro's illness became public.
The 150 seemed high, but I guess it's possible. That's beside the point too because, suddenly, I twigged. Journalists with "tourist visas". Try and get into the United States as a working journalist on a tourist visa. It's impossible. You probably wouldn't even get on to the US-bound plane in such circumstances. Yet, on the basis on similar reports from three journalists - note three, by the way, rather than 150 - the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has issued a formal statement protesting that foreign journalists must be allowed into the country. In its final sentence the CPJ states: "Foreign reporters are permitted to work in Cuba only with special journalist work visas, which are granted at the government's discretion." And who does the CPJ thinks grants working visas to foreign reporters who wish to enter the United States? The US government, of course.
I'm afraid that both E&P and the CPJ are guilty of extreme bias over this matter. For the record, I believe journalists should be able to report from anywhere anytime. But all sorts of problems are raised by this liberal viewpoint, such as who qualifies to be called a journalist, especially in these days of bloggery and citizen journalism? My experience of trying to get into countries as a journalist, including the US, is that one is always expected to jump through bureaucratic hoops. Anyway, it's hardly surprising that Castro gets nervous about who enters his country. How many CIA-inspired assassination attempts has he survived?
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