CNN and Castro in cahoots? HAHA

A woman from CNN apparently issued a memo to CNN staff regarding how to report news of Castro's resignation as the leader of Cuba. The memo (which I have copied and pasted below) told reporters to focus on the improvements to health care and education, etc. Oh, and to remember that Latin America sees a revolutionary hero in Castro.

From: Flexner, Allison Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 7:46 AM To: *CNN Superdesk (TBS) Cc: Neill, Morgan; Darlington, Shasta Subject: Castro guidance

Some points on Castro - for adding to our anchor reads/reporting:

* Please say in our reporting that Castro stepped down in a letter he wrote to Granma (the communist party daily), as opposed to in a letter attributed to Fidel Castro. We have no reason to doubt he wrote his resignation letter, he has penned numerous articles over the past year and a half.

* Please note Fidel did bring social reforms to Cuba - namely free education and universal health care, and racial integration. in addition to being criticized for oppressing human rights and freedom of speech.

* Also the Cuban government blames a lot of Cuba's economic problems on the US embargo, and while that has caused some difficulties, (far less so than the collapse of the Soviet Union) the bulk of Cuba's economic problems are due to Cuba's failed economic polices. Some analysts would say the US embargo was a benefit to Castro politically - something to blame problems on, by what the Cubans call "the imperialist," meddling in their affairs.

* While despised by some, he is seen as a revolutionary hero, especially with leftist in Latin America, for standing up to the United States.

Any questions, please call the international desk.

Allison

I find the CNN memo ridiculous. I could almost try to consider the possibility of CNN acting this way if Castro had died. They would probably feel bad if they just went on and on about the horrible horrible things the man did (but they would all be true). But he is still alive. He only stepped down.

The U.S. has tried since President Kennedy to take care of the Castro situation. So why on Earth would CNN want to make Castro seem like a wonderful teddy bear when he was a horrible man? (O.K. I might be exaggerating, but still...)

Focusing on health care and education? I have no idea what Castro has done to improve the situation of these two areas (though I intend to research it), and maybe he did improve them and lift them from the horrible state they were in prior to his rise to power, but trying to focus on the two good moves a dictator has made in the past 49 years, does not make it okay to gloss over the atrocities the man committed.

Should we say hey, Hitler was not a bad guy, he improved public moral by making the Aryans feel really special? Oh and the Final Solution? Yeah, let's not mention that at all.

Okay, I' know I am taking things too far. I should not even bring Hitler in to this.

I know other media outlets are having a field day with this memo. I feel like I am ranting, and maybe I am. But what is CNN thinking?

Something of a strange twist

As I posted last week, I was unsure of covering an event about a man running for my congressional district (David Robinson) since I would later be voting for or against this man. We discussed this is class and I realized I could have been fair if I should have chosen to cover the event.

When I received my absentee ballot in the mail yesterday, I realized this same man (Robinson) is running against a member of my family, my father's first cousin (Russ Goodwin).

Even though the event has happened, if I had known about Goodwin running against Robinson, do you think it would have been ethical to cover the event involving Robinson?

Just because the man is related to me and I have seen him and spoken to him at many family reunions, does not mean I would automatically vote for him. But how would that be perceived by the public? I just thought it was an interesting twist.

A break from ethics

This has absolutely nothing to do with the designated topic of this blog (media ethics), but I felt that as a history major as well as a journalism major, this topic is important to me, and this is my blog after all, so what the hell. You can put up with one non-media ethics related post right now. After all, this post does mention newspapers and world events...

As I was perusing the website for the Columbus Dispatch this morning, it came to my attention that Fidel Castro has stepped down as the leader of Cuba. As an American, I have learned through out my life, that Castro = bad. It is as simple as that.

I know the man was a communist dictator, but the man ruled Cuba for 49 years. That is the longest reign (excluding monarchial regimes) in the history of the world. For the life of me I cannot figure how he managed to stay in power. How has any communist country remained in power when the rest of the world is hell-bent on democracy? All I can say is that I am glad that the United States passed the 22nd Amendment setting the two-term limit for presidents. Because if I had to live another year under George W. Bush, I think I might've had to move to Europe. Not that moving to Europe would only happen if those circumstances arose, because I would love to move to Italy or France or even the always raining United Kingdom, but for right now, I think I want to stay here.

The news of Castro's resignation as the leader of Cuba is strange to me, but it makes me wonder, what about those who have grown up with this regime? Not just for those in Cuba, but for those who were alive during the disasterous Bay of Pigs invasion, etc. I am only 20, but for my parents and grandparents, Castro has been in power for a good chunk of their lives.

And as this post already has had no relation to the topic that is supposed to be addressed, I figure what is a little more off topic news?

The Police will be playing Columbus, Ohio for the first time since 1979. Elvis Costello & the Imposters will open on May 4 at Nationwide Arena. Too bad this is the day before finals week begins, because I think I'd love to go.

I promise next time to post on something ethical.

EDIT: Thanks Frank for sending me the link about journalism in Cuba. I found it very informative.

College campus safety

Columbus Dispatch on College Campus Safety

Politics are always an issue

I read a few days ago that a candidate for Ohio's 12 Congressional District, David Robinson, was coming to speak at OWU tonight at 8 p.m. The district encompasses Columbus and some of the outer lying suburbs, including Delaware.

Today at our meeting for The Transcript we needed someone to cover the event.

As a constituent of Ohio's 12th district (my home address is in Reynoldsburg, Ohio - a suburb of Columbus), I thought it would be unethical if I were to cover the story because I will be forced to vote for him or against him in the upcoming election.