With the contribution of this Congress we can ensure that the Revolution is and will be well defended, said Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, at the closing of the 11th UPEC Congress, held at the Convention Palace on November 2 and 3, which re-elected Ricardo Ronquillo Bello as national president for the next five-year term.
UPEC’s professional leadership will also include Bolivia Tamara Cruz as first vice-president and Juan Carlos Ramírez Heras and Francisco Rodríguez Cruz as vice-presidents. In addition, the non-professional members of the presidency were presented at the Congress, as well as those of the new ethics commission and of the national jury of the José Martí National Journalism Awards.
Ronquillo thanked the entire guild for reiterating their confidence in him, especially his fellow travelers of the last five years in the presidency, which he feels as an enormous privilege. They are people, he said, with an extraordinary prestige in Cuban journalism. He went on to name his three vice presidents, with their particular talents, but also other outstanding colleagues who accompanied UPEC’s projects.
In his closing remarks, Díaz-Canel had already stressed the challenging nature of the mission of the new UPEC presidency to lead the improvement of our press in the difficult conditions of the country. He affirmed that they must be supported and that they have all the understanding and support of the Party.
“The merit of the outgoing presidency is to have worked on key projects to solve historical problems of journalism,” he said before adding that, with this quest, you help yourselves and you help us.
All the battles have been won with you, and we are still talking about the Patria event! We all have the mission to defend the truth, with no other resource than your talent, said Díaz-Canel.
He admitted that as journalists miss the giant of communication, he misses the giant of politics, which is Fidel Castro.
“Fidel has no substitute. He does not replace him, he is multiplied every day by the Cuban people.”
Díaz-Canel acknowledged that the issues discussed in the two-day Congress are legitimate, but they are marked by the situation of the country, so they will not have magic solutions.
We will not have the wealth that we are not capable of creating, he said.
The president commented on the domestic contradictions that imply substantial differences in income in the country, but programs for the protection of children and youth are guaranteed. The management model experiment will provide an answer.
The issue is how we manage our media so that they contribute more and, as part of this, their workers improve their income. It is time to seek evaluations of what has been applied and to visit the scenarios where they are developed.
Díaz-Canel recalled Cuba’s historic support for the just cause of the Palestinian people and once again condemned the atrocious aggression they are suffering at the hands of Israel. The United States supports Israel and Israel returns its support by voting against Cuba in the UN, he said.
The president said that the Social Communication Law is comprehensive: a broad law, not only for the press, which was achieved with a consensus based on multiple criteria of journalists. The Law has to look a lot to the digital world and will provide guidelines for journalism that we have to improve.
He also mentioned that, as a result of the debates on the Law, it was necessary to create an Institute of Information and Social Communication to govern the processes in the country.
The First Secretary of the Party’s Central Committee affirmed that UPEC has the talent, passion and commitment, as well as the support of the Party, to untie the knots that bind thought, but innovation is fundamental. In contrast, he pointed out that, if we do not have colleagues who transmit the use of knowledge from the academies, we will not advance. Innovation opens paths to transformation, he said.
Regarding the drop in access to journalism courses, he reminded that today the number of university courses offered in the country exceeds the number of young applicants. He said that the media should provide more incentives to support journalism majoring.
The president criticized the attack on credibility induced by subversion plans of U.S. government agencies and called for the promotion of critical thinking among young people and to ensure that people do not opt for vulgarity. “We must have critical thinking in virtuality as well as in reality,” he said.
He called for journalists not to be overwhelmed by problems. In this same Congress, solutions have been sought”, he said.
Journalism must be ethical and revolutionary, a defender of the work of the Revolution that complies with informing the population and contributes to build political consensus. It must be inspired by Martí and Fidel, the Cuban president called.
We have confidence in journalists as fellow travelers. Our commitment is to ensure that unity is never damaged, he pointed out.
In Havana’s “editorial” palace
As in a huge press office, the delegates discussed the main issues of the 11th Congress. Roberto Morales Ojeda, secretary of organization of the Central Committee of the Party; Inés María Chapman, deputy prime minister; Rogelio Polanco Fuentes, head of the ideological department of the Central Committee of the Party and Alfonso Noya Martínez, president of the newly created Institute of Information and Social Communication, accompanied the debate of the Cuban reporters.
The discussion was started by Edda Diz, director of the Cuban News Agency (ACN), who recounted the process of transformation of the cultures, professional ideologies and competencies of that group until achieving the concept that the news is born in networks and returns to them, enriched. In addition, they projected the technological transformation, more in process than in technologies that have not yet fully arrived.
As she explained, ACN has grown in alliances, clients, contributions… but they cannot stimulate workers due to external regulatory impediments that have not been resolved. He called for the authorities in the provinces to be aware that the agency’s correspondents are already in the experiment of transforming the comprehensive press management model.
Edda proposed an exchange of the media in an experiment with the Ministry of Finance so that the same interpretation of certain norms is assumed in all the media included. Likewise, she suggested that the Ministry of Culture update the resolution that regulates the payment of collaborations, since the current provisions have been surpassed by the economic reality of the country and do not encourage journalists to collaborate.
Meanwhile, Ana Teresa Badía thanked the importance that the country’s leadership attaches to communication. In her opinion, we have two problems: access to the source and the political communication that we do. Badía believes that we must adapt better to media competition, especially in digital, and criticized that our communication is reactive, when we must have our own agenda from each medium.
Furthermore, the colleague and professor said that our processes require a more proactive, creative nature, with its own agenda in each medium. In his opinion, we must take great care of the correlation between media and political discourse and increase citizen participation in the definition of content. He stated that there is a lack of evaluation and control of communication processes and to create more crisis communication strategy. The professor defended the role of journalistic criticism. In this regard, he called to unblock obstacles to his exercise.
Colleague Randy Alonso explained the development of Ideas Multimedia based on the parallel evolution of the Round Table and Cubadebate. Since 2018, the editorial and structural transformation was proposed to become a true multimedia and collectively build the editorial agenda and contribute to innovation in the sector, among other advances.
Thus, they broke the old structure and created integrated teams of television production, design, network management, computing, innovation and development, monitoring… they grew in networks, took the first steps in artificial intelligence, created four thematic subdomains, promoted, with others media, spaces with deep roots in the public.
Ideas Multimedia has won important awards in various journalism media. In addition, they identified early areas to manage additional income to the budget granted by the State.
In September 2022, the creation of Ideas Multimedia as a budgeted unit with special treatment was approved, which led to new changes and has given them greater powers and benefits, collectively and individually.
Journalist Francisco Rodríguez Cruz commented on the need to explain the transformation of the press model, also, to citizens to build consensus with the entities. He suggested that the upcoming National Conference of the Party would be an ideal space to multiply the message.
Víctor Hugo Leyva Sojo, president of the UPEC in Santiago de Cuba, said that we have to bet that the understanding of communication as a pillar of Government is demonstrated with actions by the provincial and municipal officials. In his opinion, little is made concrete about community communication and understanding of the role of the journalist and journalism in these scenarios.
Leyva Sojo considered that it should be explained to the rest of the media so that they learn how to carry out a project to transform the management model of a press outlet anywhere in the country. He said that the autonomy of the municipality must include a demand for university admission from that level and not from the province and that, although there is a lack of material resources, the Cuban journalist, full of commitment, deserves at least a hand on the shoulder.
Ricardo Ronquillo reiterated his idea that in several municipalities the press media or journalists can integrate their efforts to create multimedia that optimizes their talents for the sake of the message on various platforms.
Yanetsy la Rosa, director of radio Florida, recounted suffering with the ministries of Economy and Planning and Finance and Prices, whose resolutions have not benefited them with the legal powers to change the model. They have, however, the privilege of having the 17 journalists admitted to the staff, who are now involved in the agenda changes also contemplated in the experiment of transforming management models.
Ronquillo highlighted, based on the Florida radio project, the importance of testing changes at a municipal scale, closely connected to projects in the country.
University professor Cristian Martínez called for redesigning the teaching program to make it more in line with journalism, especially in Spanish grammar.
Martínez explained that in the last edition only 162 pre-university young people aspired: 108 showed up and only 60 were ready, but in the end only 33 will enter the first year at the beginning of the course. There have also been many withdrawals due to not meeting teaching requirements, both in the humanities and sciences.
Television reporter Dayron Chang has thought, he said, about elementary issues that we should have resolved for years and asked himself if we listen to the reality of the audiences we represent, if we interpret the signals and emotions, if we are at the pace of our audience, if We provide people with verification channels… It is not enough to comply with journalistic technique, you must be a strategic communicator, with new languages.
Chang believes that it is urgent to reconcile with audiences and publics and increase the possibility of their participation in communication processes.
Colleague Yoelvis Lázaro Moreno, from Juventud Rebelde newspaper, placed the Congress debate stage on what has been done, is being done and will be done to stop the profound professional decapitalization suffered by the union in the last five years. He called to think about the potential of the media to transform, but we must also think about the articulation between media.
Yoelvis suggested that we relate those potentialities. In his opinion, the experiment will have to hold a good practices workshop to connect the projects.
Representing retired journalists in Havana, Pedro Rioseco said that some 800 Cuban journalists are retired, with pensions of less than 2,000 pesos, with health problems. He called for the capabilities of retired colleagues to be taken advantage of by the media, which often do not invite them to anything even though they have staff shortages. “They are not a burden, but an invaluable resource,” he said.
Rioseco recalled the meager pensions received by those who retired before the monetary regulation and the needs for greater support from the organization. Some live alone, without financial help.
Ricardo Ronquillo said that during the period an additional payment was approved for the José Martí National Journalism Awards. In addition, a national census was carried out that revealed that more than 70 percent of retirees received low pensions, close to social assistance. Food arrangements have been made in community kitchens, but it is true that deeper help is required.
Next, colleague Noel Otaño said that ten years ago he participated in another UPEC Congress and now appreciates recurring themes such as the young people who are leaving, the media war we face… but being here discussing how to help Cuba is an undeniable pride. He recommended that we tell the story of the daily life of Cubans in an interesting way. Otaño said that I hope this Congress marks a new beginning, that it truly is the Congress of changes.
Lisvany Martín Rodríguez, a third-year journalism student in Villa Clara, referred to the need for the impetus of young people from the academy. In it, he said, we also make transformation. In his opinion, the change starts from each one’s professional role. The young man cited the educational function of our media, very well analyzed by the now deceased teacher, Julio García Luis. “We students are also committed to transforming,” said Lisvany.
Journalist Bárbara Doval, director of Cubavisión Internacional, commented that the group set out to begin the transformation through discussion in multiple meetings, which had an impact on all workers, not just journalists.
Doval told the delegates about the evolution of programming, the development of the channel manual, the collective construction of agendas, the search for new creative niches, the full integration of journalism students, the profiles for the traditional screen and for multimedia and the exchange with directors of other television stations in the world. The colleague considers that the greatest transformation is not only editorial and technological but from the beginning of mentality.
Pedro Rizo, president of the UPEC in Matanzas, criticized the burden of mediations and cited in this regard companies from the Ministry of Energy and Mines that have sometimes, in his province, mistreated journalists. Pedro’s vision of a Congress of transformation implies the desire to solve problems, transform the reality of the country and advance the press.
Professor Zenaida Costales said that the press model can contribute to fewer students leaving. She believes that the good ideas for changing the media lie with young people. “The media is obliged to make these young people fall in love with them, to listen to their good ideas,” said the journalist. In his opinion, it is not that we think about the students, it is that they are the ones who will make the transformation. Costales recalled that the transformation also requires extra-journalistic knowledge that is in the academy.
Marelis Zayas, director of Editorial de la Mujer, which publishes the magazines Muchacha and Mujeres, recalled Isabel Moya’s advanced thinking on issues of communication and gender violence. Zayas believes that we still reproduce stereotypes in our media and use phrases that justify this violence.
Colleague Yeilen Delgado, from Granma, highlighted the ability of journalists to achieve credibility, but noted that empty newsrooms do a lot of damage. She said that the low salary and the resulting need for moonlighting puts newsrooms in difficulties. He noted that strong UPEC delegations are required at the grassroots level.
Journalism student from Camagüey Laura María Bacallao said that they have felt accompanied at all times by the organization in the province and the country. “When you are born into the career accompanied by the journalists you read and listen to, you feel part of the family,” she said.
Laura referred to the successful experience of the idea of the journalism school in the province, as a result of integration and sensitivity, and highlighted the importance of ethics in the training of young people. She said she feels like a member of the UPEC, where she has a house and a family.
In the closing day of Upec XI Congress a new leadership was chosen, in which Ricardo Amable Ronquillo Bello – the current president – was ratified, who will be in office for other five years; and will be accompanied by Bolivia Tamara Cruz Martinez, first vicepresident; Francisco Rodriguez Cruz and Juan Carlos Ramirez Heras, respectively, vicepresidents.
And as non professional members of the national presidency: Lazaro Manuel Alonso Castro, Liset Marquez Gomez, Yuniel Labacena Romero, ZAna Teresa Badia Valdes and Yuris Norido Ruiz Cabrera.
With information from Cubaperiodistas / Translated by Radio Angulo
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