The maligned station switches to an all-news format, but past administration's destructive influence remains intact.

Por P. E. Valerius
Reston
Virginia
USA

The winds of change are enveloping Radio Martí these days. Yet it is not as transparent as it may seem, and certainly not for the better.
Martí is being restructured to an "all-news and information service format" (five news programs, and news bulletins every fifteen minutes, twenty-four hours daily), which debuted last week.

The Director of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, Pedro V. Roig, announced on Friday, February 13 in a meeting with staff that Radio Martí will change its format to all-news, similar to CNN.
(Does Martí's audience really want this type of programming and isn't this a recipe for a disaster? In fact, Cubans have rejected such programming and view it as "overkill.")1

BBG's "Democratic" Vote

An official announcement was made in a memorandum sent on Wednesday, February 18, to the station's staff, where the OCB Director decreed: "The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) at its monthly meeting held on February 11, 2004 voted to direct the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB) to restructure the format of Radio Marti into an all-news and information service...The BBG directive will bring several changes as we refocus our resources to implement the all-news and information format. As a first step, we need to restructure our programs. This program restructuring will be conducted in a fair and transparent manner…After we have made decisions on our programming, we will make decisions on restructuring employees' jobs. Most employees will continue to perform the same duties they perform today; however, it may be necessary to modify some positions to reflect this program change. I assure you that during this process we will protect the rights of all employees, and that we will honor our obligations to the union."1
Shortly thereafter on Thursday, February 19, Radio Martí Director Jorge Luis Hernández sent a follow up memorandum to employees pronouncing: "The BBG on February 11, 2004 promulgated to restructure the format of Radio Marti. The restructuring will return Radio Marti to its congressionally mandated format: News and Information. I have been charged by the Director of OCB to implement the directive. While for most of you the format revision will not impact your day-to-day work, for those outside the news division there may be changes in the nature of your work assignment. Retraining will be available in cases where it is needed. The program restructuring will necessitate changes in the types of programs we contract as well as changes in some of the contractors we engage…I am sure that with your support and professional performance we will, working as a team, implement the mandated restructuring in a timely and professional manner."2
Mr. Hernández may have been charged by the OCB Director with implementing the directive on paper (he and other supervisors are unfortunately facing overbearing obstructions), but he will have no input in the direction of changes that are taking place at Martí because of the OCB Director's transparent lack of support and extension of authority, and his quest of "regime change" for Mr. Hernández and staff, sources charge.

Out of the Shadows

In fact, sources allege that a low-key figure (now closely associated with OCB Director Roig, who has been above the fray of factionalism) has stepped out from the shadows, and will have an influential say in the direction of the station's news coverage - allegedly an "accommodating" tone with the Castro regime.
That individual is a reporter from Radio Martí, who has gained considerable access to Mr. Roig and sources have bestowed upon him the moniker of consigliere to the director.
Regrettably, the consigliere sources contend is also closely associated with Roberto Tejera, who was Radio Martí Director during the Clinton Adminitration.
This link will assure a continuity of influence of the San Roman/Tejera cabal has over the station's news direction and administration.

Cabal Ascension Redux

One member of the of this group has allegedly lost power and fallen by the waste side - namely the station's Program Director, who has been reassigned as a Senior Advisor to the Director of TV Marti.3
However, on March 17, an "ultimate survivor" was named the Director for the News Program Department by the OCB Director.4 (She is shockingly being rewarded by the director without merit-who is, after all, responsible for the four-hour delay in Radio Martí's reporting of Elian Gonzalez' armed transfer by the US government in 2000; the appalling mismanagement of the OCB website since its inception in 2002; and meddling in the administrative affairs of the station.)
Why would the OCB Director, supposedly so intent on cleaning house when he assumed control of the OCB last April, make such appointments? Could it be that he was promised to remain a holdover in the event of the Democrats winning the November presidential election if he plays ball?
And the rest of the cadre is implacable in their positions of instilling dissension, which sustains the institutionalized culture of ungovernability at the station.

Futile Change

The changes set forth for Radio Martí are merely superficial, and do not fare well for the station since the influence of a cadre of saboteurs continues to pervade the administration and direction of Martí.
Could it be that the BBG - controlled by a handful of liberal Democrat puppet masters (by the way, is the chairman and Republican appointees frightened of them?) - has a sinister design for the station's ultimate demise?
Will a RIF (reduction in force) be carried out at the behest of the Board by the IBB Office of Personnel in collusion with the OCB Directorate, which in effect will get rid of staffers who believe in the original mission and retain the small group of liberal ideologues and agents provocateurs, whom really never lost control of the station? (A retirement buyout is already underway for senior staffers.)
Is the station, as a result of the new "all news and information service format" change, destined for privatization, taken control by grantees (favored by the Board, and out for their own self serving economic interests and that of "some" governors instead of the commonweal) from the private sector that has befallen other U.S. international broadcasting organizations such as the Voice of America (VOA)?

Lost Authority and Control

In addition, the station's director has been undermined by elements loyal to the past administration whom impede the mission of returning the station to a coherent governability, level of professionalism and defining role in the post-Castro transition; all the while enduring an OCB Director unwilling to extend him support and authority to usher in perestroika; who is more willing to placate personal political alliances than demonstrate "strong leadership and direction" that the President has called for.
With such a state of administrative anarchy (i.e., the station director's orders are ignored and changed by subordinates, and staffers with no business in overriding such decisions), will Republicans overseeing the Martís stand idle and allow the sabotage of their policies?
More importantly, has the Bush Administration abandoned the station?
Sadly, if recent history is any indication, they already have.
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NOTES
1 This issue was addressed by a focus group study of recently-arrived Cubans that was conducted by InterMedia, commissioned by the International Broadcasting Bureau's (IBB) Office of Research, in Miami on June 17 and 18, 2003, that found: "Participants rejected the idea of a 24-hours news station as overkill. The only way some would accept this type of format would be if RM could find another way to circumvent the jamming that makes RM difficult to tune in certain areas." Preferences were researched for two different broadcast formats, including a 24-hour news model. The study involved four focus group discussions with eight to ten participants each. See InterMedia. "Radio Marti Programming to Cuba: A Focus Group Study in Miami, Florida." Focus Group Report 2280/03. June 17-18, 2003. pp. 1, 2.

2 Pedro V. Roig. "Restructuring Radio Marti." E-mail to Radio Marti employees. 18 February 2004.
3 Jorge L. Hernandez. "Radio Marti Restructuring." E-mail to Radio Marti employees. 19 February 2004.
4 Pedro V. Roig. "New Assignments." E-mail to Radio Marti employees. 17 March 2004.
5 Ibid.