By JUAN O. TAMAYO
             Herald Staff Writer

             Radio Marti's management and outside overseers have been lax in overseeing the
             professionalism of its broadcasts to Cuba, and some of its programs lack balance
             and fairness, a lengthy U.S. government investigation has concluded.

             ``Overall, Radio Marti's internal practices and procedures have been lax, said a
             draft of a report by the Office of the Inspector General at the State Department,
             which has been investigating aspects of the radio station since as far back as 1993.

             The report, which will be officially released in about three weeks, is the latest of
             many blows to Radio Marti, set up in 1983 to broadcast news and U.S. policies
             to Cuba but long plagued by allegations of bad journalism, political bias and
             internal bickering.

             `Out of control'

             ``The station is out of control and very unprofessional, said Jay Mallin, who served
             as Radio Marti's first news director in the 1980s.

             The inspector's report said Radio Marti management has long had problems
             keeping proper controls on broadcast quality, but that the problem grew
             somewhat worse after President Clinton named Miami lawyer Herminio San
             Roman to head the radio and television broadcast agency in early 1997.

             San Roman cut the number of daily staff meetings that reviewed program quality
             and abolished focus-group discussions on new shows, the report noted, even as
             the station shifted toward more live, riskier broadcasts.

             Less emphasis on controls

             ``Even though the internal controls that were in place [before 1997] did not always
             prevent mistakes . . . the new management, citing the need to streamline internal
             administration and to cut costs, placed much less emphasis on these internal
             control processes, the report said.

             But San Roman began to reinstate those controls after inspector general
             investigators pointed out some of the problems last spring, the report noted.

             The report also recommended that Radio Marti ``reengineer a system of internal
             reviews and controls, including an effective chain of command, and establish an
             efficient system for keeping track of programs and contents.

             The State Department's International Broadcasting Bureau, tasked with
             supervising the ``daily direction'' of Radio Marti, also was lax in enforcing
             requirements for accuracy, objectivity and balance, the report said.

             Need cited for program review

             IBB officials, for their part, ``should develop a comprehensive system of program
             review . . . and follow up to ensure compliance on recommendations, added the
             report, obtained by The Herald.

             San Roman declined to comment on the inspector general's report, saying it still
             needs final approval by the IBB, which commissioned the reviews.

             ``We will respond at the appropriate time, he said.

             But an official close to Radio Marti management attacked the report.

             ``Obviously, some things needed improvement, but a lot of the complaints came
             from disgruntled employees who are no longer with us, the official said.

             Meeting standards

             The IBB requested the second report in 1997 to determine whether Radio Marti
             was meeting all requirements for foreign broadcasts. By law, Radio Marti
             programs must conform to the journalistic standards of the Voice of America, the
             main U.S. foreign broadcast station.

             But the inquiry did not begin until last spring because of questions over whether an
             IBB or inspector general's review of the accuracy and fairness of Radio Marti
             broadcasts would amount to illegal censorship.

             The IBB and inspector general's office eventually named an independent panel,
             headed by Florida International University journalism professor Charles Green, to
             examine 20 hours of randomly chosen programming and issue a report.

             The panel reported late last year that some of the programs lacked balance,
             fairness, objectivity and sourcing, and recommended that Radio Marti staffers be
             given special training, according to the report.

             Credibility an issue

             ``The problems identified centered around the credibility of news reports and
             professionalism, the inspector general's report said. ``We believe Radio Marti's
             deemphasis of internal controls may have contributed to the problems identified by
             the panelists.

             The inspector general's reviews came as a new audience survey in four Cuban
             cities showed that Radio Marti's regular audience stood at 9 percent of those
             polled -- about half the figure reported by a similar poll in 1994.

             A report on the survey, financed by the IBB's Office of Research, blamed the
             drop on jamming by the Cuban government and atmospheric conditions that
             interfere with reception of Radio Marti programs in Cuba.

             No one polled reported having watched the more severely jammed TV Marti, the
             report said, and only 10 percent of respondents mentioned it when asked to name
             all the TV stations they knew.
 

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