Looking back to my reporter's desk

It's been almost a month since I switched careers and left behind the chaos of my reporter's desk.

It's been a month of learning to serve others beyond my computer keyboard. And feeling really good about it.

But I haven't been able to completely shut off from the journalism environment. And this blog is part of that connection that, in the back of my mind, I insist on keeping.

That's why I felt the need to share the most recent news affecting Cuban reporters working for Cuba's government-ruled and censored-media.

From fellow Cuban blogs Babalú and Uncommon Sense, I first learned about a recent report from Reporters Without Borders about the recently imposed requirements for reporters in Cuba to access the internet.

I don't know how I can be surprised.
This is not news for me.
But I still am.

Take a deep breath and read this:

At the behest of communication minister Ramiro Valdés, the Cuban Institute for Radio and Television sent a letter to the heads of state media on 13 August announcing new restrictions on their staff. They must henceforth use a portal created by the Cuban state telecommunications company, enet.cu, to access websites and email services. This will enable the government to easily monitor their online activity.

... the letter also instructed state media to make an “appropriate” choice of staff to update their websites and said the web-browsing facilities made available to “trusted” journalists could be subject to additional controls.

Not enough? Go to the Reporters Without Borders page and see it, with your own eyes.

Encuentro en la Red, a Madrid based web site, also reported about the guidelines to select those "trusted"journalists. Read the original story, in Spanish, here.

But the best concept the "hombre nuevo"can learn from Ramiro's letter is that "the Internet was a tool of global extermination that had to be “controlled".
"Yeah! Sure you will...", I said.

I wonder if ETECSA and its mother-company, Telecom Italia, would ever be held responsible --same way is happening with Yahoo for allowing the monitoring of Chinese dissidents and independent journalists that ended up in jail.

Caro mio... you better put your beard in water when you see your neighbor's in flames.