Journalists or propagandists?

The Miami Herald brings us this story about tightening restrictions on foreign journalists in Cuba. Here's one excerpt from an 11-page document issued by the Foreign Ministry's International Press Center (IPC) in Havana.

The IPC may temporarily suspend or withdraw a reporter's IPC accreditation "when [the reporter] carries out improper actions or actions not within his profile and work content; also when he is considered to have violated journalistic ethics and/or he is not guided by objectivity in his reports.''

Obviously this isn't news, but those of you might have just stumbled on this blog need to know that in Cuba the government controls all of the media (foreign and domestic) in this way. Obviously Cuban journalists are nothing but propagandists and have no choice but to publish what they are told to. But why would otherwise reputable news organizations accept these rules? They sure as hell wouldn't accept them in this country.

Note: The Herald report was written by El Nuevo Heral reporter Wilfredo Cancio Isla, who was one of the Martí Moonlighters that was fired and then rehired by the Miami Herald Media Company for moonlighting for Radio/TV Martí, a US government sponsored broadcaster that trys to break the information embargo that the castro regime has placed on Cuban citizens.