U.S. broadcast efforts in Cuba worth the cost? asks Chicago Tribune

From Chicago Tribune via Media Network Weblog:

“After 20 years and more than $530 million, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting operates a radio station that by the U.S. government’s own estimates has suffered a precipitous drop in listenership and a television station that may never have been seen by anyone in Cuba for more than a few minutes at a time.” So writes Andrew Zajac, national correspondent for the Chicago Tribune.

Zajac continues “Cubans who manage to tune in to Radio or TV Martí hear or see programming that is sprinkled with vulgarity, presents one-sided programming as news, and omits stories critical of the Bush administration and Miami’s Cuban exile community, all in apparent violation of federal broadcast standards, according to recent U.S. government quality-control reviews of OCB offerings.”

In a Special Report (registration required), one of the longest and most detailed articles we have seen about Radio and TV Martí in the popular press, all aspects of the operation are looked at, and a fair amount of space is given to those defending the operation.