US Agency for Global Media failing to spread fair and balanced news, independent review says

The Agency for Global Media is supposed to broadcast objective Spanish-language news programs into Cuba, but fails to meet basic standards of journalistic fairness and let an anchor describe Trump administration officials as the “dream team” for Cuba policy, according to an independent review. The review of Radio and Television Martí content, conducted by Spanish-speaking academics and former journalists, found the news organization routinely allows “almost any criticism of the Cuban government and its leaders” on the air. The effect, the report concluded, is that the station has sometimes resembled anti-communist propaganda and has failed to be a broker of fair and unbiased broadcast journalism, as is mandated by Congress. CEO John Lansing said the review did not find that the biased coverage had been directed by any political appointee of the Trump administration. Rather, he said, the failures flow from a “broken culture” at Martí, which has relied on Cuban dissidents as on-air personalities and on a small group of anti-communist organizations as sources for some content.