South Florida: The New Front in the Propaganda Wars

"We believe we have the authority to do this," said a spokesperson for the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), regarding the airing of U.S. propaganda on domestic radio and TV stations. For six months, programs from TV and Radio Marti will be broadcast in South Florida, in an attempt to reach audiences in Cuba. U.S. government-run media is "prohibited by law from airing in the United States." But the BBG claims that the broadcasts are needed "to overcome significant signal-jamming by the Cuban government," especially at a time "when Fidel Castro, Cuba's longtime leader, is thought to be dying." The BBG "appears to be relying upon a paragraph in the law that terms dissemination in the United States illegal unless 'such dissemination is inadvertent.'" Critics say that South Floridians don't "inadvertently" turn to local stations; "they are the ... main audience." The Florida stations, Radio Mambi 710 AM and WPMF-38, are being paid $377,500 to air the Marti programming. "This is a fraud," said Joe Garcia of the New Democratic Network. "It certainly sounds like it's inconsistent with the spirit of the federal law," said the associate dean of Pennsylvania State University's College of Communication.