Bias, we don’t need no stinking bias

Liz Donovan, the Infomaniac, formerly of the Miami Herald takes issue with my report about CNN’s guidelines to reporters and anchors about how to treat the subject of fidel and his stepping down from his official posts in Cuba. She alleges that what I want is not objectivity but bias in the other direction. I find her stance frankly absurd. In what other instance would a news organization try to find redeeming qualities in a homicidal maniac? The memo that CNN WOULD HAVE SENT out if they had any integrity or interest in reporting unbiased facts reads like this:

Subject: Castro guidance
Some points on Castro – for adding to our anchor reads/reporting:
* Please say in our reporting that Castro stepped down in a letter he wrote to Granma (the communist party daily), though numerous articles published in that paper have been attributed to him over the past year and a half, we have no independent confirmation that he is actually writing or dictating them, in fact despite having bureau in Cuba we have no first-hand knowledge of Castro’s actual health.
* Please note that although Fidel is said to have brought social reforms to Cuba – namely free education, universal health care and racial integration – Castro has also violated human rights, freedom of speech and other civil liberties. More than 2 million Cubans have found this trade-off unbearable and have fled the country since he took over in 1959. It is unclear how many more Cubans would leave the island if permitted. Cuba is one of the few countries in the world where citizens are not permitted to leave and return as they please. Please make sure to stress this in the reporting since we have unfortunately earned a reputation for overlooking such abuses committed by other anti-American dictators.
* Although the Castro regime blames a lot of Cuba’s economic problems on the US embargo, that argument is countered by the argument that Cuba trades openly with almost every other country in the world including western industrialized democracies like Canada, the UK, France, and Spain and that the bulk of Cuba’s economic problems are due to CASTRO’s failed MARXIST economic polices. While some analysts say the US embargo was a benefit to Castro politically, something to blame problems on, most serious observers recognize that it is a weak excuse for Castro’s own failures. Note that despite the embargo, the United States is currently Cuba’s largest food supplier.
* While he is seen as a revolutionary hero, especially by leftists in Latin America for standing up to the United States, Castro has been one of the deadliest dictators on a per capita basis in modern history. In addition to abuses at home, the regime has also backed, with arms and troops, various revolutionary movements conducting civil wars in Latin America and Africa that have resulted in tens of thousands of deaths; has been linked to drug trafficking; and has harbored international fugitives including terrorists and cop killers. It should be noted that Castro has not seemed to “mellow with age” for example during the 1990s the regime was responsible for the shoot down of two unarmed civilian aircraft in international airspace resulting in the death of three American citizens and one resident alien as well as the sinking of a tugboat full of Cubans trying to flee the island (see point 2 above) resulting in the death of at least 30 persons including women and children and infants. In September of 2001 the United States arrested a Cuban spy that was working as top Latin American analyst for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) where she formulate many of the country’s intelligence assessments about Cuba.
*It should be noted that unlike some despots such as Hitler and his Nazi party, Fidel Castro never won an elected office in a legitimate democratic multiparty election. Castro took power after an armed insurgency during which he promised a return to democracy and free elections within one year, instead, it should be noted that, he was responsible for an immediate reign of terror in which hundreds of Cubans were summarily tried and executed despite the fact that Cuba’s 1940 constitution outlawed capital punishment. He transformed Cuba into a one-party state and jailed many of his one-time allies when his Marxist intentions began to be known.
*Lastly please note that although Fidel “temporarily” passed authority to his brother Raul in July of 2006, and that very few meaningful differences have been observed in Cuba since that time. International Human Rights organizations and NGOs continue to denounce the regime for jailing members of the political opposition and generally abusing human rights. Many observers will no doubt see today’s hand-over of power as largely ceremonial. It is unknown to what extent fidel has been or will continue to pull the strings of power in Cuba.
Any questions, please call the international desk.

Liz, the above memo is 100% accurate and if CNN had reported the story that way, Americans would have known more about what has really happened in Cuba than the usual talking points. You know, like the TRUTH. Cubans have been dealing with the media’s soft peddling of Castro under the guise of “balance” for more than 50 years. Enough is enough.