Cuban blogger to launch island's first independent digital newspaper. Yoani Sánchez's online publication called 14ymedio will challenge communist-ruled country's state-controlled media...
Yoani Sánchez will use online journalism to voice her criticism of Cuba’s one-party system.
Cuba's prize-winning blogger, Yoani Sánchez, is launching the island's first independent digital newspaper next week to challenge the communist-ruled country's state-controlled media. Sánchez said the online publication will be named 14ymedio, in honour of the year of its launch and the 14th-floor Havana apartment where she writes her popular Generation Y blog on daily life and politics in Cuba. Going up against Cuba's heavy media restrictions will not be easy, she admitted in an announcement on her blog on Wednesday."It will be a difficult road. In recent weeks we have seen a preview of how official propaganda will demonize us for creating this medium," Sánchez wrote, adding that several of her online team have already received warning calls from Cuban state security officials prior to the official launch on 21 May. Public criticism of Cuba's communist system can be considered enemy propaganda, punishable by jail sentences. Vowing to be totally independent and transparent, Sánchez said she opted for online journalism to voice her criticism of Cuba's one-party system, rather than becoming an opposition politician.
- "It will be a difficult road. In recent weeks we have seen a preview of how official propaganda will demonize us for creating this medium".
- Sánchez, 38, has won several prestigious media awards in the United States and Europe and has been included on Time magazine's annual list of 100 most influential people.
- "A reporter should not have any kind of militancy," she said.
I think this would be a good oppurtunity for audiences to user generate and interact with each other via the digital newspapers. It would give a chance for audiences to also create their own news such as citizen journalism and post them up on blogs for others to view.
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