Interviewed, Lazaro Najarro, journalist, radio specialist, professor and writer

How many years have you been working in media?

I've almost lost count of my time in the media. But there is a date I will never forget: one morning in September 1971, Jose del Risco, then manager of the Fish Refrigeration Plant in Santa Cruz, asked me to incorporate into the movement of correspondents. In an empirical way I held the office of reporter combined with the cooling and studies in the Union Faculty, but without a notion of what was radio, much less journalism.

Since then, I have never stopped writing news, both for radio and for newspapers. I had read in the press, when I was a student of seamanship, of the opening (May 1, 1968) on Radio Primero de Mayo and I went there. I used to write for the local radio, newspapers Adelante, Juventud Rebelde and Trabajadores. Perhaps I intuitively had the chance to provide the news, information, human character.

In the 70's, after my military service I work as a literature advisor, but I spent more time studying journalism and I decided to leave the job of literature to go behind the news as a professional. I enlisted on the fishing boats and men writing about the sea and spent hours immersed in the cane fields to write about the combine operators, visited them at home, in the fields, sharing their triumphs and failures. I had few hours to rest, but I never ran out.

Most of the time I slept in the editorial department of the radio station because in one day I was performing several news coverages, now, I cannot explain how I managed.

How do you see that information is handled in Cuba?

Cuban journalists must have a high level of preparation, professionalism, and responsibility to their country and be very committed to the revolutionary process. The Cuban press has an informative, recreational and educational purpose. The media have a hands on role, as Fidel said, planting values in the souls of men, in intelligence and in the hearts of human beings. It is up to the present time the mission of achieving a new journalistic discourse that meets the expectations of a more cultured radio, more entertaining, more representative and rich in topics of interest.

As a professor what do you think about the training of future journalists?

In Cuba graduates of journalism, today, have a higher training level than when we graduated in 1983. They have gone through various educational programs in Cuba and are applying the so-called Plan D. We did not have teachers of such a high level, even the literature and new technologies. The journalism student today has much more cultural and technical preparation.

They are achieving, noted Raul Garces, "... a radical transformation in the narratives of the medium ..." Many argue that the daily exercise of journalism is the most important. In part they are right, but you need a balance between theory and practice, responding to the notion that the former can not be separated from the latter and vice versa. I have full confidence in the new journalism graduates. The profession is opening a beautiful way for Cuba. They are already showing it.

How do you approach the management of information in a country that is blockaded by the U.S.?

Sometimes I read some magazines to verify what is being done out there (abroad) and not to inform. I read a lot. Especially a lot of poison and you know what's wrong? I'm amazed at what they write! Why the journalist's work in Cuba is very complex. Cuba is possibly the most targeted country in the world: reality is distorted and what is common in the rest of the planet, if it occurs on the island, the foreign media makes great news of it. When you read the cables you realize that their campaigns are directed against Cuba. They do not write about what is happening, but what they want to happen. For example, the mercenaries in the service of the SINA (Office of U.S. Interests in Havana) are called dissenters. Their news reports are not objective, but I think, to paraphrase someone, that objectivity is a privilege of nature and appeal to the alternative of Spanish professor Alberto Martinez who equated the objectivity of the journalist with intellectual honesty, a hard thing for the Mass Media Newspapers, which use the opposite: the misrepresentation of the facts. That is intended to repeat the lie to make it true. Before it was said that a lie was told a hundred times it becomes a truth to readers, listeners and viewers, but now it is not hundred times. A distorted news, according Ramonet in his book "Silent Propaganda" is repeated 10,000 times and maybe much more, distorting or manipulating the facts in favor of the dominant culture. But those who visit Cuba often have the opportunity to note that the Cuban people are one of the most knowledgeable people in the world. If it was not so the enemy campaign would have ended with the main strength of this nation: the people's unity and its support for the Revolution, the Party, Fidel and Raul.

All this campaign against Cuba has been established and reported with proof in the Reasons of Cuba programs transmitted on television. Sometimes here what the SINA is not TRAIN journalists, because to be a journalist you need to carry the profession in the soul, what they do is a FABRICATE journalists. The art of disinformation has been a key element in the weapon of transnational information. Frederick Howard purports that nine out of ten stations that broadcast news in Latin America carried by first world news agencies. We find out what happens in our countries through cables written in American desks. What we are bouncing through our microphones? They are using a very effective tool for the manipulation and brainwashing in our region.

In terms of communication what are the implications of the blockade?

The economic, commercial and financial blockade affects all spheres of society. The media are no exception to this phenomenon.

Why did you tackle the investigation?

Sometimes I hear many people talking about the subject of investigative journalism. There are many views on journalistic research. I once heard: What did this reporter do if it is research. It was an article in several parts about the problem of bread. It is really an investigation. But it is not to exaggerate: to obtain that material it is only necessary to go to the bread line and interview people. I just think that journalism needs to investigate.

Now this is the first time someone has said that what I do is investigative journalism. I think you are one of the few people who told me that. It is the first time. However, thanks. Then I will continue investigating. But yes, from my radio journalism work my three books have been printed about my research work. On one of them I spent 15 years. Of course, I left it and took it up again, until I finished.

In Cuba there is still a radio drama. Why do you think that in the rest of the world it is becoming extinct?

In the rest of the world radio theater, or drama, is not usual. It was lost long ago. In Cuba the radio since its founding in 1920 has had a large audience. The radio programming has been part of the island since Felix B. Caignet premiered his famous drama, in 1948. It occurred on April First when the waves of the CMQ radio broadcast the most important dramatic event of the decade, "The right of birth", with Maria Valero-Minin Bujones and Carlos Badia, supported by an enviable cast, with outstanding Nenita Viera, Lupe Suarez, Xiomara Fernández, José Goula, Enrique Santisteban, Carlos Paulin, and the narrative style of Luis Lopez Puente, also present in all works of Caignet, or speaking in a metaphor as the author says, it also imposes doing radio in Latin America.

In Radio Cadena Agramonte, where I work, there is one of the most distinguished radio dramatic casts in Cuba. In January 2011 the group completed 42 years. Now, with the name of Nino Moncada, the group is also one of the oldest and most stable group on the radio in the country. Members feel proud that such distinguished artists from the small screen as Hector Hechemendia and Norma Reina came from the actors and actresses school. The transmission of the series “Un nuevo amanecer” ("A New Dawn", 1969), dedicated to José Martí, was assumed to be the founding date of the group.

What is the Cuban radio listener like?

The radio is for the Cuban listener the rhythm of life. The level of audience that the radio has is beyond calculation. The latest information I have is that there is a network of 1 international station, 6 national stations,18 provincial stations and 71 municipal stations, the latter representing 74 percent of the media in Cuba.

Where was the idea and/or need to do a Manual created *?

I did not want others to lack what I always wanted for me, a textbook or a manual of journalism. While studying journalism at the Cuban Eastern University, in the city of Santiago de Cuba, in the late 70's, we had to face the phenomenon of the lack of literature on journalism. Luckily we had the book by Benitez: "Technical Journalism," but not enough. That was a very difficult time, with very limited literature on journalism and nothing on radio.

Radio Caribe (Isle of Youth) gave me the opportunity to experience the journalistic genres: documentary, chronicle ... although sometimes confused the interview, with the report. Even the analysts of radio information went astray on the concepts of radio genres and imposed their own views on the visits of analysis of news programming. Then I decided to write about broadcast journalism and the Pablo de la Torriente Brau publishing house in Havana, published it years later, the New Radio Journalism Manual, which was complemented with the recently published in your country: Radio journalism and production.

I have received many calls and the students consult it much for their theses, not only here in Camagüey, but several parts of the island both journalism students and the Higher Institute of Arts. Fortunately, my effort after many years of investigation and research to create this manual has helped.

You have written a new book, what is it about?

"Vientos del sur " is a testimony that evokes a stage in my life as a student of seamanship in Havana del Este, Cuba. There we were trained as specialists for growing sponge in the seas of Surgidero de Batabano. I narrate the trips, enchanted, by virtually untouched landscapes, stunning and elegant parts of the Canarreos Archipelago distinguished by maintaining the same attributes that nature gave them for thousands of years. I recall meetings with fishermen living together, and times when young people also dreamed; we gave ourselves the task of revolutionizing nature and defying the dangers of the sea. The story takes place during the last years of the 1960s. I know I have sent emails to many people I have known and they said it was fascinating but still do not know what it seemed like to the publishers. Anyway I know that I will publish it. I introduced it in the Luis Suardiaz national contest and got the first prize in Testimony, and it was adapted for radio and aired on a program for young people.

Translated by: Daysi Olano

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