This Saturday, the annual balance sheet of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television took place in the theater of the Ministry of Communications. Author: Cubadebate
“Creating and reporting Cuba with hope” is a belief that unites the professionals of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT), who have been in an uphill battle over the past year, marked by the context in which COVID-19 has continued to make headlines. like the Saratoga Hotel bombing, the impact of Hurricane Ian, power outages for much of the year and the blockade, among other issues of high social concern.
The incidents of the outgoing year and the challenges for 2023 were discussed this Saturday among those working in radio and television, accompanied by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, Deputy Prime Minister Ines Maria Chapman and the President of Icrt. , Alfonso Noah Martinez.
In 2022, according to the submitted report, the radio increased the number of live broadcasts compared to the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. It included 133 new projects, surpassing previous years, with different approaches such as local history and identity, health, music, debate, the environment, as well as citizen participation programs with local authorities and work in spaces to develop artistic creativity. and literary criticism.
In addition, meetings with the public have been resumed to build radio programs according to their interests. As far as television was concerned, the production of fiction was on the rise, which maintained a succession of Cuban soap opera premieres with very good audiences.
The Cubavisión Internacional channel improved its production capacity with a donation from China, allowing it to reschedule its programming, especially newscasts and multimedia content. In addition, it was able to transmit in high definition under conditions similar to other international distribution channels.
The series “Calendar”, now in its second season directed by Magda Gonzalez, is among the proposals that have had the greatest impact on Cuban television.
The report indicates that the production of radio and television systems for digital platforms has grown due to multimedia broadcasting, podcast, transfer videos for Youtube and content for social networks. During 2022, 12,993 radio productions and 5,366 for television were registered.
Among the shortcomings that have conditioned the work of creators from the spaces of radio and television, “there is a neglect and untimely application of the results of audience research, research and environmental characteristics in both media. There is a lack of coherence and strategic articulation to analyze the main issues of Cuban social and economic life.
“Triumphant discourse prevails, there are practically no investigative reports, the narrative stagnates in the general places of the genre, and the subject matter under consideration limits the impact on the audience. There are still restrictions on access to information, timely disclosure and use of sources in addressing issues of the public agenda,” the central text of the debate abounds.
In addition, young people and adolescents do not sufficiently identify themselves with the programs aimed at them. This issue was discussed by several speakers, including Dr. Zenaida Costales Pérez, professor at the Faculty of Communications at the University of Havana and a journalist for Radio Rebelde, who stressed the importance of facilitating youth access to the media in order to absorb journalistic speeches from their views. “History should have drama, be more attractive and make you fall in love,” the academician emphasized.
In the same vein, communication theorist Dr. Hilda Saladrigas delved into the understanding of strategic communication and the need to establish the Social Communication Law with all the new institutionalization it brings to the work of the media.
Meanwhile, director Magda González Grau insisted that “fiction is one of the greatest ideological tools, firstly because of its scope, and secondly because it leads to reflection based on emotion.” We need to do more good Cuban fiction.”
Among those present at the debate, there were many persistent questions about creativity and how it should go out of the comfort zone. It became known that 79 stations have projects dedicated to specialized art criticism.
The presence of criticism in the media is one of the common problems, along with efforts to improve the operation of radio and television, increase their efficiency, the quality of work of civil servants and, above all, in a different way, as well as how to expand relations with new economic actors for the production of programs and use of production chains between companies.
Source: Juventud Rebelde