Group Sues for Info About Reporters Paid By US to Cover Criminal Trial
At the same time that the United States was prosecuting five Cuban intelligence agents in Miami nearly a decade ago, the government’s Office of Cuba Broadcasting was also paying local journalists, on a freelance basis, to prepare critical media reports on the trial for a Cuban audience.
That may have circumvented a federal law on domestic propaganda, says a lawsuit filed today in federal court in the District of Columbia by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund. The complaint (PDF), which was filed on behalf of the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, seeks an injunction requiring the Broadcasting Board of Governors to provide information about its contracts with the journalists who covered the trial for the government, as well as legal fees and costs.
The committee and its attorney Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, contend that the government-funded coverage may also have contributed to a politically charged atmosphere that helped win the defendants’ conviction at trial, reports the Miami Herald.
A spokeswoman for the Broadcasting Board of Governors in Washington declined the newspaper’s request for comment on the lawsuit. However, Tish King said the mission of the U.S.-funded coverage on Radio and TV Marti is to “provide fact-based information for an audience in Cuba” and said they are not propaganda outlets.
The five defendants in the criminal case were convicted in 2001 of being unregistered foreign agents. Some were also convicted of additional crimes. Although the U.S. Supreme Court recently refused to hear their appeal, three are seeking sentence reductions, the Herald reports.
Additional coverage:
National Committee to Free the Cuban Five: “Press Conference calls for Posada’s extradition, Freedom for the Cuban Five”
