2024-01-30 16:38:45
The second session of the 4th. National Virtual Press Festival “Julio García Luis” began this Tuesday with the conference “To change the press you have to change its economic nature”, by the Vice Minister of Economy and Planning (MEP) Mildrey Granadillo de la Torre, who is a member the intergovernmental group formed in Cuba to ensure changes in the sector and, in particular, progress in the experiment of new economic, technological and editorial management models.
In the presence of Ricardo Ronquillo Bello, national president of the UPEC, his management team and other professionals involved in the event both in person and by videoconference, the speaker highlighted the support to the process of transformation of the press, closely related with the main projections of the Cuban Government.
The conference “To change the press you have to change its economic nature” was given by the Vice Minister of Economy and Planning (MEP) Mildrey Granadillo de la Torre. Photo: Roberto Garaicoa/Cubaperiodistas
«Transforming the media is important for all institutions in the country, not just for the press. “We must stop thinking about the press as budgeted units and give contributions to the nation,” said the speaker.
Granadillo de la Torre pointed out that under the premise of what to do to change the press in line with the Government’s projections and the National Economy Plan, the aim is to achieve the best working conditions in the sector. This is linked to the resizing of the budgeted sector in all structures, from the nation to the municipality, and the promotion of new jobs, investments and capacities recovered from the press media for territorial development.
Having legal personality is a very important step until reaching budgeted units with special treatment that makes them economically sustainable.
The speaker said that it has been approved that the media that generate foreign currency from exports open a foreign currency account, that the purchase of goods and services from the budgeted sector to the private sector be regulated, as well as the updating of legal standards for the strategic management of development. territorial.
A part of these income can be used by the exporting entities themselves—press media, in this case—for their management expenses. The official called on those responsible for the union to be careful with the contracting processes and evaluate the levels of invoices for goods and services so that the sustainability of management throughout the year is not affected.
In her conference, the deputy head of the MEP explained that the transformation of the media will contribute to the development of the territories where they are located. Each municipality has a development strategy, approved in the municipal assembly of People’s Power and requires communication and socialization in which the media are fundamental. The media accompany the most important development processes of the country at all levels.
The press has taken a step forward, he considered, in terms of what more can be done in the field of mentality of our development model. That they are budgeted units with special treatment is the main challenge that we must overcome for this year. We still have staff understaffing in the union, as in the entire budgeted sector, but we can generate new income with legal and sustainable activities, not only from a purely economic perspective, but also from its social function to accompany the Government’s projection to all. the levels.
In the debate, the president of the UPEC in Las Tunas, Adalys Ray, asked the vice minister how to overcome the “budgeted unity syndrome”, one of the issues that, in her opinion, most affects us in the press.
Mildred Granadillo de la Torre responded that, in effect, this is a Government projection, not a personal assessment. «In the country – she said – we have income below the expenses planned for 2024, but there are budgeted activities that can generate income; Then we would assess their “special treatment” status.
«A baseball stadium – he clarified – is today clearly budgeted. How to think about a different management? We have other actors in the economy that can make that viable, but by promoting activities that generate income, thinking about a constant movement forward, not backwards.
The vice minister added that we have been in this process for more than a year and, however, the steps have been slow. She added that the transformation towards which the media is advancing must be undertaken by other sectors of the country.
The vice minister also reported that 48 percent of the Cuban workforce is in the budgeted sector and that their burden is supported by the business sector. “We have to analyze the load of the workforce and organize the processes based on the work we do and the demand it implies,” she called.
From social networks, a user inquired why public tenders are not carried out for contracts from private companies, to which the vice minister highlighted that the MEP promotes the tender, being cautious, without launching into the first proposal, something that is not usually achieved. Several offers should be analyzed, she recommended, before making a decision. “The MEP does defend that there be public bidding processes and this must be accompanied by the corresponding digital transformation,” she said.
Ricardo Ronquillo highlighted the importance of Vice Minister Mildred’s participation in the Festival and recalled that we must look at this whole matter from the communication policy approved in 2018. However, he noted that, in practice, in the sector we were more conservative than the policy. The communication policy of the State and the Government – he recalled – proposes the forms of budgeted units, budgeted with special treatment and even that certain press media become communication companies.
Photo: Roberto Garaicoa Martínez/Cubaperiodistas
Ronquillo affirmed that the long dependence of the media on the budget scares many, but clarified that nothing is being invented: the transformation was discussed and is in politics. After the triumph of the Revolution – he said – the economic nature of the media was lost, in the written press the publishing was separated from the printing and the media became financiers of the printing units. This is what happened with the distribution of the press: responsibility was given to an entity not responsible for the success of the newspaper and therefore unaware of its editorial objectives; In addition, it became a service that the press had to pay for.
Among the most important transformations, Ronquillo cited that of the press management model. If the media are not strong and do not have financing and technologies to fulfill their symbolic task, the capacity for symbolic reproduction of the Revolution to which we are called is lost.
The current, accentuated economic crisis has been transferred to the public media system and now we cannot ask the budget for everything we need. We try to give back to the system what it needs to influence with our capacity at the level of ideas, at the most decisive moment of their confrontation. In that scenario, it would be suicidal to have a weakened media system, incapable of exerting substantive influence, said the national president of UPEC.
We must conceive the current need for human resources in the press and social communication because the requirement for journalists exceeds the panorama of the press media, he added.
Ronquillo pointed out that we must move towards the transformation of UPEC itself as an organization so that it is not dependent on the State budget and can even contribute to it. To do this, he has the Pablo publishing house, the José Martí International Institute of Journalism, the Cubaperiodistas site, he can create a communication consultancy… he exemplified.
“The aim is for every sector of life in Cuba to generate income for the national economy, but that requires audacity,” highlighted the UPEC leader.
At that point, the Vice Minister of Economy and Planning pointed out that we can reach budgeted units with special treatment that are self-financing in pesos that, due to their social role, do not become companies, but receive the benefits of the business system.
Randy Alonso, director of Multimedia Ideas, gave examples of how the possibility of opening accounts in currency has already been undertaken by that journalistic entity. The group seeks to use the income generated by its expansion of services in the capitalization of the medium. That is a first challenge pointed out by him; The other is the insufficient capacity of state companies to adapt to the new scenario: it is still not understood what the transformation of the press consists of and how it represents benefits to third parties, something that private companies have assimilated.
The director pointed out concerns with the insufficient institutional culture in this regard. The publication of the Communication Law and its Regulations is delayed, which above all affects – because the media did monitor its entire development process in detail and its scope is mastered – the client’s understanding. We can do better things on this path, concluded Randy Alonso.
Randy Alonso, director of Ideas Multimedios, gave examples of how the possibility of opening accounts in currency has already been undertaken by that journalistic entity. Photo: Roberto Garaicoa Martínez/Cubaperiodistas
After this conference, the second session continued with the defense of press transformation and innovation projects submitted to the contest.
The 4th “Julio García Luis” National Virtual Press Festival, which has also held an academic segment, will conclude on Wednesday, January 31, with the proclamation of the media winners of the Innovation Award in the sector. This time the competition involved 28 projects from 11 provincial media outlets, six national media outlets and two universities in the country: the Central “Marta Abreu” in Las Villas and the Ignacio Agramonte in Camagüey.
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