Mass media in Cuba
The PCC strictly censors news, information and commentary, and restricts dissemination of foreign publications to tourist hotels.
Journalists must operate within the confines of laws against anti-government propaganda and the insulting of officials, which carry penalties of up to three years in prison.
A weekly version, Granma International, is published in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Turkish and German, available online.
[3] Granma regularly features speeches by Raúl Castro and other leaders of the Cuban government, including former President Fidel Castro's column, "Reflexiones de Fidel" (Fidel's Reflections), official announcements of the Cuban government, popular sketches highlighting the history of Cuba's revolutionary struggle from the 19th to the 21st century, developments in Latin America and world politics, steps by Cuba's workers and farmers to defend and advance the socialist revolution, and developments in industry, agriculture, science, the arts, and sports in Cuba today.
The bulletin with the highest circulation is Vida cristiana, published weekly in Havana; it reaches the majority of Catholics in the country.
In 1922, under the cooperation of the US-based International Telephone and Telegraph, the first radio station in the country (2LC) began broadcasts on 22 August.
Radio stations and networks included:[7] Soon after the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Fidel Castro's government applied a series of measures that transformed all national media.
During the early years of the revolution there was a division between the mainstream media in Cuba, created with private capital that opposed the new political situation.
A series of small radio stations in favor of the new government, organized an "Independent Front of Free Broadcasters" (Spanish: Frente Independiente de Emisoras Libres).
Radio stations in the country were completely put under state control on May 24, 1962, under the management of the newly established Cuban Broadcasting Institute.
In 1963, using Soviet-supplied equipment, Cuba became the first nation in the Western Hemisphere to jam radio broadcasts, the apparent targets being the anti-Castro stations in the US.
The first years of television in Cuba were marked by a climate of competitiveness between two Cuban businessmen backed by US companies, Gaspar Pumarejo and Goar Mestre.
Soon after the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Fidel Castro's government applied a series of measures that transformed all national media.
Television channels in the country were completely put under state control on May 24, 1962, under the management of the newly established Cuban Broadcasting Institute.
The Cuban Internet is characterized by a low number of connections, limited bandwidth, censorship and high cost.
Rather than having complex filtering systems, the government relies on the high cost of getting online and the telecommunications infrastructure that is slow to restrict Internet access.
The Cuban government blames the US for the poor state of telecoms infrastructure, which it says is caused by the American economic embargo imposed in the 1960s.
Since June 4, 2013 Cubans can sign up with ETECSA, the state telecom company, for public Internet access at 118 centers across the country.
[17] A paquete contains 1 terabyte of data filled with anything from pirated foreign television, music videos, apps, news, and other digital media content otherwise inaccessible to the Cuban population.
In 2006, Guillermo Fariñas, a Cuban psychologist, independent journalist, and political dissident, held a seven-month hunger strike to protest Internet censorship in Cuba.
[19] Alan Gross, an American government contractor under employment for the U.S. Agency for International Development, was arrested in Cuba on December 3, 2009, and was convicted on March 12, 2011, for covertly distributing laptops and cellphones on the island.
