Havana, June 7 (RHC) Cuba recently recognized through a law the exercise of advertising and sponsorship in public media, a novelty in almost 70 years.
After an extensive consultation process that resulted in the approval of the Social Communication Law – the first in the nation – and its related regulations, Decree-Law 102 on the practice of advertising and sponsorship was made official this Thursday. Such decree regulates the use of advertisements and promotions on radio, television, print and digital press, as well as prohibitions on their practice.
During the Mesa Redonda television program, Onelio Corderí, vice president of the Institute of Information and Social Communication (IICS), highlighted that this legal instrument responds to the need to transform the forms of economic management of the country's public media, without prejudice to national identity and sovereignty.
The Social Communication Law, which will come into force in four months, has an inclusive approach and defends the rights of citizens, from the organizational, media and community spheres.
Corderí assured that the Law responds to some 17 rights enshrined in the country's Magna Carta, and dozens of public policies approved in recent years.
He pointed out that the regulations call for more transparent and participatory information and communication processes, as well as the introduction of regulations that favor it in all State agencies.
For her part, the president of the Cuban Association of Social Communicators (ACCS), Rosa María Pérez, pointed out that the Caribbean island has had a strictly media vision of communication processes.
In this context, the Law visualizes the scope of organizations and their different audiences, which includes citizens, because communication is transversal to the entire society.
Likewise, the public media system now has “a legal umbrella” that will allow progress in the solution of the structural problems of the Cuban press, said the president of the Cuban Union of Journalists, Ricardo Ronquillo.
For the first time, the media have a legal instrument that regulates the actions of the press, but also requires the right to public information and encourages citizen participation in the media agenda.
The vice president of the IICS, Belkis Pérez, assured that there are structures throughout the country to implement the regulations and carry out training programs with directors of the new organization and other social actors.
Pérez mentioned the existence of some 15 training actions to develop communication skills in citizens, institutions, educational centers and all economic actors, seeking to raise the country's communication culture. (Source: PL)
