A Window of Opportunity Opens for the Print Media in Cuba
The recent news about adjustments to the print edition and circulation of national and provincial newspapers caused more than one member of the press to frown, while some expressed their opinions on social media.
Although these decisions were conditioned by the economic situation, and particularly the energy crisis, Cuba suffers; the fact is that, since the beginning of this century, dozens of print newspapers, both prominent and less so, have abandoned paper and become exclusively digital.
This trend in the global press ecosystem, which is definitely transforming, accelerated during the pandemic and then continued to gain momentum due to increased printing and distribution costs, the collapse of print advertising, and other factors or to the increase in online audiences.
Tools for producing digital news
Undoubtedly, digital news is distinguished by the immediacy of its information, its reach, the possibility of constant updates, as well as its multimedia capabilities and interactivity with its audience.
These are well-known aspects, as is its relatively smaller environmental impact due to reduced consumption of natural resources (trees for paper) and also the emissions associated with the distribution of newspapers and magazines.
Of course, the environmental damage now comes from the amount of water used to cool the giant servers that power the AI, now an almost indispensable support for the production—in both form and content—of this press.
But this majority shift of the Cuban print press to the digital realm should not be seen as a catastrophe, even if decades-old routines associated with paper newspapers and magazines are lost.
An opportunity at hand
In the 1990s, the Cuban press experienced something similar, but back then its creators and managers were just beginning to navigate the world of new technologies, and digital literacy was barely taking off for the island's inhabitants.
Now, regarding technology, the circumstances are different—even though the energy situation is not on our side, and this is a major obstacle.
Resting on the strengths gained from nearly a decade of experience in the digital field, this could be a good time to unleash potential that has remained dormant until now and to implement regulations whose impact is still barely noticeable in journalistic practice.
From newsroom dynamics and information flow to reader feedback and the criteria for what constitutes news and what readers need or find useful to know, everything could be rethought.
Less coverage of meetings and events—because, moreover, there's no fuel—and more reporters and photographers capturing the pulse of daily life and its urgent needs. Fewer restrictions and a greater understanding that readers will seek out what they need to know through a variety of means, becoming, in the process, potential targets for fake news and other deceptions.
Therefore, it would be very beneficial for the Cuban print media to seize this opportunity, now that it will largely operate in digital format, which, ultimately, is the format of our time.
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