Cuban Faces of 2016 - Elaine Díaz, Director of ‘Neighborhood Journalism

Cuban Faces of 2016: Elaine Díaz, Director of 'Neighborhood Journalism'
/ 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 27 December 2016 — Cuban Faces of 2016: Elaine Díaz
graduated with a degree in Journalism from the Faculty of Communication
of the University of Havana in 2008, she has worked as an assistant
professor and maintains the blog La Polémica Digital (The Digital
Debate). In an episode of the series Cuba's Reasons, broadcast by
officialdom to demonize critical voices, the reporter was presented by
way of a counterpart to independent bloggers, who were defined in the
program as "cyberterrorists."

Díaz was the first Cuban woman to win a Nieman Fellowship in
investigative journalism at Harvard University, and last year launched
the site Periodismo de Barrio (Neighborhood Journalism), a publications
centered on communities affected by natural disasters and others
occasioned by the hand of man. Her site has been harshly criticized by
officialdom, which has questioned how it is financed and the use of
fundraising campaigns through Paypal.

In October this year Diaz was arrested with her team in Baracoa while
reporting from areas affected by Hurricane Matthew. All were questioned,
their belongings meticulously searched and they were deported to the
capital. The authorities alluded to an alleged state of emergency in the
east of the island.

In an editorial published later, Periodismo de Barrio denounced that,
"There are no good and bad monopolies Any monopolization, made by the
State, a person or a corporation, just curtails freedoms," a reference
to government control over all press media permitted in the country.

Source: Cuban Faces of 2016: Elaine Díaz, Director of 'Neighborhood
Journalism' / 14ymedio – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/cuban-faces-of-2016-elaine-diaz-director-of-neighborhood-journalism-14ymedio/