In 1979 David Halberstam’s book, The Powers That Be, claimed that the major media had “stopped following the news and was now making the news. “An account of the rise of the modern media as an instrument of political power,” reads the jacket. Cuban regime defectors report that this became one of Fidel Castro’s favorite books. Not that he learned anything from its pages; simply that he received smug confirmation for something he’d plumbed decades before Halberstam.

Things have changed. And though MSM agencies with Havana bureau’s still perform for Castro like trained seals, bloggers (and the new media in general) are increasingly vexing the Castro regime. Reuters, AP, and CBS might clutch the regime’s hand-out sheets and eagerly transcribe them. Upon hearing Castro’s whistle, ABC, NBC and the AP might come running, their tongues out and their tails wagging.

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The Cuban-American bloggers at Babalu Blog, on the other hand, watch the clown-show with bitter mirth while rubbing their hands. Ed Mc Mahon never lobbed it over so temptingly for Johnny.  Babalu blog founder and guiding light Val Prieto along with managing editors Alberto de la Cruz and George Moneo were recently interviewed by Dr Helen Smith of Pajamas TV. And as much fun as they have with this venture, you’ll see that their mission amounts to more than eye-poking.  Much of the best reporting on (and from) Castro’s fiefdom is by Spanish language bureaus. Among Babalu bloggers’ tasks is to scour these stories, and translate the juiciest morsels into Red state English for U.S. consumption.

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“For Cuba, being able to influence policy and elite opinion-makers is equally important– possibly even more important– than recruiting spies with access to intelligence information,” said Norman Bailey, who worked for the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Last year the Defense Intelligence Agency’s top Cuba specialist, retired Lt. Col. Chris Simmons, outed five Castro “agents of influence” involved in precisely what Norman Bailey describes above. Alas, the media blackout on Col. Simmon’s bombshell has been total, and quite understandable.

You see, for decades some of those he fingers as Castro’s “agents of influence” have been (and continue to be) the Mainstream Media’s favorite (and almost exclusive) go-to “Cuba experts” for interviews, insights, prognostications and soundbites on anything and everything related to Castro and Cuba. A cursory Nexis-Lexis search shows that roughly 70 per cent of what Americans read about Cuba in the MSM–was filtered through Castro’s agents.

The MSM scurried for cover but, quite characteristically for them, Babalu Blog hosted Lieut. Col. Simmons on their radio show for  a major expose on how Castro’s “vital weapon” (propaganda) filters through the U.S. media.

To right the decades of MSM wrongs about Castroism would require more bandwith than even George Soros could spring for.  But the Babalu bloggers are off to a rollicking start.