Cuban Social Communication Law: A NEW LOOK (II).

Social communication media are those whose fundamental mission is to share contents of public interest through different formats, channels, supports, technological platforms and networks.

The purpose of the Social Communication Law of Cuba is to regulate the Social Communication System for the strategic and integrated management of social communication processes in the organizational, media and community spheres, for political, public good, organizational and commercial purposes, in public spaces, whether physical or digital, and is based on principles of organization and operation for all social communication media in the country.

The regulations of this Law are applicable to the organs, agencies and entities of the State, the mass and social organizations, nucleated in the Cuban civil society, media organizations and other natural and legal persons, Cuban and foreign, residing permanently or temporarily or transiting through the national territory of the Republic of Cuba.

This superior legal norm defines social communication as the socio-cultural process that constitutes the basis of human relations, based on the exchange and interpretation of data, information, knowledge, ideas, opinions, messages and meanings between people, between them and groups and organizations, between organizations and within them, and between them and society, which contributes to social interaction, the production of meanings, the shaping of individual and collective identity, dialogue, debate, consensus, participation and due popular control.

The Political Communication Strategy has a first fundamental pillar: «credibility, based on facts, empathy, aligned with citizens’ concerns and resilience, which is the ability to adapt and respond to the changing contexts of our society».

Social communication processes, also known as communicational processes, are social practices that materialize in the creation, production, distribution, circulation and exchange of content, through channels, media, technological platforms and networks, in different historical, political, economic, social and cultural contexts.

This is possible because the social media are those whose fundamental mission is to share content of public interest through different formats, channels, supports, technological platforms and networks.

When reviewing the articles of Law 162, it can be seen that on several occasions the word consensus is used together with the words construction, promotion or related to popular control. In this way, the substratum of Antonio Gramsci’s thought is evoked, of hegemony with consensus, of leadership and not domination.

Written by Dr. Osvaldo M. Álvarez Torres.