The official journalist Abdiel Bermúdez publicly admitted that the state media in Cuba continue to fail to depict the everyday reality of the population.
"What must be clear is that awards should not make you conceited. Journalism has a huge debt to the history of this country, the everyday history that we are eager to tell, whether we have awards or not," said Bermúdez this Wednesday, after the ceremony for the presentation of the awards of the National Journalism Contest 26 de Julio.
"I believe that the greatest reward will come when people on the street read the newspaper, listen to the radio, watch television, or engage with digital media and see themselves reflected. That will be the best of all prizes, but we are still in debt to that," he expressed.
The event was held at the national headquarters of the Cuban Journalists' Union (UPEC) in Havana. Bermúdez was one of the most awarded journalists of this edition, with prizes in the categories of Reportage, Commentary, and Chronicle for the Cuban News Channel.
The self-criticism is striking coming from a journalist regarded as a spokesperson for the government, a regular on the National Television News, and awarded in April 2021 with the distinction "Labor Achievement" alongside other official communicators like Humberto López and Lázaro Manuel Alonso.
It is not the first time that Bermúdez has lightly touched on self-criticism in public. In March 2025, he confirmed on television that Cuban families cook using doors and windows as fuel due to the shortage of charcoal. In January 2026, he came to the defense of his colleague Arleen Rodríguez Derivet after a controversial statement that linked José Martí to blackouts.
His words on Wednesday fit into a broader pattern of acknowledgments from within the media apparatus itself.
The presenter Michel Torres Corona admitted in August 2025 that the state press cannot provide coverage of corruption cases due to a lack of resources, and the Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz acknowledged in December 2024 that official media struggle to connect with the public or generate trust.
Regarding the contest, the province of Sancti Spíritus and Ideas Multimedios were the big winners, each receiving nine awards.
Ideas Multimedios also received eight mentions in print media, audiovisuals, hypermedia, and photography. The jury reviewed nearly 800 materials and expressed regret over the absence of many media outlets and journalists from the country.
"The jury reviewed nearly 800 materials and we would have liked there to be more because many media outlets did not participate," said journalist Bárbara Betancourt, president of the jury.
The competition also awarded prizes from the Ricardo Sainz branch contest and a Special Award for the Centennial of Fidel Castro, presented to Aroldo García Fombellida for the series "Fidel Passed This Way" from Radio Rebelde Holguín.
Randy Alonso Falcón, director of Ideas Multimedios, received the Special Award "Media War Against Cuba."
Bermúdez's statement, delivered before the leadership of the Cuban journalistic guild, highlights the profound crisis of credibility facing the state press in Cuba, without any of those self-criticisms challenging the structures of the Communist Party that control and dictate what is published or silenced in the country's media.
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