CNN Puts A Castro on the Payroll

August 7th, 2006 9:34 AM

What better way for CNN to show where it stands on the issues of the day than to officially put Castro's daughter on the payroll as a contributor? Jon Friedman delivers a slap to CNN for this obvious attempt to position itself as the network with the most communist insight.

You have to wonder exactly what journalistic verities Alina Fernandez brings to the job. Granted, she is the host of a radio program in Miami and the author of "Castro's Daughter: An Exile's Memoir of Cuba." Make that a fairly DISTANT memoir, though. As USA Today noted, she was a toddler when Castro came to power 47 years ago and had only "sporadic contact" with her notorious father over the years.

CNN wants the public to believe that Fernandez has unique insights about her homeland and her father -- even though she left the country in 1993, disguised as a Spanish tourist, no less.