How's The Christian Science Monitor get away reporting Real News?

World > Americas
from the June 10, 2005 edition

Castro tightens grip amid boomlet
US businessmen are holding a Cuba trade summit in Alabama Friday.
By Corey Sabourin | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor
HAVANA – FDR promised a chicken in every pot. For Fidel Castro, it's a pot for every chicken.

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The handouts are more than just populist politics. They're a symbol of an economic uptick under way in Cuba. The communist country's economy grew 3 percent last year, and is projected to grow more than 4 percent in each of the next two years, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit, a research group based in London. This growth - driven by cheap Venezuelan oil, a $500 million investment by China, and a rebounding tourist industry - has emboldened Mr. Castro to curb the market reforms he reluctantly introduced in the 1990s, allowing him to tighten his socialist grip.

The appliance rollout is possible because Cuba's economy is "on a roll," says Kirby Jones, a consultant in Washington who for 30 years has advised US companies working in Cuba. "I've never seen it so favorable as it's been in the last few months."
(and WTF? Don't we have a rule about Trade with Cuba?)
(More at this link, Click here)

Commentary > Opinion
from the June 14, 2005 edition

In Congo, 1,000 die per day: Why isn't it a media story?
By Andrew Stroehlein
BRUSSELS – It's a maxim that what people aren't talking about is always a favorite topic of conversation. But it will make your head spin when applied to the media and the most deadly conflict in the world today. Western media generally do not cover the ongoing war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but a media story is currently developing around the Congo - focusing, paradoxically, on how the conflict is not a media story.

I've lost count of how many journalists in the recent weeks have asked me, "Why aren't the media covering the Congo?"

With an estimated 1,000 people dying there every day as a result of hunger and disease caused by war, it is an appropriate question. But the extent of this coverage of noncoverage is reaching the absurd: print, radio, TV, Internet - they all want to know why they themselves are not writing articles and broadcasting programs about the Congo.

(more at these links)
<http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=131685&mesg_id=131685>
<http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0614/p09s02-coop.html>