Tribune Formally Opens New Bureau in
Cuba, Company Executives Meet with President Fidel Castro
Bureau to provide enhanced
editorial content for Tribune's newspapers, broadcasting and
interactive operations
CHICAGO, March 19, 2001 -- Company
executives and government officials formally opened Tribune's
news bureau in Cuba during ceremonies last week that included
a meeting with President Fidel Castro.
"Millions of Cuban-Americans live in Florida,
Chicago, Los Angeles and New York and the other major markets
served by our newspapers, television stations and web sites,"
said John W. Madigan, Tribune chairman, president and chief
executive officer. "This bureau will allow us to continue
to enhance our editorial content for the readers and viewers
who depend on Tribune for news and information. The Cuba story
is fascinating and is one that needs to be told from Havana."
The news bureau will serve Tribune's 11 newspapers,
22 television stations and more than 50 web sites. Tribune
is one of only two newspaper publishers to be invited to operate
a news bureau in Cuba.
"Our decision to invite the Tribune Company
to Cuba is an indication of respect for its work," Felipe
Perez Roque the foreign minister of Cuba said during a private
meeting held at the foreign ministry. He praised the paper's
"consistent, serious and respectable" work on Cuba
in the past, and said "it is our hope you will be able
to undertake in Cuba serious, responsible coverage, always
committed to the truth."
Tribune's delegation of company executives
also met with Cuba's economic minister and with Vicki Huddleston,
the top U.S. diplomat in Cuba and head of the U.S. Interests
Section. Both were guests at the Tribune bureau's opening
ceremony. Also attending the ceremony were dignitaries from
the Cuban National Assembly, the Council of State and the
International Press Center.
Tribune representatives at the ceremony included
Madigan; Ray Jansen, senior vice president of Tribune Publishing
and publisher of Newsday; Howard Tyner, vice president/editorial
of Tribune Publishing; Chicago Tribune publisher Scott Smith;
Cissy Baker, Co-Bureau Chief of Tribune's Washington Media
Center; and editors and correspondents from the Los Angeles
Times, Chicago Tribune, Newsday, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
and Tribune Broadcasting.
:: :: ::
TRIBUNE (NYSE:
TRB) is one of the country's premier media companies,
operating businesses in broadcasting, publishing and on the
Internet. It reaches more than 80 percent of U.S. households,
and is the only media company with television stations, newspapers
and Web sites in the nation's top three markets. Tribune media
span 23 major-market television stations, including national
superstation WGN-TV; 12 market-leading daily newspapers, including
the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Newsday; and news
and information Web sites in 18 of the nation's top 30 markets. |
