Miami Herald chief quits over Cuba revelations

Miami Herald chief quits over Cuba revelations
Jason Deans and agencies
Tuesday October 3, 2006
MediaGuardian.co.uk

The publisher of the Miami Herald resigned today, citing revelations
that journalists in the group had been paid by the US government to help
undermine Fidel Castro's Cuban regime.

Jesus Diaz Jr, who had been Herald publisher and president of the Miami
Herald Media Company since July 2005, said in a letter to readers that
he had "ambiguously communicated" the group's policy on journalists
receiving payments from outside organisations.

Today's resignation follows the news last month that several
Florida-based journalists had been paid to work for the
US-government-funded Radio and TV Marti, which broadcast programmes
aiming to promote democracy in the communist state of Cuba.

The Miami Herald itself reported that two staff journalists and a
freelance contributor from its sister Spanish language title, El Nuevo
Herald, were among those who received the payments to work for Radio and
TV Marti, which is funded by the US Office of Cuba Broadcasting. All
three journalists were fired after the story broke.

"I realise and regret that the events of the past three weeks have
created an environment that no longer allows me to lead our newspapers
in a manner most beneficial for our newspapers, our readers and our
community," Mr Diaz wrote in the letter to readers.

He added that he believed the journalists' acceptance of payments "was a
breach of widely accepted principles of journalistic ethics".

"Our policies prohibiting such behaviour may have been ambiguously
communicated, inconsistently applied and widely misunderstood over many
years in the El Nuevo Herald newsroom," Mr Diaz said.

He added that, in future, no journalist working for the group would be
allowed to accept money from the US government-run broadcasters and that
conflict-of-interest policies would be strengthened.

The MHMC general manager, David Landsberg, has been appointed as Mr
Diaz's replacement.

The Miami Herald Group is owned by McClatchy, which acquired the firm
when it bought the parent company from Knight-Ridder in June.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1886724,00.html