Untitled Document
Today's
revelation:
At least 10 South Florida journalists, including three from El Nuevo Herald,
received regular payments from the U.S. government for programs on Radio Martí
and TV Martí, two broadcasters aimed at undermining the communist government
of Fidel Castro. The payments totaled thousands of dollars over several years
[up to $175,000 in one case!]"
Not that the U.S. really has to pay right-wing Cubans in Miami to say
bad things about Cuba. But it never hurts. And there's also the question of
where that money goes. The people getting paid off may well be donating substantial
sums to right-wing terrorist groups, just as the Halliburtons and others getting
paid off in much larger sums funnel plenty of it back to their political patrons.
______________________________
10 Miami Journalists Take U.S. Pay
by Oscar Corral
Miami Herald
 |
AT LEAST 10: The list of local journalists includes El Nuevo Herald's columnist Pablo Alfonso, freelancer Olga Connor, and staff reporter Wilfredo Cancio.
|
At least 10 local journalists accepted U.S. government pay for programs
on Radio Martí or TV Martí. El Nuevo Herald fired two of them
Thursday for conflict of interest.
At least 10 South Florida journalists, including three from El Nuevo Herald,
received regular payments from the U.S. government for programs on Radio Martí
and TV Martí, two broadcasters aimed at undermining the communist government
of Fidel Castro. The payments totaled thousands of dollars over several years.
Those who were paid the most were veteran reporters and a freelance contributor
for El Nuevo Herald, the Spanish-language newspaper published by the corporate
parent of The Miami Herald. Pablo Alfonso, who reports on Cuba and writes an opinion
column, was paid almost $175,000 since 2001 to host shows on Radio Martí
and TV Martí. El Nuevo Herald freelance reporter Olga Connor, who writes
about Cuban culture, received about $71,000, and staff reporter Wilfredo Cancio
Isla, who covers the Cuban exile community and politics, was paid almost $15,000
in the last five years.
Alfonso and Cancio were dismissed after The Miami Herald questioned editors
at El Nuevo Herald about the payments. Connor's freelance relationship with
the newspaper also was severed.
Alfonso and Cancio declined to comment. Connor was unavailable for comment.
Jesús Díaz Jr., president of the Miami Herald Media Co. and publisher
of both newspapers, expressed disappointment, saying the payments violated a
''sacred trust'' between journalists and the public.
''Even the appearance that your objectivity or integrity might have been impaired
is something we can't condone, not in our business,'' Díaz said. ``I
personally don't believe that integrity and objectivity can be assured if any
of our reporters receive monetary compensation from any entity that he or she
may cover or have covered, but particularly if it's a government agency.''
Other journalists receiving payments from the U.S. Office of Cuba Broadcasting,
which runs Radio and TV Martí, included: Diario Las Americas opinion
page editor Helen Aguirre Ferre and reporter/columnist Ariel Remos; Channel
41 news director Miguel Cossio; and syndicated columnist Carlos Alberto Montaner,
whose opinions appear in the pages of El Nuevo Herald and The Miami Herald.
GOVERNMENT PROJECT
Radio and TV Martí are U.S. government programs created to promote democracy
and freedom in Cuba. Their programming cannot be broadcast within the United
States because of anti-propaganda laws. Radio and TV Martí have received
$37 million this year.
The payments to journalists were discovered in documents recently obtained
by The Miami Herald as a result of a federal Freedom of Information Request
filed on Aug. 15.
OWN RESPONSIBILITY
Pedro Roig, the director of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting since 2003, said
he has sought to improve the quality of news by, among other things, hiring
more Cuban exile journalists as contractors. He said it's each journalist's
responsibility to adhere to their own ethics and rules.
''We consider them to be good journalists, and people who were formed inside
that system who got out [of Cuba] and adapted and made good,'' Roig said. ``In
reality, I feel very satisfied.''
Journalism ethics experts called the payments a fundamental conflict of interest.
Such violations undermine the credibility of reporters to objectively cover
key issues affecting U.S. policy toward Cuba, they said.
Iván Román, executive director of the National Association of
Hispanic Journalists, said the payments from TV and Radio Martí posed
a clear conflict of interest.
''It's definitely a line that journalists shouldn't be crossing,'' said Román,
a former El Nuevo Herald journalist. ``It's clear the medium has a particular
agenda. If they cover Cuban issues, it could be seen as a conflict.''
El Nuevo Herald Executive Editor Humberto Castelló said he hadn't been
aware that the three writers were being paid by the federal government.
''I lament very much that I had not been informed before by them,'' Castelló
said. ``We discussed the situation with them and they were both dismissed immediately.''
POPULAR FIGURES
The journalists involved are among the most popular in South Florida, and many
were reporting on issues involving Radio or TV Martí for their news organizations.
Channel 41 reporter Juan Manuel Cao, who received $11,400 this year from TV
Martí, made news in July when he confronted Castro during an appearance
in Argentina by pressing the Cuban leader to explain why his government had
not allowed a well-known doctor and dissident, Hilda Molina, to leave the island
to visit her son in Argentina.
During the exchange, Castro openly questioned Cao if anyone was paying him
to ask that question. The Cuban government has long contended that some South
Florida Spanish-language journalists were on the federal payroll.
''There is nothing suspect in this,'' Cao said. ``I would do it for free. But
the regulations don't allow it. I charge symbolically, below market prices.''
DEFENDS ROLE
Ferre, the opinion page editor for Diario las Americas, was paid $4,325 from
2001 to 2005. She said the payments did not compromise her journalistic integrity.
She was paid to be a guest on TV Martí shows and said her point of view
was never suppressed.
''Guests are being paid for their time that they have to take in order to be
able to accommodate the program,'' she said.
Ethicists say that it's common for journalists to be compensated by other media
outlets but not by the government, built on principles that espouse an independent
press.
''This is such an obvious textbook case,'' said University of Florida journalism
professor Jon Roosenraad. 'This is exactly like a business reporter during the
day going out and moonlighting as a PR [public relations] person for a local
company at night and then going back to the paper the next day and writing about
`his' company.''
Total payouts since 2001 range from $1,550 to Radio Mambi commentator Ninoska
Perez-Castellón to $174,753 for El Nuevo Herald's Alfonso, the government
payment records show. The payments -- which range from $75 to $100 per appearance
-- are to host or appear on the government-produced shows.
The Miami Herald's review of dozens of articles by the El Nuevo Herald journalists
-- including several about TV Martí or Radio Martí -- found no
instance in which the reporters or columnists disclosed that they had received
payment.
Two ethics experts compared it to the case of Armstrong Williams in 2005, when
it was revealed that the Bush administration had paid the prominent pundit to
promote its education policy, No Child Left Behind, on his nationally syndicated
television show.
Herald staff writers Jasmine Kripalani, Luisa Yanez, Casey Woods and Alfonso
Chardy contributed to this report.
________________________
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