Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Martí Moonlighter speaks out

Paul Crespo, a talk show host on WQBA and former Herald editorial board member that was implicated in September 8th Herald article about journalists that were moonlighting for Radio/TV Martí, has written a column about the affair which has been published in the conservative web site Human Events.

An excerpt:

There are many unanswered questions and much speculation. Why smear several opinion commentators not employed by the Herald like me for the alleged transgression of three of its own reporters? Was involving us a cover to fire them, or were they fired as a way to help smear us all?
Crespo brings up an interesting point which The Herald has not addressed to date. The September 8th article and subsequent reporting has never drawn a distinction between reporters and opinion brokers like columnists and talk show hosts. Certainly there is a difference in the expectation of neutrality between the two distinct branches of journalism. Niether has the Herald addressed how a sportscaster's integrity could be compromised by accepting part-time work from a government-sponsored media outlet.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The Herald has a lot of things to address. The glaring issues raised by Pablo Alfonso. The matter of Corral's responsibility and what the paper has done or will do regarding him. The question of how Cuba knew about the 9/8 story some time before it ran. The recurrent display of blatant insensitivity toward the Cuban-American community which does not and would not happen if some other minority group were involved.

I'm sure what's behind these various problems is not some little difficulty that can be easily removed, so it's not going to happen overnight. However, needing time is one thing; clearly moving toward substantially addressing all these issues is another.

If The Herald is serious about doing better, it needs to show it, not just talk.