DeFede Reacts to Marti Moonlighters

Two nights ago I posted about how the Marti Moonlighters case parallels the firing of Jim DeFede over a year ago by the Herald. I also wondered what DeFede's reaction to this would be.

Yesterday, DeFede responded with a rant on his morning radio show at 940 AM (I mistakenly had written 790 AM earlier, but being a sports station I doubt they have much of an opinion on this except perhaps Dan LeBatard. Dan, feel free to chip in!)

I'll summarize what he said. DeFede started off by saying that he was "deeply troubled" by the fact that Herald reporters were being paid by TV/Radio Marti. Then he proceeded to blast the Herald, and in particular Jesus Diaz and Herald General Counsel Robert Beattie. He referred to the firings as "summary executions" and "cowardly", and called Diaz and Beattie "idiots and incompetent".

Obviously, DeFede has an axe to grind. He remembers his own dismissal from the Herald, by the very same Jesus Diaz. He wondered why there were no investigations done, and concluded that the Herald wanted to avoid a big stink in the papers without them taking immediate action.

DeFede even went as far as saying that if the editors of El Nuevo Herald knew about their reporters being paid by Marti four years ago, why this now, and that the issue of journalists being paid by U.S. government entities was "open to discussion". Interesting.

DeFede's firing last year triggered an avalanche of support from fellow journalists, including Herald employees, who blasted the Herald's decision. The Herald was accused of appeasing the ever-present "Miami Mafia".

These latest firings, on the other hand, have been followed by utter silence from the same journalists who expressed their indignation so loudly last year. Are they confused by all this? Or do they think it's OK to fire a bunch of supposed right-wing Cuban-Americans who specialized in "propaganda" without some kind of due process?

My question to them is: who's the Herald appeasing now?

I stated in my initial post on this issue that I agreed with the Herald for doing what they thought was appropriate based on their ethical code. However, that was BEFORE news leaked out that El Nuevo Herald editors knew and approved of the practice as early as 2002. You can argue that it's ethically wrong for journalists to take money from the government. But if their bosses knew about this, then at the very least the reporters in question deserved a hearing. That's what DeFede said and that's what a lot of his loud supporters are NOT saying this time around.