So there were six more reporters at El Nuevo Herald who took money from Marti. Because a previous editor knew and approved of some of the payments and ethics policies "were ambiguously communicated, inconsistently applied and widely misunderstood over many years," publisher Jesus Diaz decided they shouldn't be fired. Then, to be fair, he reinstated the other three Herald writers who were fired last month.
Head spinning yet? There's more. Diaz then decides to resign, writing, "I realize 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."
I can't fault Diaz for resigning and I don't envy his replacement, David Landsberg. But I don't like the decision regarding the Marti moonlighters. How can anybody take El Nuevo Herald at all seriously knowing that NINE of its writers have been paid by the U.S. propaganda outlet? They should have cleaned house, as painful as that would have been for everyone involved. It's simply the only way to give the Spanish-language newspaper any semblance of professionalism and journalistic decency. So managers didn't communicate ethics policies very well? Hell, reporters should have their own ethics and they should certainly know that taking money from a governmental propaganda agency is forbidden.
