is miami herald's tom fiedler talking out of both sides of his mouth?

[flordehinojos]

As editor of the newspaper that fired metro columnist Jim DeFede last week, Fiedler has found himself at the center of a journalistic maelstrom. Readers have written letters about it. Herald columnists have devoted dozens of column inches to it. (snip)


"I must say that what I have seen is an impressive list of influential and, from my view, respected group of colleagues," Fiedler said. "And it's a tremendous tribute to Jim's impact, and the respect with which Jim is held by so many people in our business. I certainly recognize that." (snip)

So far, Fiedler said, the petition hasn't made him rescind his initial decision to fire DeFede. But he didn't slam the door shut, either. (snip)

"I hate to say it's a done deal, because I don't know if the last word has been offered," he said. "I don't know what I don't know… But I have not heard anything in recent days that would essentially alter the decision that I made Wednesday night." (snip)
http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=86492

whose word is it that Fiedler has to listen to? That of his own conscience? Those of higher ups? Those voices in the Republican party or Jeb Bush's office? Perhaps he has to wait for the bush goons to tell him what to do about Jim DeFede? -- it seems Tom Fiedler wants no opposing/dissenting voices from the party line at the herald--and that seems to be what the firing of Jim DeFede is ultimately about!

[Demit]

1. I suspect it is the publisher calling the shots here, not Fiedler alone.

And maybe they're both waiting for an assessment from the legal department, too. I have the feeling the reporter will be reinstated.

[flordehinojos]

2. i hope you are right ... but i kind of tend to agree more with

the last three paragraphs of this article by Jed Shlackman published by Online Journal this morning, in which he says the following:

(snip)

The Herald's journalistic integrity would be something that they could be trying to protect if there were really much to protect. The Miami Herald routinely refuses to address stories that would present genuine investigative journalism and truthful news to the public. The succession of inside job terror incidents epitomized by the events of September 11, 2001 have never been honestly reported on by the Miami Herald, although I give the Herald credit for once printing a paid advertisement by Michael Ruppert's From The Wilderness concerning matters related to the terror attacks. I wonder if the publishers at the Miami Herald recall a time when journalists focused on investigating stories rather than eating up and regurgitating propaganda that has been prepared for them.

Apparently, if you secretly record the comments of a man and never even use them in a story it's much more disturbing to the Herald than if you unquestioningly report as newsworthy fact what politicians state on the record. That includes when the politicians' comments are transparent propaganda to support an agenda that leads to deaths of at least tens of thousands of people.

When irrefutable evidence of high level crimes and deception is presented to mainstream media publications they pretend it doesn't exist. After all, the media itself is controlled by those involved in the crimes and deceptions. So The Miami Herald displays open hypocrisy to justify its decision to fire a popular reporter. If I were firing DeFede myself, it would be for his failure in the last four years to discuss the likelihood that the U.S. government was involved in orchestrating September 11, making many other debates about partisan politics pointless. But then for all I know Jim DeFede did wish to write about that and was silenced by his editors.

link to the complete article:
http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=86492

[Demit]

3. Could you post a link to the article you're citing?

I'd be interested in reading it. The present link just leads back to the Meghan Martin piece.

[flordehinojos]

4. oops, sorry. i thought i had posted the link to the schlackman article..

here it is.
http://www.onlinejournal.com/Media/080305Shlackman/080305shlackman.html

[Demit]

5. Thanks. Yeah, my impression of the Herald was that they were always

ready to cave to strong special interests, back in the early 90's when I lived in Miami. I remember them bending over backwards to placate their very vocal critics. Still, I think there's reason to hope that this backlash from a lot of journalists will give them the courage to rescind the hasty decision to fire the reporter. That's a LOT of journalists going on the record, a lot of potential dissension in the ranks...kudos to them.

I think at the very least the reporter's career won't be damaged. He sounds like a good guy.

[flordehinojos]

6. yes, he is.

:)

[SteppingRazor]

7. He's several good guys...

If one looks at it through sheer tonnage. :evilgrin:

Kidding about his impressive girth aside, Defede's a good guy. Heck, my name is on that journalist's petition mentioned in the above article and found here:
http://journalistsfordefede.blogspot.com

[Demit]

8. Some pretty exalted names on that list!

Carl Hiassen, Edna Buchanan, Leonard Pitts, Dave Barry, Jim Morin...Paul Levine...Steve Lopez...er, SteppingRazor...

That's got to make DeFede feel pretty good.