Fired journalist says newspaper knew of her ties

Posted on Mon, Sep. 11, 2006

Fired journalist says newspaper knew of her ties
BY OSCAR CORRAL
ocorral@MiamiHerald.com

A journalist whose freelance contract with El Nuevo Herald was severed
last week says the newspaper's managers have known for years that she
got paid by the U.S. government for Cuban cultural shows she hosted for
Radio Martí. She said managers never made an issue of it before.

Freelance writer Olga Connor was among three well-known El Nuevo Herald
writers -- the others were full-time reporters Pablo Alfonso and
Wilfredo Cancio Isla -- who were dismissed or had their contracts
severed Thursday for having violated the company's ethics policy for
their work for Radio and TV Martí. The government-financed broadcasts
are aimed at bringing news, information and entertainment to the
communist island in an effort to undermine Fidel Castro's 47-year-old
regime.

''At no time did any of the editorial management of the Herald indicate
to me that this was considered a conflict of interest, and I continued
writing for El Nuevo Herald until today,'' Connor wrote in Spanish in a
letter to executives of The Miami Herald, El Nuevo Herald and the two
newspapers' parent company, The McClatchy Co.

''I have never in my life done anything that would cause a conflict of
interest or that could be viewed as a lack of ethics,'' Connor wrote.
``I totally reject the accusation of breach of ethics. My work in Radio
and TV Martí was so well known . . . that two articles about this
station and my involvement [were published] in 2002.''

A March 31, 2002, article published in The Miami Herald -- and a
separate article in El Nuevo Herald on that same date written by another
reporter -- identified Connor as a paid contributor to TV and Radio Martí.

El Nuevo Herald Executive Editor Humberto Castelló said Monday in an
e-mail responding to a reporter's questions that he did not dismiss
Connor in 2002 because she was a freelancer.

Asked if he agreed with the company's decision Thursday to terminate her
contract, he answered in Spanish: ``I don't agree with the decision taken.''

Jesús Díaz Jr., president of Miami Herald Media Company and publisher of
both newspapers, said the decision was his.

``The reason I decided the freelance relationship should be terminated
is because many of her assignments are made by us. Most of the articles
she writes for El Nuevo Herald appear only in El Nuevo Herald.

''I wasn't aware of the article in 2002, and if I had been this might
have happened sooner,'' Díaz said.

The 2002 story published in El Nuevo Herald described Connor as a
''columnist for El Nuevo Herald'' and said she was getting paid $45,770
a year at TV and Radio Martí for two weekly cultural shows.

Since 2001, Connor received about $71,000 from the Office of Cuba
Broadcasting, which oversees Radio and TV Martí, according to a
preliminary review by The Miami Herald of federal payments to dozens of
contractors -- among them journalists, university professors, human
rights activists and others -- from 2001 to this year.

Ethics experts said journalists who work for private media companies and
also receive pay for a government-operated station breach fundamental
ethics, particularly if they don't disclose it to readers or viewers and
continue reporting on Cuba issues for their newspapers or radio or TV
stations.

Connor stated in her letter that her contract with El Nuevo Herald
``allowed me to contribute to publications and media, as long as they
were not in competition of this newspaper.''

Kelly McBride, ethics group leader for the Poynter Institute, said
Monday that freelancers are not always subject to the same rules as
staffers. She said it's an editor's job to know where else freelancers
work. But working for the government, she said, is unusual.

The Miami Herald published the story Friday after a preliminary review
of hundreds of pages of federal documents obtained under a Freedom of
Information Act request first filed July 13, and requested again in an
e-mail to the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees the Office
of Cuba Broadcasting, on Aug. 15. The paper obtained the documents as
part of an ongoing two-year examination of federal spending on
pro-democracy efforts in Cuba.

Castelló said Monday that he did not know that El Nuevo Herald reporters
Cancio Isla and Alfonso had been getting paid for hosting weekly Martí
broadcasts. ''It took me absolutely by surprise that they charged for
their work,'' he said, adding that he knew they would go there from time
to time.

Alberto Ibargüen -- who was publisher of El Nuevo Herald from 1995 to
1998, then became president of both newspapers from 1998 until July 2005
-- said in an e-mail that he did not know ''at any time'' that El Nuevo
Herald staffers were getting paid by the government through Radio and TV
Martí.

Asked if he knew that they were even participating in Martí programming,
Ibargüen said in an e-mail: ``Not specifically, but given that the
writers from ENH are so knowledgeable about Cuban affairs, I would
expect that they would have appeared, but not for payment.''

''I myself appeared on a Martí [broadcast] once as I appeared on Channel
2's Issues . . . years ago, for commentary, but not for pay,'' Ibargüen
said.

Pedro Roig, director of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, said some
guests and a host on TV and Radio Martí shows choose not to get paid the
$75 to $100 fee for a half-hour show. He also said Thursday that Cuba
Broadcasting staff are not allowed to do work for media companies --
unless employees first are cleared by their bosses in Washington.

''Our staffers who do an outside job have to get permission,'' Roig
said. ``We assume in other workplaces they do the same.''

The U.S. Office of Cuba Broadcasting, or OCB, runs Radio and TV Martí.
It has a $37 million budget and 149 employees this year. It spent more
than $2 million of that money for contractors, including journalists
already employed in private media companies, syndicated columnists,
university professors and others with expertise on Cuba issues.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/email/news/breaking_news/15495274.htm