PressEthic

There's been a lot of hubbub since three journalists were fired from the Miami Herald staff when editors discovered they were being paid by the government for appearences on Radio and TV Marti.

According to Miami Herald columnist Ana Menendez, "The dismissals have invigorated the opinion industry and subjected the people of this town to higher than usual doses of hypocrisy. The most amusing response comes, as usual, from Cuba, where the official press has been gloating about proof that the ''Miami Mafia'' and its journalists are bought and paid for by the U.S. government. It would be a compelling argument, except for the fact that in Cuba, government hacks are the rule, not the exception. Of the small group of Cuban journalists who don't draw a government salary, many are, sadly, polishing their prose in jail."

Journalists reporting on the story often quoted ethicists saying it was a conflict of interest. But nobody got down to the nitty gritty of the Miami Herald's policy. Jesus Diaz Jr. spoke out in a column published in the Sunday Miami Herald, saying he removed the journalist from his staff because he is "deeply committed to the separation between government and a free press." He continued:

Further, our employees violated our conflict-of-interest rules. All of our journalists acknowledge and agree to adhere to our policies, which include this statement:

We demonstrate our principles by operating with fairness, accuracy and independence, and by avoiding conflicts of interest, as well as the appearance of conflicts of interest. Our news operations will be diligent in their pursuit of the truth, without regard to special interests.

Our decisions, painful as they were, reaffirm our commitment that reporters and editors at our newspapers are free of even the hint of a conflict of interest.

It is by sustaining this transparency that we can assure that our reporters will continue to function as impartial and independent watchdogs in our community.

He also noted that in the spirit of a free press, he published two controversial columns in the paper. Ana Mendez had some scathing remarks.

It's fine to disagree with the firings. It's not fine to become a raving lunatic over them. In the week since The Miami Herald's staff writer Oscar Corral printed the story that started it all, the discussion has become less and less about ethics and more about ''hidden motives,'' personal attacks, and paranoid suggestions that Castro pulls the strings at this paper.

The blah-blah-blah crowd is so obsessed with being victims that they've turned a run-of-the-mill caudillo into an all-powerful being able to leap walls of logic in a single bound.

Fidel Castro, now playing dominos in his pajamas, will go to hell cackling.

Carl Hiaasen attacked his own paper's decision (brave little one) and defended the ousted journalists:

Since Díaz is also my boss, I should be careful how I put this, but: Lighten up, bro!

You're right: Once a reporter starts cashing a government paycheck, his or her credibility as a public watchdog is shot.

But how about a teeny exception for TV Martí? Lots of folks in the newsroom could use the extra dough, and nobody will ever see them on the air because Castro jams the signals.

Personally, I don't care what Hiaasen says, their integrity as journalists was shot the moment they accepted payments and started working for Radio and TV Marti. They deserved to be fired. Should they be shunned from the business and give up their journalism careers? Probably not. But I wouldn't hire them for my newsroom.