Lightman Keeps His Job: Is the Herald au Courant?

Submitted by Emily Flitter on September 18, 2006 - 2:40pm.

Today, two stories appeared, one after the other, in the Poynter Institute's newsroom digest Romanesko. The first was an account of the continuing internal conflict at the Miami Herald after the firing of two journalists over their appearances on Radio and TV Marti. The issue, which has been nailed not only by the Herald and other voices in print media but by other j-students writing here, is decidedly that the journalists should not have taken money from the government via Radio/TV Marti to disseminate propaganda.

Next on the Romanesko page was a story in the Hartford Courant about how the Courant's Washington bureau chief no longer appearing as a panelist on Voice of America, a job for which he received $100 per appearance. That is the worst that will happen to David Lightman. He will not lose his job or much of his credibility as a reporter, despite the fact that he, like the Nuevo Herald reporters, got paid by the government to talk on the radio. The Courant article specifically notes that "in recent years, the Bush administration has become particularly aggressive in promoting its policies through the news media."

Hmm, you mean there's a propaganda machine here, too?

So why does a Connecticut paper's bureau chief get a slap on the wrist while the Miami journalists get fired? Shouldn't it be worse, not better, that the Courant chief is higher up on the management ladder?

Is it that we inside the U.S. can't come to terms with the fact that our government produces propaganda meant for us too? Is VoA not propaganda the way its Cuban counterpart is?

Enough with the rhetorical questions. It's not as if the hypocrites making decisions like these will notice, anyway.

Sure, its all propaganda. Radio Free Europe, Voice of America, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting - all responsible for the production of explicit propaganda. The only difference is the context. Radio Free Europe was profoundly appreciated by millions of people trapped behind the Iron Curtain. But R.F.E. was essentially a propaganda machine. Good or bad is a contextual judgement.

Lightman. Never did a name better fit a man. This unctuous little hypocrite, who found himself in the same or worse "ethical" dilemma than the three fired Cuban-American journalists, did not come to their defense, but, rather, fabricated nebulous distinctions between their conduct and his, which, ultimately, amounted to "I am a member of the media elite and they are not." Guess what? He was right. He is above fray. Not only did his newspaper not fire or discipline him, but in the article announcing his withdrawal from the Voice of America praised him effusively and attested to his absolute fairness and comportment beyond reproach. I guess they must have listened to the hundreds of programs in which he appeared to verify that fact, or, else, they just assumed that he would not "sell out" for $100. That would be an insult, indeed. East Coast reporters (let alone Washington bureau chiefs) sell at a much higher price.

But Lightman has been appearing weekly on the VOA "for years" and little benjamins do add up pretty fast. If they had calculated the total, I should not be surprised if it surpassed the amount received by some or all the Cuban-American journalists. But the Courant was interested in protecting their employee not hanging him out to dry.

Another interesting aspect of the Hartford Courant article is the introduction of a term with which I was not familiar (and certainly the Herald's editors weren't, either): "Kelly McBride, the ethics group leader for the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank, called Lightman's situation an 'approved conflict' because his bosses knew of the payments." (Lightman had supposedly informed them three years ago).

Of course, The Miami Herald editors knew about the 3 Cuban-Americans connections to Radio and TV Marti at least four years ago. We have to take the Courant's word for their having known about Lightman's involvement with VOA three years ago. In the case of The Miami Herald, however, it is a matter of public record. That is, it was published in the Herald four years ago.

I do not know if The Hartford Courant is fairer than The Miami Herald or simply learned by the Herald's mistakes. In any case, they went out of their way to shield Lightman whereas The Miami Herald acted with upmost malice towards its own reporters

Lest I be accused of being "intemperate" for calling Lightman an "unctuous hypocrite," let me copy his exact words in referring to the plight of the Cuban-American journalists as contained in the New York Sun article that exposed his own work for VOA.

Marti Ethics Flap Raises Questions About VOA

BY JOSH GERSTEIN - Staff Reporter of the Sun

September 12, 2006

URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/39509

A flap over government payments to Cuban-American journalists in Miami is prompting similar ethical questions about payments Washington reporters receive for appearances on the Voice of America.

Two of the Florida-based journalists were fired last week from jobs at the Spanish-language version of the Miami Herald after it was disclosed that they received as much as $175,000 over a five-year period to work for two anti-Castro outlets funded by the federal government, Radio and TV Marti.

Sums paid to those on VOA are smaller. Journalists who take part in a weekly roundtable discussion, "Issues in the News,"are paid between $100 and $150 a program.

"It's the same kind of conflict, obviously," an instructor on journalism ethics, Al Tompkins, said yesterday. "What you're working for is a part of the government. â€¦ There's a conflict when you receive government dollars, however that money is filtered."

Mr. Tompkins, who works for a journalism research and training center, the Poynter Institute, said he doesn't think journalists will change their views over a few hundred dollars. Still, he said, even the appearance of conflict should be avoided.

"It's not the amount," Mr. Tompkins said. "We shouldn't want to have the perception of a conflict at a time when people believe there are conflicts all around."

A columnist for the Scripps Howard newspaper chain and a longtime moderator of VOA's "Issues" program, Martin Schram, said he has struggled with the issue of working for the government. "I, and I think every other journalist who has done that show for 40 years or 30 years, I know has pondered the same thing," he said.

Regular guests on the program have included journalism legends such as Hugh Sidey of Time magazine and Peter Lisagor of the Chicago Daily News.

Mr. Schram said he gives regularly to charity and teaches for free on college campuses but that it would be unrealistic to expect experienced reporters to appear on the show week after week for free. The nominal payments have been unchanged for decades, he said.

"If they wanted us to simply volunteer our time, they wouldn't have a show," he said.

VOA's charter calls for editorial independence, but the organization is overseen by the International Broadcasting Board, the same body that manages Radio and TV Marti.

However, Mr. Schram said he sees VOA as more akin to the BBC than the Cuba-focused outlets. "Their ultimate goal is to get rid of Castro, and they're very ideological and they'd acknowledge that. I would never go to work for them," he said.

Another regular panelist on the VOA show, David Lightman of the Hartford Courant, also rejected any comparison with the Cuba-oriented services. "This is nothing like Radio Marti. Nobody at VOA has ever told us what to say or suggested what we should say," he said. "My view is, I'm a professional. I should be paid for my time. â€¦ I don't just wing it."

Mr. Tompkins dismissed the comparison of VOA to the BBC, which has a history of brash independence. "I don't think anybody would accuse the BBC of going easy on the British government," he said.

Another journalism ethics scholar, Edward Wasserman of Washington & Lee University, said he was not particularly troubled by the VOA payments. More serious, he said, was the alleged failure of most if not all of the Cuban-American journalists to tell their private-sector bosses about the government moonlighting.

Mr. Wasserman, who writes a biweekly column for the Herald, said the flap will help Havana's propaganda. "Independent journalists writing critically about Fidel are always being branded as propagandists in the pay of the U.S. government," Mr. Wasserman said. "You have a real problem."

OPEN LETTER TO THE MANAGEMENT OF THE McCLATCHY COMPANY AND THE MIAMI HERALD

http://www.apoyoaperiodistasdelnuevoherald.blogspot.com/

On Thursday, September 7th, the president of The Miami Herald/El Nuevo Herald, Jesus Diaz, arbitrarily fired El Nuevo Herald reporters Pablo Alfonso, Wilfredo Cancio and freelance contributor Olga Connor for an alleged ethics violation. The three offered their professional services to Radio and TV Marti, media financed with federal funds.

We recognize the companyâ€™s legal right to act in the way it sees fit. But we hereby make clear our strong disagreement with the irresponsible handling of the article, which damaged without reason the reputation of honest and dedicated colleagues.

Our objections are:

1.- The tone of the article smacks of yellow journalism. The incomplete manner in which the information is presented creates the false impression that the professional work of these colleagues was a clandestine political operation. The comparison with the Armstrong Williams case implies that they were selling the content of their commentaries. There is nothing farther from the truth.

2.- Their collaboration with Radio and TV Marti was a continuation of their professional duties and wasnâ€™t subordinate to government agendas. In the same fashion that The Miami Herald insists that its association with the radio station WLRN, owned by the Miami-Dade public school system, does not compromise its journalist coverage of said entity.

3.- Absent from the story published in The Miami Herald is the fact that the collaboration of these journalists in media financed â€“ totally or partially â€“ by federal funds is common and there are plenty of examples available. The practice isnâ€™t necessarily a violation of ethics of a breach of professional independence.

4.- Journalists from such well known publications as Time or The Hartford Courant receive or have received economic compensation for decades foe their participation on shows by Voice of America, which operates under the same legal and financial framework as Radio and TV Marti.

5.- Contrary to what the article in question states, none of the professionals mentioned had kept secret his or her participation on Radio and TV Marti, which had been consulted with their supervisors. Like many other colleagues, they appeared on both of those media entities with their name and identified as journalists from El Nuevo Herald.

6.- We find unfair the treatment that this company has given three veteran professionals. Cancio and Connor have doctorate degrees, Alfonso is the author of several books on Cuba. Despite a stellar career, none was given the opportunity to defend himself. Asking them to admit to serious accusations at 4 pm, hours before the article was posted online and just after being fired isnâ€™t ethical, itâ€™s not journalistically fair. Especial within the framework of an investigation that began two years ago.

7.- We are truly worried about the harm that this crisis is causing to our fired colleaguesâ€™ reputations, that of El Nuevo Herald and that of those journalists that still work there.

We respectfully ask that you reconsider your decision and that you repair before your readers - with the same emphasis that was given to the published article â€“ the damaged caused to these professionals.

1) Jeannete Rivera-Lyles Reporter Orlando Sentinel (El Nuevo Herald Alumn) Orlando, Florida

2) Zoe Valdes Escritora Caballero de la Orden de las Artes y las Letras de la LegiÃ³n de Honor Paris, Francia

3) Raul Rivero Poeta y Escritor Doctor honoris causa/Universidad de Miami Madrid, Espana

4) Carlos Victoria Editor de Mesa El Nuevo Herald

5) Jose Cabaleiro City Editor El Nuevo Herald

6) Pedro Portal Fotoreportero El Nuevo Herald

7) Emilio Suri Quesada Escritor y periodista Miami

8) Prof. Lester Tome Independent Journalist The University of the Arts Philadelphia

9) Janet Comellas Freelance Journalist Miami

10) Jeovanny Salamanca Editor de Deportes El Nuevo Herald

11) Emilio J. Sanchez Freelance Journalist Miami

12) Luis Piedra Publisher/Editor Southern Festivals Newspaper Trebird Publishing Miami Beach

13) Manolo Hernandez Editor de Deportes El Nuevo Herald

14) FÃ©lix LizÃ¡rraga Editor El Nuevo Herald

15) Jorge A. Sanguinetty, Ph.D. President & CEO DevTech Systemas Inc. Miami

16) Miguel Rivero Periodista cubano Lisboa, Portugal

17) Ileana Medina HernÃ¡ndez Periodista y profesora Tenerife, EspaÃ±a

18) Juan Abreu Escritor

19) Juan Carlos SÃ¡nchez Reyes Periodista y Consultor Islas Canarias, EspaÃ±a

20) Dulce MarÃa RodrÃguez Profesora de TelevisiÃ³n/Universidad Modelo MÃ©rida, MÃ©xico

21) Carmelo Mesa-Lago Catedratico de Servicio Distinguido Emerito en Economia Universidad de Pittsburgh

22) Marcos Nelson Suarez Director General El Hispano News Dallas, Texas

23) Annette SÃ¡nchez (El Nuevo Herald Alumn) Periodista Agencia EFE Miami

24) Rolando NÃ¡poles Periodista y productor de televisiÃ³n cubano Miami

25) Isis Wirth critica de danza Munich, Alemania

26) Silvia Dorfsman Blue Door Fine Arts, Inc. Miami

27) Maria C. Werlau Researcher / Writer Chatham, New Jersey

28) Bertha Mola-Soto Escritora

29) Jesus Vega Escritor, traductor y critico Miami

30) Roberto J. Alvarez Editor de Mesa El Nuevo Herald

31) Salvador Gonzalez Paginador El Nuevo Herald

33) Manuel A Alvarez Casado Ingeniero de Comunicaciones Miami

34) Aracelis Perez Copy Editor El Nuevo Herald

35) Yanitzia Canetti Escritora y editora Boston, Massachusetts

36) Ketty Rodriguez Reportera El Nuevo Herald

37) Viviana Munoz Reportera El Nuevo Herald

38) Pablo Diaz Espi Editor Diario Encuentro en la Red Madrid, Espana

39) Federico Rodriguez Traductor Miami

40) Raul Rodriguez Editor de Deportes El Nuevo Herald

41) German Guerra Poeta, editor y disenador grafico El Nuevo Herald

42) Karelia Vazquez Periodista Madrid, Espana

43) Adela Junco Correctora de Estilo El Nuevo Herald

44) Omero Ciai Corresponsal para America Latina La Repubblica Roma, Italia

45) Rafael Rojas Historiador y ensayista cubano Investigador del Centro de InvestigaciÃ³n y Docencia EconÃ³micas (CIDE). Premio Anagrana de Ensayo 2006. Ciudad Mexico, Mexico

46) Osmin Martinez Assistant Copy Desk Chief El Nuevo Herald

47) Larry Daley Professor Biochemistry and Biophysics of Plant Germplasm Corvallis, Oregon

48) Jaums Sutton Interviewer & assistant producer AB Independent Productions Silver Spring, Maryland

49) Agustin Blazquez Writer & producer/director of the documentay series "Covering Cuba" AB Independent Productions Silver Spring, Maryland

50) Orlando RodrÃguez (Rossardi) Poeta y dramaturgo ex Director y Director Adjunto de Radio MartÃ Miami

51) Alberto Muller Escritor Miami

52) Luis de la Paz escritor y periodista Miami, Florida

53) Milan Balinda (The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald Alumn) Managing Editor TABLOID, Belgrade

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Lightman Keeps His Job: Is the Herald au Courant?

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