By: E&P Staff The director of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, who oversees TV and Radio Mart? reportedly wants a public ethics debate about whether journalists at news companies who also do freelance work for the government have a conflict of interest.
Articles in the Miami Herald over the past two weeks uncovered that over the past five years at least 10 journalists had accepted payments from the organization for programming or other content. The Miami Herald Media Co., on discovering conflicts with two staffers at El Nuevo Herald and one regular freelancer, cut ties with the three soon after the payments came to light.
An article in Friday's Herald says that the agency's chief, Pedro Roig is dismayed by the firings, and claims that his organization has nothing to hide because its goal is only to promote open conversation on the island about Cuba's future.
"We are totally independent of the tenant of the White House,'' Roig is quoted as saying. "When contributors come, we've never told them what they have to do or say."
The article also says that many Cuban exiles do not see any conflict of interest, and do not believe the reporters should have been fired.
On Thursday, the South Florida Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists released a statement supporting the firings. The group said that journalists' acceptance of any payments from the government runs counter to the standards of independent journalism and undermines public confidence in the media.
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