By: A freelance journalist dismissed by The Miami Herald's Spanish-language sister paper said Tuesday it was widely known inside the paper that she was paid by the U.S. government for work she did for an anti-Castro broadcaster.
Olga Connor wrote freelance pieces about Cuban culture for El Nuevo Herald but also was paid almost $71,000 since 2001 for working at Radio Marti and TV Marti, according to government documents obtained by the Herald.
El Nuevo Herald severed its ties with Connor and two other journalists last week, saying they violated its ethics policy. That came after the Herald reported that they and seven other journalists from various media received more than $300,000 from the U.S. government for their work at the stations, which beam programs to the island aimed at weakening support for the communist government.
"Never in my life have I done anything that could cause me a conflict of interest, or that could be construed as unethical," Connor wrote in a letter dated Friday to editors and executives at The Miami Herald, El Nuevo Herald and the papers' owner, The McClatchy Co.
"I have never written about political issues at the Herald, nor dealt with such issues on Radio and TV Marti. On Radio Marti I have a nonpartisan, apolitical, and totally impartial cultural program," the letter said.
Her contribution to Radio and TV Marti was so well known that articles published in 2002 in both papers included mention of her involvement and no one had previously indicated it was a conflict of interest, her letter said.
Jesus Diaz, president of the Miami Herald Media Co. and publisher of both papers, terminated the relationship with Connor. He said Tuesday that he had not been aware of the 2002 article, which was published before he came to the paper, or Connor's significant work with Radio and TV Marti.
Diaz said he read Connor's letter Monday and that nothing in it changed his opinion that she should no longer work for the paper. The issue, he said, was that Connor was doing significant work both for the paper and the government.
"That's a big issue for me," Diaz said.
Connor said her contract with El Nuevo Herald allowed her to contribute to other publications and media, as long as they were not in competition with the newspaper. Connor e-mailed a copy of the letter in English and Spanish to the AP on Tuesday.
El Nuevo Herald opinion columnist Pablo Alfonso and reporter Wilfredo Cancio Isla also were fired from the paper.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here