There's one less sob-sister at the Miami Herald today.
Jim DeFede was fired for illegally taping a telephone conversation with Art Teele, who commited suicide in the Herald's lobby last night.
Jim's yearly wailing about whatever Dade County "charity" program had its state funding removed that year due to the mean, lowdown, nastiness of Governor Jeb Bush, got me to actually read the Florida budget, where I discovered there were 66 other counties that needed or wanted things too. From there it was only a hop, skip, and a jump to the notion that just because you start a charity program, nothing says the state has to supplement your generosity.
So my thanks to Jim DeFede for making me a better-informed citizen.
And if he'd have asked me, I would have told him: it's illegal to tape a telephone conversation in Florida without the other person's consent. I didn't even have to go to journalism school to learn that.
Says Jim: "I told them I was willing to accept a suspension and apologize both to the newsroom and our readers. Unfortunately, The Herald decided on the death penalty instead."
If he thinks being fired is the death penalty, I wonder if he'd reconsider this lady's situation.
With DeFede's exit, will the Miami Herald use this opportunity to hire a columnist who doesn't have the same world view as every other columnist in its stable?
Probably not.
UPDATE:
From "An Open Letter to Miami Herald Publisher Jesus Diaz and Executive Editor Tom Fiedler" at Journalists for DeFede:
"But in any case he came forward on his own and has admitted his mistake."
Because admitting you made a mistake makes it all better.
Are these journalists infants? Admitting you made a mistake is simply something an adult does.
It doesn't absolve from wrongdoing and it doesn't stop repercussions.
DeFede can tell it to the judge. No doubt he'll be seeing one soon.
See also:
Babalu Blog is weighing in on "Journalists for DeFede."
UPDATE II:
DeFede also thinks his admitting he made a mistake should make it all better. At some point he is going to have to grow up.
UPDATE III:
From the NYT:
"'There's a dangerous, dangerous trend here of any journalist who makes any kind of mistake is automatically killed,' said Mr. DeFede."
Forget the actual dead body of Teele in the lobby. The important dead body here is the metaphorical one belonging to DeFede, as he received "the death penalty" and was "killed" by his Herald bosses. Let's keep our priorities straight.
UPDATE IV:
Journalist Juan Paxety's take on this is a must-read.
UPDATE V
Many famous journalists are adding their names as supporters of Jim DeFede at the Journalists for DeFede site.
If any of you citizen journalists wish to add a name to this published list, the addresses are wallstenp@yahoo.com or charlie_savage@yahoo.com. Bonne chance.
UPDATE VI
A big woot for my entry onto the list at 232 as "Mike Litorice."
Lordy. With him out of the way, I'll bet they could hire two...
Posted by: ArklahomBoy at July 28, 2005 10:27 PMYes, his ratio of "medical treatment" received to energy expended is severely out of whack.
Posted by: Donnah at July 29, 2005 12:29 PM You're on a roll Donnah. What an a$$h%l@!
Reminds me of that Newsweek article about GITMO toiletgate that sparked rioting that killed a dozen or so people. It made me think how I would feel if I had written that article, knowing that people died because I exaggerated (if not lied). I was amazed that the Newsweek author showed no remorse. This guy has dome the same thing on a local/small scale. He's VERY lucky he's in Dade County.
PS: In Gawja it'd prfectly legal to record a t/c as long as one of the parties - - usually the one doin' the recording- - consents. People bring me tapes all the time. The recorders always think these tapes are "slam dunk" evidence, but they usually aren't because jurors HATE sneaky sobs.
Gone shark hunting...
So the juries don't like secret recordings? That's very interesting. I'd have thought they'd find them tantalizing, like a TV drama. In a courtroom setting, I don't think it would bother me much to hear one, but I used to eavesdrop and record people for a living. I guess I was the sneaky sob there. Heh.
And Carl, why, oh why, must you dangle shark/lawyer jokes in front of my nose like that? I'm drooling here.
Posted by: Donnah at July 29, 2005 07:40 PMThis is a 100% USDA sorryass individual. Anyone stupid enough to put their own balls in a vise and turn the crank deserves to, as the NYT says, "get killed" (in a career path kinda way).
Seriously - should the public be expected to tolerate "journalists" who are terminally stupid?
Posted by: tony at July 30, 2005 02:55 AMHe ought not to have hit a record button in the first place, Tony. It's not ethical, and he sure spent plenty of time bitching about other people's lack of ethics.
Posted by: Donnah at July 30, 2005 11:03 PMObviously Teele wasn't man enough to face the consequences of what he has done over the years, and I don't care much for the Miami Herald, but why inflict them with his suicide? It's not like they made him do what he did. All they did was put it on the front page, where it belongs. Sooner or later, it was bound catch up with him.
Too many people are putting the cart before the horse, Teele didn't shoot himself because DeFede taped his conversation, the fact is that Teele didn't know about the tape when he killed himself.
I find it strange that no one noted that the same day Art killed himself, the Miami New Times published one heck of a revealing story on him, holding nothing back.
At the risk of being callous, I will say I am not sorry Teele is gone. I'm tired of reading about his corruption and perversions and at least we don't have to pay for his psychiatrist as well as his three hots and cot in prison.
Posted by: LindaSoG at August 4, 2005 08:13 AM