Miami Herald Offers Buy Outs

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Full-time copy editors, photographers and columnists at the McClatchy Co.-owned Miami Herald have been offered severance packages if they opt to accept the euphemistic voluntary separation program, according to the Romanesko.com Web site.

Herald Executive Editor Mindy Marques sent a memo to qualified Herald staffers that Romanesko obtained. Herald staffers were forced to take an unpaid one-week furlough earlier this year (see "TUOL" post 1/15/13) as the paper grapples with reduced circulation and shrinking ad revenues.

Miami Herald to Launch Caliente Tabloid This Month

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McClatchy Co.-owned The Miami Herald this month will debut Caliente, a tabloid aimed at the city's substantial Spanish-speaking community.

Initially uncovered by the Random Pixels blog and later reported by The Huffington Post, roughly 70,000 copies of Caliente will be distributed to targeted neighborhoods in Little Havana and Hialeah beginning Sept. 18. Caliente will not be staffed by reporters from either the Miami Herald or its Spanish counterpart, El Nuevo Herald, according to the HuffPo article. The tabloid will include Latin American news, celebrity gossip, sports, horoscopes, articles about telenovelas and, in what already is a lightning rod attracting criticism, a Chica Caliente feature boasting a bikini model.

Ay! Caramba. Maybe the tabloid should be called Sol because it apes Rupert Murdoch's The Sun in its penchant for scantily clad women.

Feeling the Financial Pinch: Miami Herald Staffers Face Furlough

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Full-time staffers at the Biscayne Bay, Fla.-based Miami Herald must take an unpaid one-week furlough during the first half of 2013, the McClatchy Co.-owned daily told its workforce in a staff memo, JimRomanesko.com reported today.

Like much of the newspaper industry, the Herald continues to battle sagging circulation and shrinking ad revenues. The paper has endured newsroom layoffs (see "TUOL" posts 5/4/11, 9/17/10).

The furlough affects those among the approximate 800 Miami Herald employees who work a 40-hour week, the Romanesko post noted.

Judge Tosses Failed U.S. Senate Candidate's Libel Suit

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In Jeffrey Greene v. Times Publishing Co. et al. (Case No. 10-47749-CA 32), Judge Valeria Manno-Schurr of the 11th Judicial Circuit Court of Miami-Dade County  dismissed defamation claims against The Miami Herald and The St. Petersburg Times brought by billionaire real estate mogul Jeffrey Greene, who blamed his Democratic U.S. Senate primary loss to Kendrick Meek on the dailies' coverage of him (see "TUOL" post 9/7/10).

Greene is expected to appeal the decision concerning three articles and what he alleged in his voluminous complaint were 22 purportedly libelous statements that harmed his business and campaign effort. Judge Manno-Schurr ruled a Times editorial was entirely opinion and not susceptible to a defamatory meaning. Likewise, she held that an article detailing alleged drug use and bad boy behavior on Greene's yacht by former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson and cohorts, who was best man at Greene's wedding, could not defame the plaintiff because it neither suggested he participated in nor even witnessed  the allegedly nefarious goings-on.

A third article involving a condo deal in which Greene participated with a California businessman who subsequently was indicted for mortgage fraud unrelated to his association with Greene was not defamatory either, according to the court, because the plaintiff failed to show any misstatements by the media defendants rose to the level of actual malice. (Tip of the hat to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, www.rcfp.org, for following up on this case.)

McClatchy McCutting Jobs Again

Image via WikipediaMedia monolith McClatchy Co., which boasts 30 daily newspapers among its communications companies, is cutting 50 editorial positions in the wake of its recently announced poor First Quarter performance that saw a near 10 percent decline in revenues (see "TUOL" post 4/26/11).

The Kansas City Star is dumping 24 jobs and dropping vacant positions, The Raleigh News & Observer is eliminating 20 slots through buyouts and layoffs and The Miami Herald is eliminating 35 vacant positions and slashing 15 jobs, according to Mediabistro.com's "mediajobsdaily" blog. Earlier this year, The Sacramento Bee and The Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, also McClatchy dailies, completed a round of staff cutbacks (see "TUOL" posts 2/9/11 & 2/1/11).

Sunshine State Bar Dimming Courtroom Cameras?

Image via WikipediaFlorida news media groups are lining up their opposition to a proposed Florida Bar rule that targets the use by certain journalists  of cell phones, recording devices and cameras at a judge's discretion, according to The Miami Herald and Associated Press.

The Florida Press Assn., Florida First Amendment Foundation and the Florida Assn. of Broadcasters objected to the Florida Bar, arguing the proposed rule, which imposes restrictions on non-"professional journalists," is too narrow because it does not include freelancers, citizen bloggers, online journalists or book authors.

Miami (Herald) Vise Tightens With Further Staff Layoffs

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The McClatchy Co.-owned Miami Herald has slashed its staff by 49 through combined layoffs and voluntary buyouts.


Seven full-time and two part-time newsroom slots at the Herald were eliminated, as were four full-time and two part-time editorial positions at El Nuevo Herald, according to a story in Business Week. The cost-cutting measure comes a year after staffers endured pay cuts and the Herald underwent a 15 percent reduction in its work force in response to sagging circulation and a severe drop in advertising lineage.

It's Not Easy Being Greene

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Billionaire real estate mogul Jeffrey Greene, who was bested in Florida's Democratic U.S. Senate primary race by Kendrick Meek, has filed a 55-page defamation lawsuit in Miami Dade Circuit Court against The St. Petersburg Times and The Miami Herald.


Greene alleges the defendants conspired to assassinate his character and diminish his chances of winning the primary by publishing stories that cast him in a negative light.  An article that appeared in the Herald concerning a Calif. businessperson subsequently indicted for mortgage fraud who was involved in an unrelated condo deal with Greene and a second article concerning alleged drug use and lurid partying by former boxing champ Mike Tyson aboard Greene's yacht underlie the defamation claim.

According to the plaintiff, both stories were false and he purportedly provided evidence to that effect to the Florida dailies pre-publication. Both papers did print a correction concerning the Tyson story.

To prevail on his claim, Greene must prove the defendants published the stories with actual malice, that is, knowing the stories were untrue or with reckless disregard about the truth or falsity of the articles.  Greene is seeking $250 million in compensatory damages (or about 10 times what he spent out of his own pocket to fund his campaign) and $250 million in punitive damages.


Time will tell, but political candidates successfully suing media outlets covering their campaigns for defamation is as rare an occurrence nowadays as apparently, losing gracefully.

Miami Herald: Still Accepting News Tips But No Longer Cash Tips

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The Reflections of a Newsosaur blog (http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/) reports that The Miami Herald has abandoned its novel experiment begun last December of asking online readers for donations.

A cursory article in last Saturday's Herald acknowledged the end of the "tip jar" program, but offered no statistics on how much money the  program raised or any explanation about why the experiment was discontinued.  Herald Editor Anders Gyllenhaal reportedly sent an Email to Newsosaur saying the paper believed its request for donations from readers interfered with Haiti earthquake relief efforts. Apparently, the Herald fears its readers can't keep disasters separate in their minds.

For the past couple of months, at the bottom of each Herald Web page was a request for a voluntary donation, which stated in part: "If you value The Miami Herald's local news reporting and investigations, but prefer the convenience of the Internet, please consider a voluntary payment for the Web news that matters to you."

Not that the tireless staff of  "TUOL" is  cynical or anything, but The Miami Herald probably wouldn't have jettisoned the tip jar idea if the cash spigot were flowing, instead of dripping.

(Spare) Change at The Miami Herald

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The financially strapped Miami Herald, a daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Co., is looking for handouts from its readers.

Beginning today, Web readers of the Herald will see the following link at the bottom of each article: "Support ongoing news coverage on Miamiherald.com." Credit cards are accepted, and any amount is welcome.

The Herald, which debuted in 1910, trimmed 175 jobs earlier this year and expects to lop off another 24 jobs before the end of the year in the face of declining ad revenues, which is plaguing the newspaper industry nationwide.

Online Herald stories hereafter will have a byline and a "buy line."