Thread by @MiamiHerald

After ending our relationship with LIBRE — an insert distributed each Friday by @elnuevoherald that ran racist and anti-Semitic writing — newsroom leaders promised an investigation into how the organization overlooked it.

Here is what we know. (THREAD)
miamiherald.com/news/local/com…

@elnuevoherald Our publisher, news editors and staff at both papers and the top news executive at @mcclatchy learned of the LIBRE deal only after a reporter spotted a reader complaint on social media about anti-Semitic content in a Roberto Luque Escalona column.

miamiherald.com/news/local/com…

@elnuevoherald @mcclatchy The staffer brought it to their editor’s attention.

In the LIBRE opinion column, Luque Escalona castigated American Jews as “cowards” after U.S. Jewish organizations issued a letter of support for Black Lives Matter and the protests over Floyd’s death. miamiherald.com/news/local/com…

@elnuevoherald @mcclatchy As part of the investigation, the Herald reviewed 31 of 32 issues of LIBRE distributed in el Nuevo Herald since the relationship began in January.

LIBRE has been published since 1966 by Demetrio Perez, Jr., a controversial former politician, felon and businessman.

@elnuevoherald @mcclatchy Our content review found abundant objectionable material in every issue of LIBRE.

The vast bulk of that was written by Luque Escalona and another regular columnist, Roberto Cazorla, a Cuban exile writer based in Spain.

@elnuevoherald @mcclatchy Both appear to specialize in rankly provocative and deliberately offensive writing, occasionally punctuated by calls for violence. Between them, Luque Escalona and Cazorla contributed as many as five columns to each issue.

@elnuevoherald @mcclatchy Embracing a right-wing anti-Semitic meme, Luque Escalona has called for the death of George Soros, a Holocaust survivor who supports liberal causes.

It’s not the only time Luque Escalona called for the deaths of people whose political stances he opposes in the pages of LIBRE.

@elnuevoherald @mcclatchy The ongoing investigation has found “significant lapses” in the handling of the insert, according to a @mcclatchy statement.

There was no “formal content review” of LIBRE in the advertising department and no one in the newsroom was alerted to it. miamiherald.com/news/local/com…

@elnuevoherald @mcclatchy McClatchy said the newspaper’s advertising team entered into the LIBRE relationship and created a direct line between the advertiser and our production team for distribution.

Content never passed through advertising personnel, and was never provided to the newsroom team.

@elnuevoherald @mcclatchy In his emailed response to questions, Perez said Herald executives had the right under the agreement with LIBRE to review, reject or remove any content they wished to before publication, but did not do so.

miamiherald.com/news/local/com…

@elnuevoherald @mcclatchy Tony Berg, vice president of advertising for the McClatchy Company, said the investigation is not complete.

But he faulted the lack of “holistic product monitoring by anyone in advertising or at el Nuevo Herald that could have detected this problem.” miamiherald.com/news/local/com…

@elnuevoherald @mcclatchy The LIBRE supplement was also not labeled as an advertising product to distinguish it from @elnuevoherald news and editorial content, the McClatchy statement said.

Two earlier complaints about LIBRE were received by customer service, but those were not passed on to managers.

@elnuevoherald @mcclatchy Important questions remain.

Why was the news department not apprised of the LIBRE agreement? How were the news and advertising departments unaware of the bigoted content for so long?

The company declined to identify who in advertising was responsible for approving the contract.

@elnuevoherald @mcclatchy The statement outlines new procedures to avoid a repeat:
• mandatory review by advertising staff of all content in paid supplements
• review by news editors of any content flagged as potentially problematic
miamiherald.com/news/local/com…

@elnuevoherald @mcclatchy Complaints about ads and supplements must also be submitted to higher-ups, and all advertising material must be prominently marked as such to distinguish it clearly from news content produced by Herald reporters and editors, Berg said.
miamiherald.com/news/local/com…

@elnuevoherald @mcclatchy @mcclatchy said it will make further findings publicly available and take other measures to allay public concern over the incident, which has provoked sharp criticism and calls for the resignation of company leaders.

You can read more here: miamiherald.com/news/local/com…