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.
@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.
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.
@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.
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.
SPECIAL REPORT: Gov. DeSantis has declared Florida the place where “woke goes to die,” ordering state universities to list their diversity initiatives.
But just what kind of ‘indoctrination’ is he saving us from? Field trips to encourage girls’ interest in science, for one. 🧵
Or Charlie Mitchell’s theater appreciation class.
He couldn’t believe it when a reporter from UF’s student newspaper called and told him that his class was on DeSantis’ blacklist of diversity initiatives at universities. miamiherald.com/news/local/edu…
He was just a guy who had spent 12 years teaching in the theater department, he said, and suddenly it felt like he had a “target” on his back.
Twelve handsome new townhouses line a Coconut Grove block. Lushly landscaped, outfitted with high-end appliances and spacious closets, they’re in move-in condition.
But instead of “For Sale” signs, house hunters see “No Trespassing” notices posted along the street. 🧵
The townhouses, originally priced from $1.2 to $1.8M, are under contract to buyers who put down as much as $500K as far back as 2018. They were told by the developer the homes would be ready in six months — at the latest.
Their plans have been perpetually postponed by the self-proclaimed “King of Coconut Grove” Doug Cox, owner of Drive Development, who has failed to deliver.
His projected closing dates teased buyers as the houses beckoned.
But their dreams of a dream home have gone bust.
The man known as the most corrupt agent in U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration history — José Irizarry — says he’s not going to take the fall alone. 🧵
He's accusing some long-trusted DEA colleagues of joining him in skimming millions of dollars from drug money laundering stings to fund a decade’s worth of luxury overseas travel, fine dining, top seats at sporting events and frat house-style debauchery. miamiherald.com/news/local/cri…
“We had free access to do whatever we wanted,” the 48-year-old Irizarry told the @AP in a series of interviews before beginning a 12-year federal prison sentence. “We would generate money pick-ups in places we wanted to go. And once we got there it was about drinking and girls.”
2/ On Sunday, Oct. 23, Republican Party canvasser Christopher Monzon, 27, was brutally beaten by two men on the street where he was knocking on doors and passing out fliers in East Hialeah.
To recap what’s happened since, here’s a timeline of events:
3/ The initial police report — released after Rubio’s tweet on Monday, Oct. 24 — did not mention anything about the attack being politically motivated.
That changed when a subsequent report, based on a subsequent interview with the victim, comported with what Rubio had tweeted.
📰 IN TODAY'S MIAMI HERALD: It doesn’t matter whether you’re new here or have lived in Miami your entire life. There is never a shortage of mysteries and oddities here.
That’s where Curious305 comes in. 🧵
From navigating life with iguanas and all sorts of invasive species to really crucial information like who wrote the Santa’s Enchanted Forest jingle, Curious 305 has found the answers.
And you’ve sent us a lot of questions. miamiherald.com/news/curious30…
Like why is it so crazy hard to get an appointment at the DMV? Will life be this way forever? miamiherald.com/news/curious30…
Many of those arrested in DeSantis’ push against voter fraud said they thought they could vote because the state had issued them voter ID cards. That’s key: To break the law their actions had to be “willful.”
So Florida quietly made a tweak that may boost prosecutions later 🧵
A week after those arrests, the DeSantis administration made a change: Floridians on probation are now required to sign an updated form placing the burden on them to determine whether they’re eligible to vote. miamiherald.com/news/politics-…
Beneath warnings about remaining drug-free and reporting to their probation officer is the new message: