Miami Herald

Mondo Times editors    Boulder Colorado USA

Posted at 10:43am on Monday, February 1st, 2010

Moving Beyond Obama's Dissing of the Supremes

The Miami Herald reported on February 1, 2010:

"Media-bashing is such a reliable crowd-pleaser for conservatives that you never stop to wonder whether all that anger might be a bit of a sham. After all, whenever the opportunity comes along to ensure that the companies that own the media are amply fed and watered, the media's most stalwart allies are on the right.

While liberals quiver and quail, conservatives invariably step right up: No proposed media merger is ever too colossal to block, no matter how it would hobble competition; no regulatory surrender is too cowardly if it'll bring more money to media owners, no matter how thoroughly the ``public convenience and necessity'' -- which communications policy is supposed to protect -- would be trashed.

Hence January's decision from the right-minded conservatives who control the U.S. Supreme Court. They swept aside longstanding restrictions on corporation-funded political advertising and thereby ensured the country's media hundreds of millions of dollars of additional ad revenues for many years to come.

Most of the coverage of this ruling has focused on its consequences for the so-called marketplace of ideas. Either this fanciful place is now open to voices that had been wrongly muffled (the view of the court's 5-4 majority), or it's been left defenseless to unrestrained predation by special interests (President Obama's view, reiterated during his State of the Union speech.)

But what's missing from that discussion is the impact this ruling will have on America's advertising-dependent media. There, it's Christmas in January."

The full story:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/columnists/edward-wasserman/story/1456618.html

Mondo Times editors    Boulder Colorado USA

Posted at 1:47pm on Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

South Florida's Haitian-Americans Pray, Mobilize Following Catastrophic Quake

The Miami Herald reported on January 13, 2010:

"On the morning after a devastating quake struck Haiti's capital, Haitian Americans and their fellow South Floridians prayed and mobilized relief efforts as many anxiously sought news of the fate of friends, relatives and co-workers.

School children and their teachers gathered at a special morning Mass at the Catholic Cathedral of St. Mary's in Little Haiti.

"Some of the students were very sad," said Florence Clervil, a sixth-grade teacher, who said she and the children were united by worry for family back in Haiti. "Many of them don't have any news yet."

Clervil said her father, Gabriel Clervil, a commissioner in Aux Coteaux in Les Cayes, was on his way to Port-au-Prince at the time of the earthquake. She had yet to reach him by either phone or e-mail.

"I have to hope he's OK. We're just waiting to hear," she said.

Clervil was far from alone. With phone and Internet communications either frustratingly inconsistent or cut off entirely by the catastrophe, many South Floridians with connections to the capital didn't know whether loved ones, friends or colleagues were alive, injured or worse.

"At this hour, many of our friends and colleagues in Haiti are missing and unaccounted for and feared dead," said Fernand Amandi, executive vice president of Miami polling firm Bendixen & Associates, which has done extensive work in Haiti for the United Nations mission and the Inter-American Development Bank. The UN headquarters in Port-au-Prince collapsed, trapping many workers.

"I am now hoping for the best, but fearing the worst," Amandi said in a heartfelt statement, urging people to assist Haiti. "Please say a prayer for them and their families and all the families and people of the wonderful, but now-suffering island nation, which is the Haitian Republic."

Meanwhile, government and civil agencies and volunteers began mobilizing for what seems sure to be a massive -- and difficult -- relief effort.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist rearranged his schedule to head to Miami-Dade County and figure out what the state could do to help -- including getting food and water to the disaster area.

"We have a huge warehouse of food and water, cots and blankets in Orlando," Crist said.

The full story:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking-news/story/1422990.html

Mondo Times editors    Boulder Colorado USA

Posted at 10:20am on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

Is Paying Sources Really Such a Bad Idea?

Edward Wasserman wrote an opinion piece for The Miami Herald on January 11, 2010:

"For journalists, to be sure, paying sources would be a major headache. Reporting is hard enough and expensive enough without preceding every interview with a sales negotiation.

For the public? The possible impact is less clear. It's true that as citizens, we benefit from having reporters on the job with the enterprise and the stamina to bird-dog people and cajole them into talking about things we want to know about. If reporters' work became even tougher and costlier, the flow of publicly significant information might suffer.

Maybe. Or maybe payments would induce disclosures from people who see no reason to come forward."

The full story:
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/1418593.html

Mondo Times editors    Boulder Colorado USA

Posted at 11:36am on Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

Miami Herald Asks Online Readers To Donate Money For Reading Stories, NBC-Miami reported on December 15, 2009:

"A link at the bottom of each story directs users to "Support ongoing news coverage on Miamiherald.com."

Through the link, you can pay any amount you'd like with a credit card (Visa, MasterCard and American Express accepted, sorry DiscoverCard holders).

The suggested donation is going toward a good cause.

"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," the donation page reads."

The full story:
http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-beat/Herald-Online-Users-Can-You-Spare-a-Dime-79314002.html