DEFEDE / Newspaper criticized for firing columnist

Amid polls that show public distrust of the media at an all-time high, and after several recent high-profile journalism scandals, media outlets are getting increasingly tough on enforcing their internal ethics policies.

But last week's firing of a popular Miami Herald columnist raises the question of whether news organizations may be acting too hastily to reassure the public that their newsrooms are squeaky clean.

Herald columnist Jim DeFede was fired Wednesday after he volunteered to editors that he had taped a phone conversation that day between him and former city commissioner Arthur Teele Jr. without telling Teele.

Their conversation came just minutes before Teele walked into the Herald's lobby, called DeFede a second time, then shot and killed himself.

Taping a phone call without consent, legal in many states but journalistically questionable, can be a crime in Florida. No charges have been filed against DeFede.

More than 300 journalists have signed an online petition (www .journalistsfordefede.blogspot .com) calling on the paper to rethink its decision and bring back DeFede, 43, who has worked at the Herald for three years but had covered Teele for years before.

In an interview Sunday, DeFede said he was fired after an initial 10-minute conversation he had with publisher Jesus Diaz Jr. and Herald attorney Robert Beatty shortly after DeFede learned Teele was dead. DeFede said he had no reason to believe Teele planned to take his life after their final conversation.

DeFede said that the Herald executives first indicated they didn't think the taping was a big deal. DeFede said he was never given a chance to explain fully why he taped the conversation. He said he did not talk to Herald editor Tom Fiedler, who that day was at parent company Knight Ridder's headquarters in San Jose, Calif., until after he was fired.

"The first words out of his mouth were, 'I wish you hadn't told anyone about the tape.' I said, 'You guys are my family, my world. If I can't come to you, who am I supposed to talk to?' " DeFede said.

DeFede said that he impulsively began taping Teele, whom he had written about many times, favorably and unfavorably, because "the voice I was hearing was like nothing I had ever heard before: He was completely defeated, without any sense of hope. It was almost like a 911 call. I wanted to concentrate on what he was saying."

Teele, 59, an influential black Republican, had recently been indicted on corruption charges, accused of lying to get more than $20 million in airport contracts earmarked for minority businesses. And on Wednesday, another Miami newspaper had published a scathing story about his personal life.

Teele felt that investigators were out to get him, said DeFede, who considered him a friend. "He was cracking. He kept saying, 'I'm dead in the water.' " He said he asked Teele if he wanted to go on the record for a column, but Teele said no. When their first conversation ended, DeFede said, he had no plans to do anything with the tape.

DeFede said he had tried to steer Teele away from his troubles by discussing what he was writing about and a Miami building development. As such, DeFede said, he was a bit puzzled when Teele called him at home, from the lobby, to say he was dropping off some information about the development, but said there was no need for DeFede to come into the office then. Minutes later, the Herald called to say Teele had just shot himself.

Fiedler could not be reached Sunday. But in a Herald column Sunday, the editor acknowledged that his decision to fire DeFede is "perplexing. ... I say perplexing because that has been the reaction, along with anger, from many, perhaps most, within this newsroom, and from countless readers who regard Jim as a beacon of journalistic courage."

But Fiedler wrote that he had no choice. "What Jim acknowledged doing violated one of the most fundamental tenets of journalistic ethics, which holds that in all our deal- ings we act without hidden motives or practices. ... When it comes to maintaining our integrity, we must be absolutists. There can be no parsing of ethics. We cannot be a little bit unethical."

Aly Colo´n, who teaches ethics at the Poynter Institute, a school for journalists in St. Petersburg, Fla., says that the Herald's actions fall in line with "a pattern of quick responses from news organizations" on punishing ethical lapses.

"I'm not sure that's really the best answer in every situation," Colo´n says. "I think what may be happening is that we are acting reflexively, almost in that stereotypical, cliché-ridden phrase of 'knee jerk.' There are a lot of ethics codes being written, a lot of rules being laid down, almost finger wagging, 'Don't do this.' We benefit more when we are talking more regularly, more often about why we believe what believe."

DeFede said that he told executives that he would accept a suspension and would apologize to the newsroom and readers. Instead, "they fired me, branded me a criminal and have been calling me unethical ever since."

In firing him, DeFede said, the message the Herald is sending to its reporters is: "If you think you made a mistake or even think you might be wrong, hide it, cover it up, don't tell anyone."

But he'd love to go back. "This is the best job I ever had," DeFede said. "And I'd like to keep doing it."

An eight-year itch on 'Today'?

Is the spark gone from the on-air relationship between NBC Today co-anchors Katie Couric and Matt Lauer?

"After 81/2 years, how many people have the exact same spark of energy and enthusiasm and that same novelty they felt in the second month they were married?" Lauer tells writer Ken Auletta in this week's New Yorker magazine, out today. "Our relationship has evolved. In some ways, it has matured," Lauer says, adding later, "There is no actual tension."

Says Couric: "I can tell you with complete honesty that my relationship with Matt hasn't changed at all. We like and care about each other."

Also in the article, Couric, whose $13 million-a-year contract with NBC expires in May 2006, says she'll decide this fall what her future plans are: stay with Today, host a syndicated talk show, or perhaps move to CBS, where Dan Rather's anchor seat remains open.

Couric, 48, says she has met twice with CEO Leslie Moonves. "I have, when it's operating on all four cylinders, one of the best jobs in television," she says. "At the same time, everybody needs recharging." NBC chief Jeff Zucker, once Couric's producer on Today, says he's "confident" that Couric will stay at NBC for "many, many years to come."

Lauer, whose contract expires in two years, says he doesn't envision himself anchoring an evening news broadcast. "I just don't think that's me. The variety of what I get with this show is great for me." But Lauer, 47, also hopes to semi-retire once he turns 50, as did his pal and Today predecessor Bryant Gumbel, and anchor National Geographic specials. "I don't want to work five days a week," Lauer says.

Plenty of visitors for jailed reporter

New York Times reporter Judith Miller has been jailed since July 6 when she refused to reveal her sources to a grand jury investigating the disclosure of CIA employee Valerie Plame's identity. But as she continues to serve her four-month term (when the grand jury will be dismissed), she has had a steady stream of visitors at the Alexandria (Va.) Detention Center.

Last week, a delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists, including former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw and Paul Steiger, managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, met with Miller and then called for her to be released.

"There's no good purpose in keeping this dedicated, honorable, committed professional in jail," Steiger said after the visit. "At the end of our 30-minute conversation it was emphatically clear that she is absolutely convinced that she made the right decision and is prepared to stay the course," Brokaw said.

Times managing editor Jill Abramson said she met with Miller Tuesday night.

"Her spirits seemed remarkably good, given the circumstances," Abramson said. "I think what is keeping her going is that she believes she is serving a purpose, and that is the need for a federal shield law," which would give journalists protection from having to reveal their sources.

"We talked about this a lot during my half-hour visit with her," Abramson said. "She is receiving a torrent of supporting mail, and the letters help sustain her as well. Times colleagues are begging to go, and there is a long waiting list." [USA TODAY]