Edward Schumacher-Matos, a former editor and reporter with The New York Times and Wall Street Journal with extensive experience in Florida and Latin America, writes pieces every other Sunday taking up issues in the news, answering questions from readers and critiquing how The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald handle topics of significance.
Got a question or issue for the ombudsman? Fill out the form below or send an email.
Many readers complain about grammar mistakes in The Miami Herald, so I decided to submit the newspaper for grading to the ultimate judge: a veteran teacher.
The most important thing a newspaper can provide about a catastrophe is accurate, dispassionate information. But a newspaper is also a part of its community, and in moments of human crisis has a responsibility to directly help in any way it can, too.
Following are edited excerpts from some of the letters I received in response to my Oct. 18 column on how The Herald should respond to accusations that a contributing columnist, Marifeli Pérez-Stable, is a Cuban spy. Nothing in what I received changes my conclusion that there is insufficient evidence for The Herald to pull her column or investigate further. Pérez-Stable wrote her own defense in a separate column. Readers can read it all and decide for themselves. Antonio de la Cova, one of her principle accusers, declined to allow his letter to me to be printed. He wanted a column of his own. Almost all his points are covered in the letters below. All editing was for space and clarity.
What does a newspaper do if one of its regular op-ed contributors has been accused of being of a Cuban spy?
The Miami Herald and its readers have been locked in a big wet kiss in recent weeks over the reporting of pay raises given by Miami Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez.
Albert Gonzalez, the celebrated cybercriminal, is Cuban American. But is his ethnicity relevant to report in articles, or does doing so unfairly stigmatize the Cuban-American community?
Kenn Finkel is a retired Miami Herald journalist, and so his concern as a reader carried informed weight when he wrote me to raise alarms about the position of the new opinion editor, Myriam Marquez.
Is the Herald dumbing down? Below are a sampling of the many thoughtful notes I received in response to my column about the Page 1 story mix, plus some answers.
Readers often complain to me that The Herald in its coverage is interested in selling newspapers. I often scratch my head. So? Within ethical limits, a motivation to sell newspapers is good. It's a free-market incentive that makes reporters, editors and everyone in the paper work hard, work well and respond to what we as readers want. The ethical limits include prohibitions on slanting stories with opinion or misinformation.
Readers often complain to me that The Herald in its coverage is interested in selling newspapers. I often scratch my head. So? Within ethical limits, a motivation to sell newspapers is good. It's a free-market incentive that makes reporters, editors and everyone in the paper work hard, work well and respond to what we as readers want. The ethical limits include prohibitions on slanting stories with opinion or misinformation.
The day after President Barack Obama announced the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, The Miami Herald ran a front page profile of her by Michael Doyle from McClatchy Newspapers' Washington bureau.
When is a matter a ''scandal?'' What if it involves two adults doing nothing unlawful or offensive? Jim and Mary kissed on a beach, for example. Or Jim and Jim.
It is the most significant current dilemma over which editors fret and readers complain: Is The Miami Herald's coverage of the current economic crisis undermining consumer confidence, and thereby making the recession worse? Or is the reporting so positive that it misleads readers as they make decisions on what to do with their savings, their jobs and their lives?
The lawyers representing the Miccosukee Tribe used strong language in criticizing The Miami's Herald's coverage of a car crash involving tribal members in which a Kendall woman died.
The Miami Herald finally has added not one, but two, conservative columnists, and in the second month of the change I judge it a resounding success.
Two stories on MiamiHerald.com last week on the revival of the murder case of Chandra Levy were on the same subject, but in referring to the prime suspect they couldn't be more different.
What should The Miami Herald do when it discovers that it was wrong in a front-page story accusing the mayor of Broward County of impropriety?
You might not normally link Sean Taylor and Benjamin Franklin, but the two are linked in ignominy with part of The Miami Herald's website. Of the three, only the murdered football player comes off well.
Most of us wish the Iraq War would just go away. In one way, you might think it slowly has: the pages of The Miami Herald.
The Miami Herald has made a financial contribution to the campaign of Hillary Clinton. As readers or supporters of other candidates, have you and I just been defrauded?
RSS|
My Yahoo|
Newsletters|
Widgets|
Mobile|
Alerts|
Twitter
Terms of Service| Privacy Policy| About our ads| Copyright| About The Miami Herald| About the McClatchy Company| Corrections| Contact Us| Advertise
Partners: El Nuevo Herald| Newspaper in Education| WLRN | Miami Herald News| CBS4 WFOR-TV| More
Copyright 2010 Miami Herald Media Co. All rights reserved
