South Florida’s 24-Hour News Operations Tested
The news that Fidel Castro resigned the presidency of Cuba came to newspapers in a one-line Associated Press dispatch at 2:54 a.m. Tuesday, long after the Miami Herald and its Spanish-language El Nuevo Herald had closed their print editions and the trucks were delivering them in plastic bags to lawns around South Florida.
But miamiherald.com, a 24-hour news operation, says it believes it had the first staff-written story of any other news organization shortly after 4 a.m., Rick Hirsch, managing editor for multimedia, told Journal-isms.
“We were pretty well prepared for it,” Hirsch said. Although Castro does not allow the Herald’s correspondents on the island, the paper had heard from sources that there might be news from Castro in preparation for a meeting of the newly elected parliament this coming Sunday. “We expected it to happen overnight,” he said, because news is often released in the Communist Party newspaper, Granma, which uploads content at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m.
So the paper had prepared a video in English and Spanish by its columnist Andres Oppenheimer, “Fidel officially out. What’s next?” and posted that along with a timeline, a copy of Castro’s letter, a look back at Castro’s life, a profile of Fidel’s brother Raul Castro and other background, some prepared by Herald writers and some by the AP.
The Herald also produces newscasts for the National Public Radio affiliate in South Florida, and the morning anchor, Rhonda Victor, arrives at 3 a.m. “She was the canary in the mine,” Hirsch said, and “signaled the phone tree.”
By the time South Floridians were preparing to go to work, the Web sites of both the Herald and its competitor, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, had reaction stories from Miami’s Little Havana, though Hirsch says the Herald beat the competition by about two hours. Joe Schwerdt, the Sun-Sentinel’s deputy managing editor for online, did not respond to a request for comment.
The Sun-Sentinel quoted Armando Garcia, a 67-year-old retired electrician: “It’s the same dog with a different collar.” For change to happen, “my people have to change. The young people, they are the hope,” he said in the story by Ruth Morris of the Sun-Sentinel and Anita Snow of the AP.
The Sun-Sentinel Web story was headlined, “Miami awakens to end of Fidel Castro’s regime.”
The Herald Web story, “Cautious optimism in South Florida,” by Luisa Yanez, Adam H. Beasley and Martin Merzer said, “Several prominent members of the exile community urged Cuban Americans to dismiss the announcement as largely meaningless.
“‘This is nothing but a show the Havana government has put on to move the media and confuse the people of Cuba,” said Miguel Saavedra, head of the anti-Castro group Vigilia Mambisa.’ The only change would be an overthrow of the system, a complete uprooting of the regime.”
Hirsch said, “There will be a lot of talk about this. But most of the folks in Miami will say it doesn’t change anything and he will be speaking from the shadows. It’s more symbolic change than one of governance.”
Then he went back to preparing another Oppenheimer video on the development.
On cable, CNN International broke the news that Castro was leaving office at 2:41:18 a.m. with a report from Morgan Neill, the network’s Havana bureau chief and correspondent, the network said. CNN/U.S. began simulcasting CNN International at 2:41:33.
“Morgan Neill and Shasta Darlington, Havana producer will continue reporting from Havana on the resignation,” CNN told Journal-isms via e-mail. “CNN has the following reporters in regions to provide reaction on the news of Castro’s resignation: Susan Candiotti reporting from Little Havana in Miami, FL; Karl Penhaul reporting from Bogota; Harris Whitbeck reporting from Mexico City with reaction from across Latin America; Matthew Chance reporting from Moscow for reaction from Russia; Jill Dougherty reporting from Washington, D.C., about U.S. past attempts to oust Castro; and Ed Henry traveling with President George W. Bush in Rwanda to provide his reaction.
“CNN is the only United States based broadcast network with a bureau in Havana, Cuba.”
Committee to Protect Journalists: CPJ welcomes the impending release of two Cuban journalists
Michel Martin and Tom Gjelten, “Tell Me More,” National Public Radio: Fidel Castro to Relinquish Power
Edward Schumacher-Matos, Miami Herald: Does Herald have qualms with calling Castro dictator?
The Nation special issue: Cuba: What’s Next? (May 14, 2007)
Miami Herald: The Cuba Puzzle
