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Shakeup at Miami Herald

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El Nuevo Herald M.E., an NAHJ Leader, Out
Craig Newmark Gives $2.5 Million to Howard J-School

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Mindy Marqués, executive editor of the Miami Herald, has written, “Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald employees will continue to work remotely through the end of the year. After the New Year, once the commercial real estate industry has sorted itself out with regard to new standards and approaches, we will find a new, centralized home.”

El Nuevo Herald M.E., an NAHJ Leader, Out

​Nancy San Martin (pictured), managing editor of the Miami Herald’s El Nuevo Herald and a candidate for president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, resigned from the newspaper Thursday and Mindy Marqués, executive editor of the Herald, lost her additional position as president.

The actions were part of the fallout from distribution of what the company has called “deeply offensive and racist content” in Libre, an independently produced weekly newspaper focused on Cuban exiles that for about eight months had been inserted each Friday into el Nuevo Herald.

The McClatchy Co., which owns the Herald, Saturday cited “significant lapses” in procedures and oversight. Tony Berg, vice president of advertising for McClatchy, 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,” Andres Viglucci reported Sunday for the Herald.

In addition to actions concerning San Martin and Marqués, Thursday’s internal memo, from Kristin Roberts, McClatchy vice president of news, said, “This morning, personnel action[s] were taken in the Advertising team consistent with our company-wide expectations of leadership.”

Demetrio Perez Jr. is publisher of the weekly Libre. (Credit: Miami Herald)

The column appearing in the Libre supplement, by Roberto Luque Escalona, asked, “What kind of people are these Jews? They’re always talking about the Holocaust, but have they already forgotten Kristallnacht, when Nazi thugs rampaged through Jewish shops all over Germany? So do the BLM [Black Lives Matter] and Antifa, only the Nazis didn’t steal; they only destroyed.”

Herald customer service received two earlier complaints about Libre, but those were not passed on to managers, according to Berg’s Saturday statement. A reader alerted the newspaper to the fateful column on Sept. 11.

​The McClatchy Co. was sold last month to Chatham Asset Management, a New Jersey hedge fund, but has not changed basic policies. The internal memo, posted by the Twitter site Because Miami, said the company ​would begin a “strategic review” of El Nuevo Herald.​

“Next week, Mindy and I will launch a strategic task force to ‘begin’ the work of researching the growth of our community of Spanish language-preferred readers, viewers and listeners, and discussing potential opportunities to serve them better,” said the memo from Roberts.

“To be sure, El Nuevo Herald’s next managing editor will play a leading role in the development of this news strategy, so next week is simply the start of a conversation that will develop over the coming few weeks.”

Roberts’ memo also said, “Starting today, Mindy Marques — as Executive Editor in Miami as well as Florida Regional Editor — will dedicate the full measure of her considerable talent to leading our Florida newsrooms. We all — in Miami and in our company overall — are made better by Mindy’s leadership, her editing and high standards, which have and will continue to make this organization one of the greatest metro newsrooms in America.”

“Florida newsrooms” references the McClatchy-owned Bradenton Herald.

“We are in the final stages of adding an accomplished leader to address the business challenges in Miami. This position, president of the Miami Herald/el Nuevo Herald, will be hired from outside of McClatchy. This person will accelerate our progress in addressing revenue, financial and operational challenges.”

Of San Martin, the memo said she “has resigned after years of powerful, award-winning work for this newsroom and the community it serves. There will be a moment soon for the team to wish her well and to thank her for her dedication and commitment. Starting now, Jay Ducassi will serve as interim editor, with assistance with Maru Antunano. And in a few hours, the managing editor job will be posted, as we launch a far-reaching search for a news editor to lead this talented team of journalists and the reinvigoration of an iconic brand in Spanish-language media.”

Ducassi is metro editor of the Herald; Antuñano is senior editor for features, production and special publications of El Nuevo Herald.

San Martin has held several positions at the Herald and El Nuevo Herald, from filling in as necessary to cover Latin America and the Caribbean for the Herald from 2001 to 2007 to managing editor of El Nuevo Herald. As NAHJ vice president/print, she was part of a board that decided to postpone elections because of the COVID-19 crisis, then reversed itself after criticism from members. An online election starts Monday.

San Martin’s opponent, Nora Lopez, metro editor of the San Antonio Express-News, was among those protesting the postponement.

[NAHJ Elections Chair Geraldine Cols-Azocar confirmed Friday that San Martin is still a candidate.]

​San Martin has said she is “running for NAHJ president because I want to help open even more spaces for young journalists, mid-career and veterans who are ready to take on leadership roles.”

The Herald quoted San Martin as saying Thursday, “I’ve given 30 years of my life to this profession, 20 of those to this newsroom. I’m super proud of the work we’ve done, the changes we’ve made, the diversity we’ve brought and the exceptional storytelling we deliver in two languages every single day in multiple formats and on various platforms. It’s been a fantastic ride and I look forward to the next chapter of my life.”

​She did not respond to a question from Journal-isms, but wrote to supporters of her NAHJ candidacy Wednesday:

Apology issued to readers online.

“Both el Nuevo Herald and the Miami Herald issued public apologies to our readers online, in print and via emails to subscribers. We pulled the plug on the agreement with LIBRE, provided readers with a behind-the-scenes account of what happened and are adopting measures to ensure something like this does not happen again.

“I also want to answer the obvious question: How did I not know?  

“There is no elegant explanation, just the simple truth: I oversee the newsroom and content produced by staff. This agreement was handled by the business side of our company and never came through the newsroom. LIBRE went from the client to the advertising rep and then to the presses for publishing and insert.

“Of course, I wish I had known about LIBRE, been informed of the agreement when it was signed, seen it earlier. It should not have been an insert in el Nuevo Herald. But here we are.

“There is a lot more I could say about how all this has unfolded over the past two weeks, but I won’t subject you to that. Just know that I remain fully committed to NAHJ and will continue to serve this invaluable organization for as long as you will have me. . . .”

The controversy over Libre followed one last month that led to discussions between Marqués (pictured) with Black and Hispanic journalists associations and the Society of Professional Journalists over written comments about race by Cuban-American sportswriter Armando Salguero.

The National Association of Black Journalists called Salguero’s statements “disturbing and unacceptable.” Marqués first defended Salguero, then said, ““His comments were uninformed, insensitive and deeply troubling. For that, we apologize.”

Russell Motley, president of NABJ-South Florida and editor of Legacy Magazine, an independent Black-focused supplement that pays the Herald and the South Florida SunSentinel to insert its product into their newspapers, told Journal-isms by telephone on Thursday that he hopes the Herald’s changes will lead to more “voices heard but no one is offended.” He said the Herald had pledged to fill a vacancy for Municipal Government Team Editor with a Black journalist, as the paucity of Black editors at the Herald has been an NABJ concern.

Craig Newmark Gives $2.5 Million to Howard J-School

In a 2017 Howard University video, students Kenzie Marshall and Miesha Miller, Sheryl Johnson-Ross, assistant chair ; Bernadett Williams, senior academic adviser and Jennifer Thomas, assistant professor of Media, Journalism, and Film,answer questions about the communications school. (Credit: YouTube)

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Craigslist Founder Praises ‘Telling Truth’

Craig Newmark Philanthropies is donating $2.5 million to support aspiring journalism students at Howard University, Newmark (pictured below) and the university announced Thursday.

“The Newmark gift will support several areas of need: The Craig Newmark Journalism Endowed Opportunity Scholarship Program ($1.5 million) will support journalism majors with demonstrated financial need (with priority given to juniors and seniors); The Craig Newmark Journalism Endowed Student Experience Fund will enable the kinds of professional development opportunities that are vital to students to get jobs after college, and to advance in their careers,” the announcement said.

Newmark said in the statement, “All Americans deserve fair treatment, and to that end we need journalism that tells the truth, the diverse truth, in a way that benefits everyone. The Howard University journalism program will play a large role in telling that truth.”

Newmark is “the Craigslist entrepreneur who arguably forced the newspaper industry to change its business model after his website put a dent in the lucrative classified ads business,” as Jaclyn Peiser reported in 2018, when Newmark gave $20 million to the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.

That school changed its name to the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York and this summer announced a Black Media Initiative, which aims to elevate and serve Black publications.

At Howard, Gracie Lawson-Borders (pictured), dean of the Cathy Hughes School of Communications, said in the announcement, “We are at a pivotal moment in society in which good journalism serves as a cornerstone that supports democracy reporting history as it unfolds and giving voice to Blacks and other marginalized communities.

“Fifty years after the 1968 Kerner Commission report, our relevancy is heightened by the tenor of our times. It is essential that our school continues to prepare student journalists to provide context and give voice to all communities across this country. In the School of C, our awarding-winning faculty work to train and prepare successful journalists for the application of their craft.  Thank you, Mr. Newmark.”

The news release continued, “The Cathy Hughes School of Communications is the third largest of Howard University’s 13 academic schools and colleges. It was named a ‘Top 20 Best Journalism College for the Money’ by College Factual.

“For nearly 50 years, CHSOC has trained communication and media professionals, special pathologists and members of the professoriate through undergraduate and graduate programs such as advertising, public relations, legal communication, audio production, journalism, film, broadcasting programs. . . .”


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Richard Prince’s Journal-isms originates from Washington. It began in print before most of us knew what the internet was, and it would like to be referred to as a “column.” Any views expressed in the column are those of the person or organization quoted and not those of any other entity. Send tips, comments and concerns to Richard Prince at journal-isms-owner@yahoogroups.com

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