Newspaper company McClatchy Co has announced that Jesus Diaz Jr has resigned as president of The Miami Herald Media Co to seek opportunities outside the newspaper industry. MHMCEs general manager, David Landsberg, has been named to the post, McClatchy said in a statement. Landsberg, a longtime Herald employee, will move into the job immediately.
Diaz has been president and publisher of MHMC, which includes The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald newspapers, for about 14 months. In June, MHMCEs parent, Knight-Ridder Inc, was sold to Sacramento-based McClatchy.
öThe sale of Knight Ridder gave me an opportunity to reflect on my own career, including pursuing a lifelong dream of becoming a CEO,ö Diaz said in the McClatchy statement.
Controversy surrounding the revelation that some El Nuevo Herald employees had been paid by US government-funded Radio and TV Martφ crystallized his decision to leave, Diaz said in the statement.
The Miami Herald reported on September 8 that at least 10 Florida journalists received regular payments from the US government-operated stations that broadcast to Cuba. The Herald said two of the journalists receiving payments worked for its Spanish-language sister publication, El Nuevo Herald, and a third was a freelance contributor for that newspaper, which fired all three after learning of the payments.
Total payments since 2001 ranged from $1,550 to $174,753 per journalist, according to the newspaper, which said it found no instance in which those involved had disclosed that they were being paid by the US Office of Cuba Broadcasting.
(Source: Reuters/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)