A Fair Question: Why Now?

The guys over at Babalu and other exile blogs have been crying about Oscar Corral's coverage of the Marti Ten since the story broke. The only really good point I've seen made was first raised in The Real Cuba blog, which dug up the fact that the Herald had an article in 2002 mentioning that El Nuevo Herald freelancer and Marti Ten member Olga Connor worked for Radio Marti.

Why didn't the newspaper do anything

back then? In fact, a common gripe about Corral's story is that the Herald had to know about most of this dating back years. And I think it's a valid argument. Why did it become newsworthy only now?

Well, I don't know the answer to that question. Maybe Corral is the difference. There are also rumors that the Chicago Tribune was asking for the same information in a FOIA request and was going to break the story, forcing the Herald's hand. But the Herald, generally speaking, seems pretty brave to publish the stuff, since it's alienating a sizable portion of their readership. Then again, it would be incredibly derelict if it didn't, so Fiedler, Diaz, etc. really didn't have a choice.

Damn this is good stuff. Check out the follow on Marti Ten member Omar Claro -- I think this raises a lot of interesting issue about the ethics of sports reporters versus govt reporters. And if you don't do Spanish and want more on the fallout, as reported by El Nuevo Herald, then dig into The Real Cuba blog. It's got interesting quotes from Fiedler and Diaz.