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Miami Reporter Fired After Art Teele's Suicide

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Thu Jul 28, 2005 at 02:59:02 PM EST
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Miami Herald reporter Jim DeFede has been fired for taping his last phone call with indicted Miami politician Art Teele. After the call, Teele went to the Herald's offices and killed himself. Sad story. The Southern District of Florida blog has a good wrap-up and these thoughts, by David Oscar Markus.

On a personal note, I'm just sickened by this. It's an eye-opening reminder that targeting someone (either by the press or by the state or by the feds) has real consequences. I am not suggesting that anyone is to blame for Teele's actions. That said, I have wondered why the feds needed to prosecute Teele after he had been convicted in state court and after he had lost his job and his life. In the end, was it necessary? Even assuming that he committed a crime, there are times when our prosecutors should use discretion. It's easy, of course, to say now that this was one of those cases, but I still wonder why this man (after what he had already gone through) needed to be prosecuted.

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    • Miami Reporter Fired After Art Teele's Suicide | 4 comments (4 topical)
    Re: Miami Reporter Fired After Art Teele's Suicide (none / 0) (#1)
    by nolo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:43 PM EST
    After reading the coverage, I can't believe the reporter had the bad taste to refer to his firing as the "death penalty." Yikes.

    Re: Miami Reporter Fired After Art Teele's Suicide (none / 0) (#2)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:44 PM EST
    Teele got caught several times during a lifetime of corruption. The Miami Herald didn't 'out' him for hiring TV prostitutes, an alternative paper was about to. Ooohh, bad reporters for telling the truth about corrupt politicians. I feel sorry for his family, not a bit for him.

    Re: Miami Reporter Fired After Art Teele's Suicide (none / 0) (#3)
    by jimcee on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:44 PM EST
    Nolo, I was struck by the same thing. Talk about hyperbole? If this guy can write well, then his career will be just fine. The idea that he would compare his bad descision that cost him his job to someone blowing their brains out in the lobby of the writer's former employer? Well that comparison is rather self-centered on the part of the writer. It was in really bad taste and I was blown away his analogy. ( umm..sorry about that.)

    Re: Miami Reporter Fired After Art Teele's Suicide (none / 0) (#4)
    by Aaron on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:44 PM EST
    Admittedly I don't read the Miami Herald which for the most part is a right wing rag that pretends to be a top-notch news organization, though I have known a number of excellent and highly credible journalist who've worked for them, and I don't know the specifics surrounding Teele's misconduct. But as a longtime resident of South Florida, I can tell you that the kind of corruption and cronyism that goes on in Miami politics is reminiscent of the way Florida was run back in the 1950s. Corruption in Dade County government and law enforcement is pretty much a way of life, though I will admit it is much less so now then it was 25 years ago. The feds are always going after local government officials in Miami because historically local law enforcement has always shied away from doing their job in this regard. So I wouldn't condemn the feds for trying to nail him because without their intervention these political opportunists would run roughshod over the people of Dade county. Through the years they've assigned more federal task forces to investigate corruption in Dade County than probably any other single county in the the country. Arthur Teele apparently got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, and suddenly found himself out in the cold. For decades the people of Miami, and Miami Beach have suffered at the hands of political fat cats who always wind up growing wealthy while the regular citizens and especially poor people of this county gets screwed. I won't be crying for Teele, and look forward to the day when every local politician who gets nailed like this takes the same route. Then maybe we'll get people in public service who don't view elected offices as a licensed to steal from the public. And as far as the firing of Jim DeFede by the Miami Herald for taping his conversation with Teele, it's no surprise because the people that run the Miami Herald have always been in bed with local government. They didn't just fire him for breaking the law, it was punitive measure on the part of the Herald's management who surely found themselves under immediate pressure to do so, and of course they're worried about a lawsuit. Knowing the Herald, I wouldn't expect them to stand behind their people, unless of course it's expedient from a public relations point of view to do so. Regardless of the fact that it's illegal to clandestinely tape conversations in this state, journalists in South Florida routinely tape everything when it comes to local politicians, that's just SOP when dealing with government officials here, it's a matter of covering your ass. It may not be admissible in court as evidence, but you can always use the leverage of going public when you start to get squeezed from all sides, which often happens to journalists down here.

    Miami Reporter Fired After Art Teele's Suicide | 4 comments (4 topical)