When we were in college, shared some of the same classes and worked on the student newspaper, I recall Jim DeFede always wearing bibbed overalls with a white dress shirt. It seems like he completed a term or two in the student government. All that is useless information, of course, but serves as my disclosure notice when I begin to defend the guy.

DeFede, the former Miami Herald columnist who was fired in July after he recorded a telephone conversation with former Miami commissioner and councilman Arthur E. Teele Jr., seems to have a bunch of friends in the journalism community.

Journalist for Jim DeFede, a Web site calling for the columnist’s reinstatement, was signed by 528 journalists (including 200 current and former staffers from The Herald) and the ethics case continues to be batted back and forth in the trade press.

Recorded conversation

The saga began when DeFede received a call from Teele at his home in July.

According to Rem Rieder of the American Journalism Review, “Teele initiated the call and made it clear that the conversation was off the record. DeFede never asked for permission to record it. But he thought Teele seemed to be in a very troubled state of mind, so he recorded it anyway, even though he may have been violating a Florida law.”  

Teele, unfortunately, was in fact extremely troubled and committed suicide in The Herald’s lobby later that day, prompting DeFede to admit to Herald Publisher Jesus Diaz that he recorded his conversation with Teele.

Soon after that conversation, DeFede was a former Miami Herald columnist.

Writes Rieder, “Think about it: DeFede, who had known Teele for a long time, was alarmed by what he was hearing from the embattled politician.

No ‘malicious’ intent

“He wanted to get it down exactly right. So he impulsively turned on the tape,” Rieder wrote.

“Was it the right thing to do? No. Should DeFede be punished? Of course. But it is awfully understandable. And it’s hard to see any malicious intent.”

DeFede has apologized publicly for his actions in an ill-fated attempt to get his job back.

In a Sept. 21 post on the Poynter Institute’s online forum, DeFede is contrite.

“First, I want to apologize,” he writes.

“In the middle of a highly emotional phone conversation with Art Teele, I pressed the record button on my tape recorder. It wasn’t calculated and wasn’t something I had done before. And while the State Attorney’s office understood my motivation to be good - and said so after a thoughtful inquiry - I am nevertheless sorry for the turmoil my actions have caused the paper.”

It was wrong but the punishment has to fit the crime, I think. I forgive Jim DeFede for pressing that button and making the wrong choices. I think he meant no harm and I believe it was not a firing offense.

I even forgive him for wearing bibbed overalls with a white dress shirt and participating in student government.

Rob Carrigan specializes in prepress systems for weekly newspapers. He is the publisher of the Ute Pass Courier in Woodland Park, the Gold Rush in Cripple Creek and the Extra in Teller County, all ASP Westward LP weeklies in Colorado. He can be reached by e-mail at rcarrigan@ccnewspapers.com.