And the newsroom staff, in addition to covering breaking news, is always on the lookout for story lines that showcase the ethnic melting pot and rich, cultural bouillabaisse that goes into making Miami such a wonderful and tolerant place to live.
They never pass up an opportunity to show, that despite our different religions, nationalities and skin colors, South Floridians all have one thing in common: Our unwavering love for one another.
So...how's that working out?
Yesterday, after American swimmer Michael Phelps was defeated by teammate Ryan Lochte in the 400-meter individual medley, headlines like this started popping up on the Internet: "Ryan Lochte wins 400 IM in blowout." Here's another: "Ryan Lochte wins gold in 400 IM, Michael Phelps fails to medal in first race at London Games."
But, here's how the Herald headlined the story on its website...highlighting the nationality of Lochte's mother and ignoring the real story of his athletic accomplishment:
(Lochte was born in Rochester, New York, to Steven Lochte and his Cuban-born wife. He grew up in Daytona Beach.)
Okay, so Lochte has never actually lived in Miami. But, he's still a Cuban-American.
And that's something all Miami Herald readers can be proud of and celebrate...right?
Guess again, Pedro!
The Herald headline writer poured the gasoline on the wood pile. The readers lit the match.
Check out some of the comments on the story left by the Herald's incredibly ignorant and grammatically-challenged readers:
I don't know about you....but reading those comments leaves me feeling all warm and fuzzy.It takes a Cuban to get it started...Congrats, Cubanito!! Go, USA!!! Where the envious indigenous bloggers?? Eat your heart out!
He's not cuban twit read his bios and see how cuban he is. He does not even have a cuban name. Typical cubans want to steal the limelight like everything else they steal.
his mother is makes him a cuban american. accept the truth. you dont like cubans? why? they've only made florida rich. dumb.. american b....t.. tell your fellow americans to stop using them food stamps and Section 8 housing and to get to work
The woman who bored him and carried him for 9 months was a Cuban woman....and fed him and the milk that nourished came out his Cuban mother's breasts,, and the food he ate and the first world he said was "Mami".!! If you think he's not Cuban, you're a delusional or an idiot...or.you've never been around Cubans...
you must be a non miamian. cubans built this city in part that was a small piece of dump jim crow south racist dump before the cubans arrived here.
He looks Caucasian to me and not Cuban.
You are stupid woman!! How can anyone be so ignorant...You either never got out of Georgia and have seen a Cuban...or have never seen the Real Housewives of Miami!!! ....
Cubans can be blond, brunette, blue eyes, green eyes, white skin as pale as any Aryan Swedish Anglo Saxon..or they can be black, of african decent just like African Americans. Aryan is not the only white Race, the Hemites and Semites are also Caucasian....Jews and Arabs, Spanish, Italians and Mediterrinean are also Caucasian...and Cubans don't have indigenous race like mexican, nicaraguans, guatemalans or most of Latinamericans...the native indians of Cubans were wipe out completely by the spaniard and europeans by the 15th Century...and Cuba have had only five generations......they can white (CAUCASIAN),black, asian or mixed (mulatos), 89% Cuban exiles are white!!! Get a course in etnicity and stop making stupid comments that have nothing whatsoever with facts and reality.
And don't forget, sometime between now and the end of the year, the Herald is going to ask you to pony up some of your hard-earned money for the privilege of reading garbage like that. Everyday.
Headline in tomorrow's Miami Herald:
ReplyDeleteNuclear blast singes Little Havana.
Subhed: Broward County obliterated.
So the boards are crap, everyone knows that; but who cares if the Herald exposes his nationality to a large segment of their reader base?
ReplyDeleteGood pick up. I have also been watching how the reader comment section in the Herald is a gran slam fest. Interesting how newspapers like the Palm Beach Post and the St. Pete Times and even the Naples Daily News find a way to cover more, and more in-depth, than the Herald. I believe the Herald's severely weakened state is due to overloading with debt but also pension obligations, providing multi-million dollar benefits to past executives. If you could get your hands on those details, now that would be a scoop.
ReplyDeleteGood for the Herald! His mother is Cuban and from what I've read, reared him to be proud of his Cuban heritage. Throughout our country people celebrate their Italian, Irish, Jewish and African roots. Let the Cubans celebrate theirs!
ReplyDeleteThey write to their audience. That's what I was always taught to do.
ReplyDeleteWho cares what his swimming accomplishments were. People already saw on tv and on-line that he won. That's not gonna sell any papers or get any views. (unless it was a 90 mile swim) Gotta give people a reason to read this particular story.
And the Hurled commentors are also their audience. But it's not just the Herald. Go on to something like CNN.com and the people who comment on their stories are just as nasty and divisive and uneducated.
Interesting though that in the Olympic arena, he's simply American. Swims on the US team. Doesn't swim for the Cuban-American team. That's what the Olympics do: divide us by where are allegiances are.
You make some excellent points.
DeleteBut after I tweeted that screen shot, that headline simply vanished from the Herald's website.
Probably a combination of my tweet and about 150 negative comments on the story. None of those comments, by the way, had anything to do with Lochte's victory.