Reporter Fired for Secretly Taping Talk

A Miami Herald columnist has been fired for secretly taping the conversation of an anguished politician shortly before he killed himself.

Jim DeFede said he told his bosses what he had done — taping a conversation without permission is a crime in Florida — and they promised to stand by him. Soon afterward, however, he was abruptly fired.

Many of his colleagues are stunned, The New York Times said. While the newspaper’s management staunchly defending its action, DeFede’s dismissal is making waves as a stark example of the extreme measures by newspapers to appear beyond ethical reproach.

DeFede, who chronicles the surreal politics of South Florida, said his conversation with Arthur Teele Jr., a former city commissioner recently indicted on federal charges of mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering, was so disturbing that he quietly began recording it out of concern for Teele.

Shortly after their talk, Teele shot himself to death in the Herald lobby.