A battle over whether a column should be published contributed to the decision to resign by Miami Herald Publisher Jesús Díaz Jr.

BY DOUGLAS HANKS

Publisher Jesús Díaz Jr. announced his resignation Tuesday. But he actually quit two weeks ago -- about the time of a blow-up over a column by Miami Herald columnist Carl Hiaasen.

Díaz believed Hiaasen's sarcastic essay on the three El Nuevo Herald writers paid by Radio and TV Martí shouldn't run. Hiaasen threatened to quit. Díaz wasn't yielding.

A furious Hiaasen phoned friends close to The Miami Herald's new owner, the McClatchy Co. Within hours, Howard Weaver, McClatchy's top news executive, called The Miami Herald to voice his support for strong columnists in the company's papers.

By the close of business, Díaz reversed course and ordered the column published. Sixteen days later, he resigned as publisher of The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald, saying the Martí controversy had ``created an environment that no longer allows me to lead our newspapers.''

The incident sheds light on some of the pressures Díaz faced and on McClatchy's role in responding to the scandal. Díaz would not comment on the Hiaasen episode, and did not mention it in talking about his departure after the reinstatement of the fired El Nuevo Herald writers.

When asked to clarify further why he left, he said, ''Maybe you should ask the folks within The Herald and McClatchy.'' He added, ``We made certain changes, we made certain allowances, and I don't think I can be effective in that environment.''

Frank Whittaker, McClatchy vice president of operations, said Díaz was asked to hold off announcing his departure until a replacement was found. General Manager David Landsberg was named Díaz's successor on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Díaz and senior managers at The Miami Herald Media Co. continued investigating the reporters who had worked for Radio and TV Martí.

On Tuesday, two of the three fired El Nuevo Herald reporters, Pablo Alfonso and Wilfredo Cancio Isla, accepted offers to return to work, with back pay. The third, freelance reporter Olga Connor, is in Spain.

Alfonso and Cancio Isla, who agreed to no longer accept money from the U.S. government-run broadcasters, were enthusiastic about their reinstatements, Herald general counsel Robert Beatty said.

Cancio referred calls to his lawyer but told The Associated Press, ``This opens a chapter for an honest discussion over the values of Hispanic journalism.''

Díaz also revealed Tuesday that six other employees of El Nuevo Herald had received payments. The company granted all amnesty.

Top Miami Herald and McClatchy executives announced a new policy that no journalists in the future will accept pay for appearances on government-sponsored media. They also sought to counter the perception that they caved to pressure from some in the Cuban exile community and from the cancellation of more than 1,900 subscriptions.

Nonetheless, the rehirings were heralded as ''a victory for the community'' by Spanish-language TV reporter Juan Manuel Cao. Spanish-language radio personalities Ninoska Perez-Castellón and Armando Perez-Roura also told listeners the decision to offer amnesty to the reporters was a ''victory for the exile community'' over the ''monster on the bay.'' Perez-Castellón and Cao were among 10 reporters cited in the original Miami Herald article as accepting payments.

In staff meetings Tuesday, Miami Herald reporters asked whether the paper was caving to critics. Editor Tom Fiedler dismissed that notion, saying the ''22 people who listen to Cuban radio'' were being stirred up by ''little chihuahuas nipping at our heels.'' He later apologized for his choice of words.

Díaz acknowledged in a Sept. 17 note to readers he had wanted to kill columns by Hiaasen and Ana Menendez because he believed they might inflame sentiments in the Cuban community. But he wrote he changed his mind after others said doing so would suffocate ``the very freedom of the press I was trying to protect.''

''I said this is a sad day for this newspaper,'' Hiaasen said of his conversation that Friday morning with editorial pages editor Joe Oglesby. ``He said . . . 1,100 people . . . canceled their subscriptions. I said that's not my problem.''

Hiaasen said he called friends who were close to McClatchy executives to tell them he wasn't leaving over anything their company had done. Oglesby said that same afternoon that McClatchy news executive Weaver called to say the company ``believed in strong columnists, they believe in strong voices.''

''In our company,'' Weaver said Tuesday, ``editors decide when things should run.''

Oglesby said he thought the Hiaasen incident ''definitely'' influenced Díaz's decision to quit.

''Jesús is a man of strong beliefs and strong ethical principles,'' Oglesby said.

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Miami Herald staff writers Evan Benn, Ina Paiva Cordle, Matthew Haggman, Christina Hoag and Luisa Yanez contributed to this report.