The San Francisco Chronicle‘s Jon Carroll says maybe The Miami Herald‘s top brass should have relaxed a minute, had a cup of tea, and listened to some Vivaldi before giving Jim DeFede the boot.
You want my own opinion? Tape-recording people without their knowledge is not a fabulously heinous crime. (Printing quotes obtained that way: whole different thing.) It’s unethical, but these were extraordinary circumstances, and DeFede was under a great deal of strain — he said he thought he might be listening to Teele’s “suicide note.”
Read his column here.