From today's Miami Herald
"Deadline not paper's only pressure"
also titled "Seized Paper Carries on Despite Scandal", Cover page, Business section of Miami Herald's Latin version
Listin Diario tries to deal with week 2 of seizure
BY JANE BUSSEY
jbussey@herald.com
SANTO DOMINGO - Police officers and newspaper managers were shoving and shouting the day Dominican authorities seized the country's oldest newspaper. But as the daily's future hung in the balance, it was its reporters and editors who kept the incident from ballooning into an international outrage.
The government alleged that the owner of Listin Diario carried out a multimillion-dollar loan fraud and that the newspaper chain was the property of the collapsed Banco Intercontinental, now in government hands.
The newspaper's owner and its top editors, meanwhile, denounced what they called an assault on the freedom of the press.
After more than a dozen police officers and two magistrates arrived to carry out the seizure in a confrontation with management on May 15, shaken editors and reporters retreated to the newsroom -- and voted to stay and work.
''We decided the newspaper deserved to survive,'' said Alicia Estev?z, the highest-ranking editor to remain after two editors above had her resigned. ''We wanted to put out the newspaper,'' she said almost a week later.
All agreed the decision had to be unanimous: Either they would all stay, or they would all walk. It would be a decision heavily influenced by economic need, for most of them could not afford to be without jobs in the Dominican Republic's worsening economy.
CLANDESTINE MEETING
The decision to stay saved the day for President Hip?lito Mej?a, who had met in secret with one of the top editors prior to the seizure to negotiate the ouster of Listin Diario's publisher and editor.
With Listin Diario appearing daily on newsstands and front doorsteps, the takeover caused barely a ripple during Mej?a's trip to meet with President Bush and other U.S. officials Tuesday and Wednesday.
Questioned in Washington, Mej?a insisted that he would respect the freedom of the press. His words were echoed by Emilio Herasme Pe?a, a respected journalist handpicked to take the helm of the newspaper after most recently having been a spokesman for the Customs Agency.
''I can guarantee you that there is more freedom of the press here today than before,'' Herasme said, pointing to a front-page story on the political opposition's charge that the president ordered the seizure as part of an agenda, specifically his controversial decision to run in the presidential election to be held in 10 months.
Estev?z said that no one had been fired and that there had been no censorship so far. On Wednesday, she wrote in a column that she and most of her co-workers had stayed to fulfill their duty to inform.
But the column also raised the possibility that the experiment to run the newspaper without government interference might fail.
And, outside the paper, the seizure has shaken many sectors of Dominican society.
''This deeply affected an institution that is fundamentally a public service,'' said Miguel Franjul, a former executive editor of the paper who resigned rather than be fired. ``What objective could this have if it isn't to promote the interests of the president?''
113 YEARS OLD
The paper, which celebrates its 114th anniversary in August, was created as a a sheet listing steamship's sailing times, hence its name, which translates to The Daily Lists.
Despite having been closed for more than 20 years under the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo, as the island nation's largest and oldest newspaper, it had a reputation and respect akin to that of The New York Times. (The Herald's international edition is printed on Listin Diario presses.)
But its current problems can be traced to the $2.2 billion-plus collapse of Banco Intercontinental, known here as Baninter. Listin Diario was purchased in 2000 by Bearpark International, which is owned by Ram?n B?ez Figueroa, the high-flying owner of Baninter.
The day before the takeover, B?ez and two other bank executives were jailed on charges that included fraud.
The next day, the government, arguing that the bank had destroyed the records of a $65 million loan to B?ez and Bearpark to purchase the Listin Group, ordered the paper's takeover, along with that of nearly 70 radio stations and three television stations.
Lawyers for B?ez are seeking an injunction against the seizure. A federal court is to hold its first hearing today.
B?ez's lawyers and others -- including the leading opposition to Mej?a -- call the seizure political. Central Bank lawyers concede that authorities have not taken over any other company from among the more than 180 held by B?ez and related shareholders.
And even Herasme admits the paper was a thorn in the government's side: ``The paper began to be used as an instrument of defense. Who is going to leave the [Catholic] Church in the hands of Luther?''
NO BIG SURPRISE
Dominicans argue that, in a country where the personal exercise of presidential power is frequent, no one should be surprised when institutions don't stand up to the pressure.
''In some ways, this shows that the institutions in this country are really at risk,'' said Julio Minaya, a professor of philosophy at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo.
``Listin Diario is more than a newspaper; it is an institution.''
Courtesy of TW
