The prodigal has returned but not in triumph. Oscar Corral's byline is again featured in The Miami Herald. The Cuban-American community having closed its doors to him, and the crime beat also being off limits to him, the disgraced reporter has become The Herald's resource of last resort and least importance, doing the kind of "man-on-the-street" interviews and obituaries on which most beginners cut their teeth. He reemerged last week with a brief article on the reaction of Miami's Pakistani community to President Pervez Musharaff's declaration of a state of emergency. He wrote an almost identical "follow-up" this week. Both articles consist chiefly of quotes from various local Pakistani personalities, and both introduce in the first paragraph Farzana Farooq, sister of a former justice on Pakistan's Supreme Court (one of 17). Since Corral's expertise on Pakistani affairs appears to be nil, he cannot do otherwise than relate what others say without attempting to place their comments in a broader context; and having managed to offend no one in the first article, he essentially followed the same formula in the second, producing a nearly identical article. Had he been as circumspect in his coverage of Miami's Cuban-American community — about which he knows just about as much as he does about Miami's Pakistanis — Corral might not have sidetracked his career, at least, though his meretricious proclivities would certainly have derailed it, as eventually they did.
His other story this week was an obituary of George Stead, 52, the Edison High School footbal player who was paralyzed at age 15 when he dove for a tackle in a football game against Norland at the Orange Bowl in 1971. We can't help but wonder whether this obituary was assigned intentionally to Corral to cure him of depression and self-pity, which required a 5-month sabbatical to treat, longer than it did for Stead to return to school after his catastrophic injury. Stead's courage in the face of adversity and refusal to consider himself a victim hold valuable lessons for Corral, though moral greatness usually requires some sense of morality.
Can anything be more humiliating for a seasoned reporter, at one time The Herald's point man on Cuba and improvised "expert" on journalistic ethics, than to return to work in the capacity of an obituary writer and man-on-the-street reporter? Lois Lane, even Jimmy Olsen, got more important stories. What's next for Corral? Quinceañera parties? No, he would be persona non grata there. Too scandalous a figure and not to be trusted around teenagers. Speaking of which, Corral's troubles from soliciting the sexual services of one, continue for the indefinite future, as he has decided not to plead out and will pursue this matter through continuances, motions and appeals for as long as it takes for him to be vindicated or for the principals in the case (the prostitute and pimp) to disappear, which is much the same thing. Then it will be just his word against the arresting policewoman, and if his attorney selects carefully the members of the jury, the erstwhile golden boy turned enfant terrible might walk and be "promoted" to the Broward bureau just in time to do one of those "man-on-the-street" interviews there about Fidel Castro's death.
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Included here are all the posts, from the newest to the oldest, which we have devoted to Oscar Corral on the RCAB, the most comprehensive archive on the net of the disgraced ace reporter's antics:
Alfonso Chardy is the New Oscar Corral
First Anniversary of Oscar Corral's "Miamí Moonlighters" Story
From the Tellechea Digital Archives: Carl Hiaasen and Jesús Díaz Battle Over Martí Moonlighters Story and Díaz Blinks
From the Tellechea Digital Archives: Oscar Corral's "Martí Moonlighters" Story Revisited
All You Ever Wanted to Know About Oscar Corral But Didn't Know Where To Ask
The Sun-Post's Rebecca Wakefield Polishes Oscar Corral's Apple Again
Deserving of the Pulitzer for Best Cartoonist
The Miami Media's Reaction to the Oscar Corral Affaire
Ah, Poor Henry Misses Me at Herald WatchRCAB News: Cornering the Market on Oscar Corral
El Nuevo Herald Buckles to The Miami Herald While Granma Comes to Oscar Corral's Defense
Discussion of Oscar Corral Affaire Banned at Babalú Blog
Corgiguy Protests RCAB's Treatment of Oscar Corral
Oscar Corral: Rescuer of Lost Souls
Schadenfreude: Oscar Corral Gloats About Arthur Teele Jr.'s Downfall
Yamilet López: The Girl Whom Oscar Corral Propositioned
Oscar Corral's Alleged Homosexuality: Slander or Libel?
Oscar Corral Deletes Comments Critical of Him at "Miami's Cuban Connection"
Re Oscar Corral: Is Prostitution a "Victimless Crime?"
Oscar Corral and the Divine Finger"
"In Miami's Fair City/Where the Girls Are So Pretty..."
New Times Names Oscar Corral "Best Commie Spy" in "Best of 2007" Issue
The Wrong Reporter For the Posada Story
Oscar Corral: The Man Without Principles
His other story this week was an obituary of George Stead, 52, the Edison High School footbal player who was paralyzed at age 15 when he dove for a tackle in a football game against Norland at the Orange Bowl in 1971. We can't help but wonder whether this obituary was assigned intentionally to Corral to cure him of depression and self-pity, which required a 5-month sabbatical to treat, longer than it did for Stead to return to school after his catastrophic injury. Stead's courage in the face of adversity and refusal to consider himself a victim hold valuable lessons for Corral, though moral greatness usually requires some sense of morality.
Can anything be more humiliating for a seasoned reporter, at one time The Herald's point man on Cuba and improvised "expert" on journalistic ethics, than to return to work in the capacity of an obituary writer and man-on-the-street reporter? Lois Lane, even Jimmy Olsen, got more important stories. What's next for Corral? Quinceañera parties? No, he would be persona non grata there. Too scandalous a figure and not to be trusted around teenagers. Speaking of which, Corral's troubles from soliciting the sexual services of one, continue for the indefinite future, as he has decided not to plead out and will pursue this matter through continuances, motions and appeals for as long as it takes for him to be vindicated or for the principals in the case (the prostitute and pimp) to disappear, which is much the same thing. Then it will be just his word against the arresting policewoman, and if his attorney selects carefully the members of the jury, the erstwhile golden boy turned enfant terrible might walk and be "promoted" to the Broward bureau just in time to do one of those "man-on-the-street" interviews there about Fidel Castro's death.
Included here are all the posts, from the newest to the oldest, which we have devoted to Oscar Corral on the RCAB, the most comprehensive archive on the net of the disgraced ace reporter's antics:
Alfonso Chardy is the New Oscar Corral
First Anniversary of Oscar Corral's "Miamí Moonlighters" Story
From the Tellechea Digital Archives: Carl Hiaasen and Jesús Díaz Battle Over Martí Moonlighters Story and Díaz Blinks
From the Tellechea Digital Archives: Oscar Corral's "Martí Moonlighters" Story Revisited
All You Ever Wanted to Know About Oscar Corral But Didn't Know Where To Ask
The Sun-Post's Rebecca Wakefield Polishes Oscar Corral's Apple Again
Deserving of the Pulitzer for Best Cartoonist
The Miami Media's Reaction to the Oscar Corral Affaire
Ah, Poor Henry Misses Me at Herald WatchRCAB News: Cornering the Market on Oscar Corral
El Nuevo Herald Buckles to The Miami Herald While Granma Comes to Oscar Corral's Defense
Discussion of Oscar Corral Affaire Banned at Babalú Blog
Corgiguy Protests RCAB's Treatment of Oscar Corral
Oscar Corral: Rescuer of Lost Souls
Schadenfreude: Oscar Corral Gloats About Arthur Teele Jr.'s Downfall
Yamilet López: The Girl Whom Oscar Corral Propositioned
Oscar Corral's Alleged Homosexuality: Slander or Libel?
Oscar Corral Deletes Comments Critical of Him at "Miami's Cuban Connection"
Re Oscar Corral: Is Prostitution a "Victimless Crime?"
Oscar Corral and the Divine Finger"
"In Miami's Fair City/Where the Girls Are So Pretty..."
New Times Names Oscar Corral "Best Commie Spy" in "Best of 2007" Issue
The Wrong Reporter For the Posada Story
Oscar Corral: The Man Without Principles
what a joy to see you directing your attacks to someone who deserves it
ReplyDeleteI hope you spend a little more time on him
great job professor
Veo que vas mejorando
y recuerda BUCL is not dead , it is just hibernating
fantomas:
ReplyDeleteI have in fact devoted more posts to excoriating Oscar Corral than to educating Val & Henry. I believe that Corral is beyond reform. I hope that Val & Henry may yet be saved from themselves. The time and effort which I have expended on them proves the sincerity of my motives. No one would be able to find in my writings about them the least indication of personal animus.
Mr. Tellechea,
ReplyDeletefrom where I see it, Mr. Corral is very lucky to still have a job. He caused a great deal of pain and havoc to many. He took advantage of a fine education to bring down any conservative Cuban-American. Like Ana Menendez and many new "citizens of the world", these fools should ask the Venezuelans living in Miami (who used to spew their "tolerance and good will" to the left and criticize the right wing Cubans as paranoid) and see where they stand now.
Unfortunately many don't learn until they themselves hit the wall.
Our man on the street..lol..is what he deserves, what I cannot believe is the Herald would again hire him, no ethics I tell you.
ReplyDelete