“We stand by our editorial decision of using a pen name to protect a reporter,” Quijano said.
The March 17 Tribune ran a prominent article by Jennifer Sanchez in its Utah section under the banner headline “Spanish-language journal uses fake bylines.” It focused on a seven-paragraph news item in the March 10 Mundo Hispano reporting that Utah’s first Latina cabinet member had left her government post to return to her legal career.
The Tribune reporter said the Mundo Hispano piece “carries the reporter’s byline ‘Elena Montalbo.’ The problem? She doesn’t exist.” It argued that in a country like Colombia journalists sometimes use pseudonyms because their lives may be at risk, adding that there is no basis to do so “in a democratic society, with guaranteed freedom of the press.”
The Tribune article suggested that in the United States such a practice is “unethical” and that Mundo Hispano’s “motivation” is unprincipled. It criticized the way the paper covered the news story, but offered no proof for its insinuation.
The Tribune’s charges are “ridiculous,” Quijano told the Militant. “Elena Montalbo is a real name. Montalbo is the maiden name of our only full-time reporter,” Claudia Elena Redd Montalbo.
“What happened is that we made a last-minute switch in our lead article but accidentally did not change the byline. It was a simple mistake for which I took responsibility,” Quijano said. “The Tribune article failed to report that fact.”
The article’s author is a freelance journalist who often writes for Mundo Hispano, Quijano explained. The Tribune was critical of the fact that the writer normally uses a pen name, Margarita Hortúa.
“She’s not a full-time journalist—she is a housewife, and would like to keep her name out of the press for reasons of privacy. That’s her right. But if necessary she would come forward,” Quijano said. “Our journalists do stand by every article we write,” she added, and have sources to back up their stories.
In a March 17 letter to the editor of the Salt Lake Tribune, as yet unpublished, Quijano pointed out that the use of pseudonyms is not uncommon for journalists in many countries, including the United States. “Even the New York Times journalist handbook discusses a newspaper’s responsibilities when using a pseudonym, which we followed,” the letter noted.
“Benjamin Franklin used a pen name. Mark Twain was a pen name,” Quijano said. Abigail Van Buren “is not the real name of the ‘Dear Abby’ columnist” whose articles appear in many papers. And the Tribune for years ran the advice columns of “Ann Landers,” another well-known writer using a pen name.
“Journalists use pen names for different reasons, including for work-related or security reasons,” said Quijano, referring to individuals who fear being fired for exposing a company’s poor job conditions.
In her letter to the Tribune, Quijano said the daily criticized Mundo Hispano’s use of a pen name and “spent considerable time critiquing the manner in which we chose to cover a particular issue. I find it quite curious that the Tribune, who has never written a story about Mundo Hispano before, chooses to publish this article three weeks before it launches its own Spanish-language newspaper that will compete directly with ours.”
Quijano concluded, “We firmly believe in our fundamental right, guaranteed to us by the First Amendment, to continue to cover issues in a manner we feel best serves our community.” She told the Militant that Mundo Hispano had received numerous phone calls from readers defending it. Letters of support included one from Militant editor Argiris Malapanis (see below), which Quijano said will be published in the next issue.
“There is no basis for the claim in the Tribune article that a newspaper article does not meet the standards of accuracy if it’s published under the author’s pen name,” Malapanis said. “All supporters of freedom of the press should defend Mundo Hispano in face of this attack.”
Related articles:
‘Militant’ defends ‘Mundo Hispano’ in using pen names
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