Word: tapes
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...honestly scared me a little,? he says. ?I had never heard Art almost in tears as the way he was on the phone. I just wasn't thinking about whether it was right or wrong, legal or not. I was hearing someone coming unhinged. There was a tape recorder by my phone. I just turned it on. I wasn't doing that because I thought that was going to be a story...
...says he recorded the conversation much the way one would an emergency police call. That decision however would lead his employers at the Herald to fire him in the latest controversy to roil American journalism this year. In Florida, it is illegal to tape conversations unless both parties agree. But, says DeFede, ?My decision to tape him was instantaneous - to keep a record of a call almost like you do with 911. I didn't even think about telling him. It was just a matter of wanting to listen to what he had to say and not interrupt...
...conversation started in a very emotional way, with him almost crying, we had moved to where Art was on an even keel. I took that as a good sign. As the conversation came to an end, he said, ?Jim, I thank you for your kindness.' He said on the tape, ?You are one of the only reporters I trust. You are one of the few people I trust...
...DeFede told Diaz he was ?shaky because Art was a friend.? At that point, he says, he decided to tell Diaz that he taped his second-to-last conversation with Teele without apprising him of the recording. ?And I'm looking down at the tape,? he says, ?this was his suicide note. This was his way of letting me know that it was too much. I honestly believe that Art trusted me to call me one last time. You're the one reporter in Miami I trust to tell my story. I think that is exactly what he wanted...
...still, the recording DeFede made of their conversation posed a problem, he says. ?There are rules. I didn't realize it when I did it. Now I'm thinking, what do I do with this tape.. I told the publisher and attorney I've got this tape. I know I'm not supposed to tape, but I have it.? That's when Herald attorney Robert Beatty, who was on speaker phone with Diaz, questioned DeFede more closely about the tape. DeFede says the attorney asked him why he recorded the conversation, whether he had ?malicious intent...