Orlando Sentinel changes top newsroom editor and opinions editor

Avido Khahaifa

FAMU J-School alumnus appointed to lead newsroom

The Orlando Sentinel, which has an editorial board that recently demanded an overhaul of FAMU’s senior administration, has undergone a sweeping set of leadership changes of its own.

On August 7, Orlando Sentinel Publisher Howard Greenberg announced that the newspaper had parted ways with its top newsroom editor, Mark Russell. Russell, a University of Missouri graduate, managed the paper’s day-to-day affairs for three years.

Greenberg transferred Russell’s former duties to Avido Khahaifa, senior vice president and director of content. Khahaifa is an alumnus of the FAMU School of Journalism and Graphic Communication (formerly Journalism, Media, & Graphic Arts). The former FAMUan editor received the Thelma Thurston Gorham Distinguished Alumni Award in 2006.

The Orlando Sentinel also made a major shake-up to its editorial board. Mike Lafferty, an alumnus of the University of Central Florida, is out as the opinions editor. The newspaper reassigned him to another editing job.

Mike Lafferty

Lafferty and his colleagues on the editorial board colleagues were initially voices for fairness in the aftermath of the death of FAMU drum major Robert Champion in 2011. The editorial board scolded Gov. Rick Scott for trying to pressure FAMU trustees to oust President James H. Ammons.

                          

“We can't help but point out that while hazing wasn't at issue in the death of Ereck Plancher, no state leaders called on University of Central Florida President John Hitt to step aside in 2008 amid serious allegations of negligence by the football staff. Neither should they have,” the editorial board wrote on December 20, 2011.

But the Orlando Sentinel editorial board later did a 180 and began advocating that Ammons be held to a different standard than the UCF president despite the fact that the negligence of Hitt’s administration resulted in a $10 million wrongful death ruling against the school.  

The Rattler Nation blog took the Orlando Sentinel editorial board to task for its different treatment Ammons and Hitt. Lafferty shot back by accusing this blog of “committing a logical disconnect.”

The Orlando Sentinel editorial board hit a new low when it responded to FAMU's alleged insensitivity against victims of voluntary hazing by being insensitive to rape victims. 

FAMU motion to dismiss the wrongful death lawsuit filed by Champion’s parents pointed out that the Orange County Sheriff’s Office found that their son “willingly participated” in the illegal hazing ritual that took his life.

“Rather than working contritely with the family on a resolution, FAMU borrowed a page from the rape defense playbook and blamed the victim,” the Orlando Sentinel editorial board wrote.

Individuals who are injured in voluntary hazing rituals are absolutely nothing like rape victims. Rape is an involuntary, violent sexual attack. That's why it's ridiculous to ever claim that a rape victim is responsible for what happened.

No person ever asks to be raped. But there are students who do ask to be hazed. That is the difference that the Orlando Sentinel’s editorial board couldn’t seem to understand.

The Orlando Sentinel needed a fresh start and the new editorial leadership has an important chance to give it one.