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Is Newsday’s Immigration Coverage Suffering Because of Political Pressure?

Posted March 8, 2010 by Ted Hesson
Categories: Suffolk

Evidence suggests that Newsday may have reassigned two reporters—one on the immigration beat—due to political pressure from Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, according to an article posted today by Joe Strupp of Media Matters.

If those indications are correct, Strupp posits, Newsday’s credibility could be undermined “to the detriment of its real shoe-leather reporting.”

Levy “absolutely takes exception with stories he doesn’t like in ways that are remarkable,” says Carl MacGowan, a reporter for Newsday. He is “more vindictive than other politicians.”

One Newsday reporter who asked not to be identified said that the paper’s management has succumbed to pressure from other political figures as well. “I think that we are too deferential to local elected officials too often. There is a lot of pressure to get a lot of reaction from them up high,” the reporter said.

The Media Matters article specifically cites Newsday’s reassignment of immigration reporter Bart Jones to the religion beat, implying that pressure from Levy—which Levy has publicly admitted applying—was the reason for moving Jones. Here’s Levy’s version of events, according to the article:

Levy claims Jones fabricated a photo for a story about a person who said county officials made him homeless when they ordered a landlord to vacate an overcrowded home. Levy also says that one of the men whom Jones identified as having been made homeless by the order never actually lived there. Neither complaint drew a correction.

“The bias from Jones was so blatant,” Levy says. “He was painting law enforcement as the bad guy.”

Jones was contacted for his view, but he did not respond to numerous requests.

Levy says that when he took his complaint to editors in 2005, he suggested that they move Jones to the editorial pages because of his alleged bias.

Aside from Jones, the only other reporter that Levy has problems with is Reid Epstein, the article said. Epstein, who covers county government, has also reported on Levy’s immigration policies. Despite Levy’s criticism, he hasn’t been reassigned.

In December 2008, Levy wrote a three-page letter to Epstein detailing specific complaints about quotes taken out of context. In it, he complained about Epstein’s “negativity toward the administration” and called for “a more balanced approach in the questioning and what ultimately appears in these articles.” Newsday issued no corrections or clarifications based on the complaints in Levy’s letter.

One comment that offended many, and one that Levy claims was taken out of context, came after the murder of local Ecuadorean immigrant Marcelo Lucero in 2008. Levy criticized the amount of coverage the story received, saying that in any other county, it would have been a “one-day story.”

In June 2007, Levy called a press conference to address a Newsday story in which Epstein had reported that Levy “announced that he would not move to block a day laborer hiring site as long as it’s not on county land.”

At the follow-up press conference, which included blown-up posters of Newsday stories, Levy sought to make clear he had not announced it, but had responded to a reporter’s question. An article about the news conference included clarifications about the facts, but no correction or admission of any inaccuracies. It quoted Levy as saying the paper had a “pattern of bias” in its coverage of immigration.

Thus far, Newsday’s editorial board hasn’t responded to the criticism from Media Matters.

Tags : bart jones, media matters, newsday, reid epstein, steve levy

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