Newsday changes headline on an article but fails to issue correction to false claims against the Suffolk PBA
In an article published by Newsday this week, the publication once again took aim at the Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association and the police officers that protect the County of Suffolk.
In a piece, authored by reporter Vera Chinese, Newsday criticized a pro-law enforcement Super PAC, who distributed a mailer criticizing Southampton Village Police Reimagination Committee Member Hulbert Waldroup.
Hulbert Waldroup, who was appointed by incumbent Mayor Jesse Warren to the Reimagination Committee and played a key role in issuing a 26-recommendation report to amend the Village’s policing practices, is a convicted criminal.
In the mail piece intent on raising awareness about the Village’s appointment of a criminal to this important committee, they utilized the employee’s own publicly accessible website “About Me,” where he refers to himself as a “double convicted felon.”
The pro-police PAC, which is affiliated with the Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association, was then held to task for Waldroup’s own mischaracterization of his rap sheet and criminal history.
The Newsday article piece continued to claim that the pro-Police PAC and the Suffolk PBA distributed “false information” to damage the reputation of Mayor Warren. The piece remained unchanged, perpetuating these claims, despite the reporter being repeatedly pointed to the website of convicted criminal Hulbert Waldroup, according to Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association President Noel DiGerolamo.
“We were disappointed but not surprised Newsday went ahead with the misleading headline even after they were directed to Waldroup’s website where he refers to himself as a convicted double felon,” said DiGerolamo.
As of Wednesday, June 9, the publication has still failed to issue a redaction or a correction – or, at the very least clarify in the article why the headline was changed? Presumably, the reason is that the sourcing of the information about Waldroup was his own autobiography.
Newsday had the publicly available information but still wrote a negative, unbalanced article about the pro-police PAC, without a shred of the journalistic integrity one would expect from any publication.
Truths can be unpleasant and admitting mistakes is sometimes difficult, but Newsday’s thinly-veiled attacks on the Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association and refusal to correct themselves is discrediting and should be considered by all of Newsday’s readership.
“Astonishingly, Newsday was more concerned about the distinction between the words criminal and felon than the fact that someone who committed sex-related offenses was tasked with reimagining the Southampton Village Police Department by Mayor Jesse warren,” said DiGerolamo.
