August 24, 2002
Newsday
Reporter Withholds Facts - Steals Words
by Stewart S Lilker
Newsday reporter Bart Jones
in Freeport Village Hall. |
Long Island’s only major daily newspaper, Newsday, which is
generally answerable to nobody, reached another low when its
immigration reporter, Bart Jones stole somebody else’s words and
withheld information from the public. The intentional withholding of
information is an ethical violation. It is not illegal. It’s their
paper and they can report or not report as they wish. Anybody that
doesn’t like what they do can disseminate the information they deem
newsworthy. The intentional stealing of someone else’s words and
someone else’s story, without permission, is not only irresponsible
and despicable, it is against the law.
On or about Tuesday, August 6, 2002, Latino Leader Eloy Yndigoyen
brought Newsday reporter Bart Jones to my house. Yndigoyen, a long
time friend, told me Jones was doing a story on Freeport’s day
laborers. Yndigoyen said, "I told him [Jones] that if he spoke to
anybody, he should speak to you. You’re the man. We just came from
Dunkin Donuts. Do you have a few minutes?"
"Sure," I said
Jones, pad and pencil in hand, Yndigoyen and I stood on my front
steps, taking about the day laborer shape up site for almost an
hour. I shared with Jones most of what I knew about the day laborer
situation in Freeport. Jones took a lot of notes. Jones said he
didn’t know until recently that they were opening up a site in
Freeport. He said, "The only information that I have been able to
find has been on your web site [www.FreeportNYNews.com]."
Jones, Yndigoyen and I spoke extensively about the
Glacken gag
order. Yndigoyen and Jones said that Julio Canas had just
told them that Glacken said if they [the workers] spoke about the
upcoming site, the project wouldn’t happen. I told Jones that I knew
that and it was common knowledge among the insiders that this was
the case. I made it a point, to make it clear to Jones, the conflict
between the workers and Catholic Charities.
Jones said he was trying to get an interview with Glacken, but
that it was obvious they didn’t want to give him one.
Jones said that the village asked him not to print a story about
the day worker site for three months. Jones said he was told that
Glacken wanted to keep it quiet until the site was up and running
for a while.
I asked Jones if Newsday was going to keep this quiet. He said,
"This is Newsday. They can’t tell us what to do."
I told Jones that if "you’re not reading my web site
[www.FreeportNYNews.com] you don’t have a clue about what is going
on here." I pointed to some neighbors’ doors and said, "Go knock on
the doors, see if those folks know what’s going on. I bet you they
don’t." Jones didn’t take me up on my challenge.
As our conversation was drawing to a close, Jones asked me if he
knew where he could find Georgia Prunty. Jones said, "She’s the only
one I see who said anything against the
site."
I asked Jones, "How did you get her phone number? I looked her up
in the phone book and I couldn’t find it."
Jones said, "I couldn’t find it either, I thought you had it."
I told Jones: "If you want to use the quote or anything else, you
can. Just make sure you give the site credit."
Jones put his pencil to pad and replied, "What’s the name of the
site again?"
I said, "It’s FreeportNYNews.com. Just say you got it from Stew
Lilker’s FreeportNYNews.com. The important thing is that the people
get the information."
Jones stopped writing. I told Jones that if I could be of any
other assistance, he could call me any time. I said, "My number is
on the web site."
After some idle chitchat, Yndigoyen and Jones drove off in their
cars.
I never heard from Jones.
On Monday, August 12th, I published the story,
Freeport
Mayor Gags Latino Day Workers - Shape Up Site To Open Soon.
On Tuesday, August 13th, Newsday published Jones’ story,
Headway for Day Laborers - Freeport, Farmingdale planning hiring
sites
Jones wrote:
While Glacken said most of the community supports the
project, one resident objected at a recent village board
meeting. "Not one square foot of Freeport Village property
and not one dime of taxpayer money should go to further breaking
the laws of the United States," Georgia Prunty said. "These are
not Freeport's day laborers, they are illegal aliens and to give
this legitimacy is a disgrace." (emphasis added)
On
April 22, 2002, FreeportNYNews published the following:
When Glacken did not respond and
the Glackenites just sat there, mute, Ms. Prunty continued.
"The way I feel and the way my friends that are still left
in the village feel, not one square foot of Freeport Village
property and not one dime of taxpayer money should go to further
breaking the laws of the United States of America.
These are not
Freeport’s day laborers, they are illegal aliens and to give
this legitimacy is a disgrace." |
Reading that paragraph, I thought Jones experienced a miraculous
epiphany. Incredibly, Jones found no fault with Glacken’s statement,
in spite of the evidence to the contrary. More amazing was the quote
of Ms. Prunty, from a meeting that he didn’t attend. I assumed that
Jones had finally located Ms. Prunty and spoken to her.
On Sunday, August 18th, I received a call from Freeport resident,
Gabe Razzano. Razzano said, "I received a call from Georgia Prunty.
She told me she was upset. She said she couldn’t understand how
Newsday got her name and used it without permission, as she had
never spoken to Newsday."
Razzano gave me a number where he thought I could reach Ms.
Prunty. I called the number and left a message to have Ms. Prunty
return my call. By Monday evening, August 19th, I still hadn’t heard
from Ms. Prunty.
On Monday, August 19th, I arrived at Freeport Village Hall at
07:25 p.m. There was a large crowd milling around by the front
steps. I wandered around for a few moments, saying hello to the
people I knew.
Then, I bumped into Jones again: "How are you doing Bart? Good to
see you. Interesting article you wrote [in Newsday]. I was wondering
how you left Glacken’s gag order out of your story. You told me that
Julio told you that the workers weren’t allowed to speak about the
project, or it would get the kabash from Glacken. Did the editor
edit that out?"
A surprised Jones answered, "No."
I asked, "Who did?"
Jones said, "I did."
I said, "You did?"
Jones said, "I did. (He paused a moment and got a little
hostile) I ran out of room."
I said, "Oh," and walked away.
I mingled for a little while and approached Jones again. "Bart,
did you ever get in touch with Georgia Prunty?"
Jones didn’t answer.
"Bart, I was just wondering? Did you ever get in touch with
Georgia Prunty?"
Jones answered, "No"
I said, "Hey man, then you stole my stuff."
Jones just looked at me.
I said, "What did you steal my stuff for?
Jones stiffened up, "That’s public record, isn’t it?"
I said, "What are you talking about, public record? I told you,
you could use whatever you wanted. All I wanted was the credit for
it. You know that."
Jones looked at me icily and got real short, "If that’s the way
you want to be about it," turning on his heels and walking away in a
huff.
At the board meeting, I walked over to where Ms. Prunty was
sitting. I asked her, "Did you ever speak to Newsday or Bart Jones?"
Ms. Prunty answered, "I don’t know how he got that. He never
spoke to me. I have no clue. It [the Newsday quote] was put in front
of me at work at seven thirty in the morning. That’s the first I
knew about."
I asked Ms. Prunty, "Can I write that?"
Ms. Prunty answered, "Go ahead, it’s the truth." |
