The big question on the mind of friendwithoutbenefits.com is how George Santos’ lying wasn’t uncovered in the largest media market in the nation before the election? To put it plainly, it was an epic failure.
Three weeks before the election, a small Long Island newspaper, The North Shore Leader, endorsed Santos’ opponent and raised serious questions about the bullshitter’s background. Among the things it reported was Santos’ “inexplicable rise” in reported net worth. It also wrote that even though Santos claimed to own two mansions, he and his husband lived in a rented apartment in Queens. And here’s the cherry on the cake; The North Shore Leader said “he’s most likely just a fabulist—a fake.”
Not one iota of what The North Shore Leader uncovered was picked up by New York’s newspapers or by any of the large New York TV news departments.
I’m not a newspaper guy, so I can’t speak to why the inked-stained wretches were asleep at the switch. They’ll have to wrestle with that colossal blunder on their own. I am, however, a TV news guy, with almost three decades of experience in local TV news in New York. So allow me to venture some opinions why the big stations blew it.
In the 2020 presidential election, Nassau and Suffolk Counties went for Trump. In the 2021 Nassau County Executive race, journeyman GOP politician Bruce Blakeman beat Democrat Laura Curren. In the 2022 New York governor’s race, Republican Lee Zeldin almost beat Kathy Hochul in a solidly blue state. A red flashing light should have gone off in the New York newsrooms. The signs were there if someone was paying attention.
Maybe, just maybe, the long dormant New York GOP was waking from its somnolence and striking a cord with voters.
The news director, the person who sets the direction for news coverage at the TV station, should have said something like this: “Look at what’s happening. We’d better take a look at those four Congressional races on Long Island, because we can end up with an all-Republican delegation. That’s something that hasn’t happened in decades.”
Then what should have happened is a reporter would have been assigned to really dig into those races and the candidates. I would have particularly expected that from the New York TV news departments that have large numbers of viewers on Long Island.
As those reporters started digging, the stuff from The North Shore Leader would have bubbled up and the Santos fabrications would have been revealed on a much larger scale than a small local newspaper.
But wait, there’s more.
Since the BLM and #MeToo movements, all opinions seem to have equal weight in news department editorial meetings. Opening up the process for more voices to be heard is a good thing. Staffers of all backgrounds lending their experiences to the mix of stories that are covered, makes a newsroom stronger. Full stop.
But, in the admirable effort to be more inclusive, daily story meetings are now like a crowded jet where the passengers are telling the pilot how to fly the plane. The pilot, the news director, is the captain, not a gate agent and needs to have lots of visibility, to see over the horizon, to create newscasts that aren’t just a mashup of crime stories, weather forecasts and stories that are not relevant to the station’s viewer base.
Also, IMHO, an impactful New York TV newsroom needs top notch political reporting. Political stories are so much a part of life in the New York Metropolitan area and they need to be covered in depth. But in this case, instead of deep reporting we got shallow coverage.
I hope the news leaders in New York realize they got beat bad, real bad. They are actually complicit in allowing a pathological liar to get elected to Congress right under their noses. They dropped the ball, bigly.
Any news director that hasn’t lost sleep over blowing it should be ashamed. I know I would be kicking myself till my ass turned crimson if I was still a news director. I wonder if with the women and men who are running their departments now have done the same. I hope so. I hope they haven’t shrugged off their huge miss as just another, “oh well.”
They should see it as a wake-up call to close that cockpit door, tell the passengers to remain seated, get a clear look over the horizon and sit at the controls and fly the damn plane.
3 thoughts on “The Santos Fiasco”
This can only be fixed by the “News Messiah”
You posed THE question I’ve been asking since reading the big story in the NYTimes. I think all the news outlets are almost criminally negligent for failing to get this out prior to the election! It seems like half of every TV news report is devoted to the weather – both local and national news broadcasts. The meteorologists natter on for so long in front of their colorful maps, repeating the forecast so many times, that I just tune out! Meanwhile, important stories are reported in mere sound bites! What’s a concerned citizen to do?
Exactly on the mark this week and last.
You have no doubt noticed the vapid, repetitive structure of the evening news: First, an announcement of the news item before the dramatic start of the show music. Second, the news event is repeated as the show starts with “good evening…tonight we will report on…(same item reiterated) “but first…” The third mention of the same item comes later with “coming up… when we come back.” And finally the actual item is reported in a “National Enquirer,” dramatic, but superficial style, typically with a prolonged, uninformative interview with a witness or bereaved individual being commercialized. Disgusting.
Enough with the smiling (why are they smiling?), and movie star reporter appearance. For those looking for balanced, researched, pertinent, and well-presented news, call Huntley, Brinkley, Cronkite, or David Friend. One of them is available !