Preamble to article discussing lohud's irresponsible writing...

Growing up in Rockland County, the Journal News was always on our kitchen table. There was no Internet then and so I would eagerly wait for the special Thursday section where I could learn about events that were coming to the area, read restaurant reviews, and more. But much like the rest of the mass media in this country, it appears that the Journal News and lohud.com have lost any interest in maintaining journalistic integrity.

Historically, the intention of journalism was to act as the eyes and ears of the people with respect to what was going on in government and in other areas. Journalists aimed to share facts and allow readers to formulate their own opinions/conclusions. Today, however, it seems that most news outlets represent nothing more than ill-informed opinions, incomplete stories, and outright lies/misrepresentations. Investigative journalism, more than any other form of the craft has all-but vanished, completely.

One of my goals in life is not to sell people on ideas or my opinion but rather, to provide the facts with which others can draw their own conclusions. Don't get me wrong, I'm not shy of sharing my opinion...but sharing an opinion and attempting to 'sell' someone are not the same thing.

Steve Lieberman, a veteran writer with the Journal News, having started there in 1984, published this article on August 5, 2017. And while there are many others just like it, what bothered me most about Lieberman's article is that it was in a well-distributed, popular publication, that is geographically at the center of the current controversy's regarding the eruvin and what they represent. After reading the article, I wrote the following to Lieberman directly, cc'ing Traci Bauer, Vice President/News and Executive Editor for lohud.com and The Journal News:

"I just finished reading this article and am absolutely stunned by your lack of integrity as a journalist. You have only reaffirmed my belief that journalism is dead in this country.

You are either purposely misleading your readers, paid off by certain parties, or you simply don't care. In any case, this is such flagrant, irresponsible journalism, that I can only hope the powers that be at the Journal News hold you accountable for it.

You owe your readers more honesty and transparency. If you would like to discuss what makes this article so completely inaccurate and irresponsible, please let me know. I would also be happy to debate you, should you feel you want to stand by the ridiculous and skewed information included in what you wrote.

By copy to Traci - I demand a retraction be published with prominence on your website and in print and that Steve be, at least, reprimanded, if not investigated for so willingly writing such an irresponsible piece. Anything shy of that is unacceptable."

The next day, after not receiving a reply, I followed up and finally got a response from Traci:

"Steve does not owe you a response. Please be specific about your issues with the story and we'll address them directly."

I replied to Traci one more time, asking "Do you plan to pay me for the work he was too irresponsible to do on his own? Or at the very least, are you going to take the necessary steps to ensure Steve is reprimanded accordingly, that this article gets pulled from your site, and an honest report, published online and in print is executed? Because then I will take the time to provide you with the information your publication's writers were too irresponsible to research themselves."

Lieberman's article was upsetting but Traci's reply was both unprofessional, disrespectful, and lacks any regard for her appreciation of what constitutes true journalism. And with that, I am going to detail why Lieberman's article was inaccurate and demonstrative of tremendous bias. The difference is, I'm going to share this article with Traci's bosses and anyone that will read it. In my view, Lieberman, Traci, and the publication as a whole, cannot get away with this.

Please select this link to read my full article.