Listen to this articleNewsday plans to sue Nassau County, its legislature and County Executive Bruce Blakeman in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York over what the newspaper said is “a violation of First Amendment rights.”
According to the Long Island daily, the county is “repeatedly obstructing” the newspaper’s access to information it says is essential to “the local communities Newsday has been serving for decades,” according to a news release about the newspaper’s intention to sue.
Newsday claims in its news release that its reporters were removed from the county’s “media lists for the distribution of crucial information and announcements.” In addition, according to Newsday, “on multiple occasions” county officials did not respond to reporters’ requests for information on “vital” matters.
“Requests for information and comment on key news reports affecting Nassau County residents, such as the county’s mask ban, development plans for the Nassau County casino, details on the impact the new armed deputy force would have on the community, economic impact on hosting the cricket World Cup, comment on what the county charges for online credit card fees, information about the qualifications of the person who was set to lead the social services department and a host of other issues were purposefully ignored,” according to the Newsday news release.
In December, Blakeman designated the New York Post as Nassau’s official paper. In an article in the Post, it said it was “officially expanding its coverage to Long Island.”
That initiative removed Newsday as the official newspaper for the county’s publication of notices, “depriving the 440,000 weekly readers of Newsday” in Nassau about “such government activities as proposed laws and public hearings that impact their everyday lives,” the newspaper said in the news release.
Describing the newspaper as “Long Island’s most trusted news source,” Debby Krenek, Newsday’s publisher, said in the news release that “Newsday needs to ensure that all media outlets have equal access to all information essential to our audiences.”
Nassau residents, she said, “have the right to transparency from their government officials, and taxpayer dollars should never be used to intimidate the press and limit information the public needs.”
Chris Boyle, a spokesman for Blakeman, told LIBN that the lawsuit had no merit.
“The Blakeman administration regularly communicates with all members of the media including Newsday,” Boyle said.
“This lawsuit is foolish, frivolous, and completely devoid of merit,” he said.
