New York newspaper to sue Nassau County, alleging retaliation for coverage

Newsday plans to sue New York’s Nassau County, it said on Jan. 28, 2025, citing a retaliatory campaign against the newspaper that a county official referred to as “a holy war” and which included a near-complete media list blackout starting in June.

Melville-based Newsday notified Nassau County that it would file suit in federal court against the county, County Executive Bruce Blakeman and the County Legislature.

According to a draft complaint obtained by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, the outlet alleges that due to displeasure with Newsday’s news coverage and editorial content, the defendants violated its First Amendment rights by removing its reporters from the county media distribution list and repeatedly ignored requests for comment, as well as revoking its long-held designation as the county’s official newspaper.

In the complaint, Newsday said that throughout 2024, its reporters had critically covered attempts by Blakeman, a Republican, to ban transgender women and girls from competing on sports teams with cisgender women and girls on Nassau County property. Its editorial board had also denounced Blakeman’s efforts.

Unhappy with that coverage, “the Blakeman administration engaged in a multi-pronged effort to deprive Newsday of access to public information,” the complaint alleges.

At the beginning of June, the administration “removed all but one Newsday employee—an editor—from its distribution list for press releases,” the paper said. Previously, at least 20 reporters and editors had been on the list, the complaint added, noting that the one editor who remained was a registered Republican.

“As a result of this blackout, Newsday was routinely denied public information that Blakeman and the County provided to other news outlets, including advisories for press conferences and public statements,” the outlet alleged.

The complaint also described how, starting in March 2024, Blakeman and his officials ignored nearly 50 requests for comment about various topics. In a text message in June, Blakeman spokesperson Christopher Boyle told a Newsday reporter that the administration was in a “little bit of a holy war” against the outlet about a “myriad of things,” adding that they “haven’t been commenting on anything.”

Newsday, as the area paper with the widest reach, had been legally designated as Nassau County’s official newspaper for “decades,” the complaint continued. It published government notices — such as public hearings about local laws — in its print editions and on its website. In both 2023 and 2024, the country spent some $200,000 to publish those notices in Newsday.

Newsday alleges that on June 24, 2024, the Legislature improperly amended a local law governing the process by which an official newspaper is designated when it gave the county executive new authority to make recommendations, subject to the body’s approval. The process had previously been the sole purview of the Legislature, and Newsday argued that the change should have been brought before voters.

Blakeman then recommended to legislative leadership Dec. 9 that the New York Post be designated as the county’s official paper. According to the complaint, Newsday’s Nassau County readership of more than 440,000 is nearly twice the Post’s county readership of around 227,000.

Despite objections from Democratic legislators over the gap in readership, the Republican-controlled Legislature passed Blakeman’s proposal Dec. 16. But it did not include it on the public agenda or provide public text of the proposed resolution ahead of time, which Newsday alleges violated the state’s Open Meetings Act.

Later that day, Blakeman said on a radio program that, “Many of our constituents don’t agree with the philosophy of the editorial board of Newsday, which was also an important consideration.”

In the proposed suit, Newsday said it would ask the court to issue a permanent injunction ordering the county and the Legislature to restore its designation as the county’s official paper, void the June law change and the December 2024 resolution, declare that the Legislature violated the Open Meetings Act and award Newsday compensatory damages and legal costs.

In a statement, Newsday Publisher Debby Krenek said, “The residents of Nassau County 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.”

Blakeman did not respond to a request for comment. In a statement to The New York Times, his spokesperson, Boyle, called the lawsuit “foolish, frivolous and completely devoid of merit.” He added, “The Blakeman administration regularly communicates with all members of the media, including Newsday.”