The guy in this photo is Brendan McHugh, a reporter for the Riverdale Review in the Bronx, who apparently can dish it out but can't take it. After being told that his photo will be posted on this blog along with an accounting of his brand of yellow journalism, Brendan called me a "cyber bully" and threatened that he would hold me "personally liable" -- whatever that means. My guess is that I can expect more false reporting, but that is nothing new for this guy or his publication. Brendan is a star pupil in his editor Andy Wolf's school of dirty journalism and character assassination. Brendan is the same guy who interviewed a group of 8 and 9 year old students without their parents permission for a hit piece on their school principal. Ironically, his boss, Andy Wolf, has been crying about the boycott of his newspaper. He says he has a right to print anything and claims that the boycott is a violation of the First Amendment. Yet Brendan wants to stop anyone else from exercising their free speech, and he is willing to use threats to make his point. No Brendan, you can not write lies and attack the character of school and community leaders on behalf of your boss and not expect to be criticized. And, if you lack basic journalistic ethics or standards, you can not expect that readers or potential employers will not find out about it. After all, Brendan, aren't you proud of your scriblings in the Review?
What a hypocrite Brendan McHugh is.
ReplyDeleteHe tries to stop people from criticizing his work, but all that Mr. McHugh and the Riverdale Review do is hammer the community.
Mr. McHugh’s articles are filled with deliberate distortions of the news. Having no journalistic standards or ethics at all, he spreads false and misleading accusations against our schools, our community volunteers and our civic leaders. Shame on him!
Brendan McHugh’s malicious and irresponsible writing is just one of the reasons why there’s now a public boycott against the obnoxious, scandal-mongering tabloid that he works for.
Why is this guy McHugh even being paid any attention? He is a horrendous writer whose articles are full of basic grammar errors, and who has absolutely no idea about this community, so like most reporters (including at the Long Island Press) he simply kisses the ass of his editors and like all good lapdogs does what he's told.
ReplyDeleteThe Riverdale Review has a long reputation for this. The horrifically unpleasant John DeSio was/is one of the scummiest people I ever had the displeasure of dealing with. The paper is impervious to facts, and cannot seem to edit their articles so that basic first grade grammar errors don't happen. It's quite laughable actually.
Paulette Schneider, while a nice enough lady one on one, is an absolute disgrace. When we had Christine Quinn on hand for an interview on an anniversary of 9/11, after a huge poll came out saying that over 50% of New Yorkers wanted a new investigation into the inexplicable (without the use of explosives) collapse of building 7, what did she ask Quinn???? While I don't remember specifics, the questions were about the equivalent of what is your favorite color.
Candice Giove, as much as she was a snake in the grass too, I actually liked in a wierd way. I thought she had balls, and I'm glad she left that paper. She told me some funny stories of how the racist buffoon Andy Wolf would berate his staff because I would scoop them on issues.
Having said all this, the Riverdale PRess is just as pathetic a paper. This week in the Village Voice was a front page article about how the NEwburgh 4 were set up by the Government in a fully stage managed production. Where the hell was the Riverdale PRess on this story????? It happened in Riverdale!!! I'll tell you where they were.....they were super busy rewriting press releases from Dinowitz and Engel about how great the FBI is, and how we are being kept "so safe" from these "terrorists." Hogwash and they know it!
I will give the Riverdale Review one line of credit though. Although their coverage of the NEwburgh 4 was horrifically racist and had absolutely no depth or analysis, at least they editorialized that the case stank of entrapment, and more importantly, WHO SUGGESTED RIVERDALE AS A TARGET IN THE FIRST PLACE.
Find the answer to this question out, and I surmise that it would unravel a very sordid thread of info.
Watch out, Mr. Cassino, he's gonna call the cyber police on you! He's gonna backtrace your internet! Consequences will never be the same!
ReplyDeleteMcHugh, when you do something as absurd as ambushing elementary school students in order to make yourself a public figure, you can't go cry when you are treated as such.
Yup ... yellow journalism is alive and well in Riverdale.
ReplyDeleteThe crap Brendan McHugh writes is an insult to the truth. Viva la boycott!
ReplyDeleteWriters and editors everywhere need to be held to the same standard of accountability as our elected officials with regards to what they say or write. They put themselves out as a public individual everytime they attach a by-line, therefore, there is nothing that prohibits them from being written up in an article anywhere, including cyberspace. Grow up Mr. McHugh or get out of the spotlight you put yourself in.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like this McHugh fellow is a bit rattled by having Tony Cassino call him what he truly is.
ReplyDeleteObviously, Brendan McHugh is as clueless about the profession of journalism as his boss is about the 1st Amendment.
ReplyDelete"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."
ReplyDeleteNew Testament, Galatians 6:7 (King James Version)
Although this website is, by admission, a no holds barred place to express opinions, the original verbal exchange is, at best, a "he-says-he-says" episode. Have we any documentation here? APC, next time turn on your hidden microphone before dealing with these individuals.
ReplyDeleteFyi, Brendan's quotes above are taken directly from an email message he sent to me on Feb. 25th.
ReplyDeleteIf any of you want a verbal exchange, here’s one I just imagined between ANDY WOLF and BRENDAN McHUGH:
ReplyDeleteAW: “Brendan, you’ve done a fine job here at the Review. And I’m proud that you took one for the team. However, now that you have sullied your good name, I need to let you go.
BM: “Why boss?”
AW: “Because that boycott is killing me . . . and I can’t spare the cash. But don’t worry, you’ve got a great career ahead of you . . . but maybe not in journalism.”
"The horrifically unpleasant John DeSio was/is one of the scummiest people I ever had the displeasure of dealing with." Manny G is absolutely right about DeSio. Now he works for BP Diaz. What does that say about the BP's judgement. BTW McHugh considers DeSio his hero!
ReplyDeleteMcHugh will end up waiting tables at An Beal Bocht.
McHugh is the lowest of the low, conning children to do his hatchet job on PS 24. But what do you expect? He works for Andrew Wolf who has no moral scruples whatsoever. "The fish stinks from the head."
ReplyDeleteAnyone working working on that rag has to have no scruples. That's a prerequisite.
Andy Wolf interviewing prospective reporter: "Do you have any scruples about printing lies, destroying good people's reputations, bullying local institutions or practicing yellow journalism."
McHugh: "Oh yes, yes. Just give me the few shekels you pay."
I certainly hope and expect that the growing boycott movement against the Riverdale Review will succeed. When I compare this week's issue to one I saved from a month ago, it seems like the Review is already losing a lot of advertising. That propaganda rag cannot remain economically viable if it bleeds more advertising revenue. So I think the Review’s surely unlamented demise cannot be far off.
ReplyDeleteThe hallmark of Andy Wolf’s unsightly, low-quality tabloid, the Riverdale Review, has always been poor writing, sloppy editing and a political axe to grind. The result is distorted, biased and uneven coverage that bears only the slightest resemblance to reality.
ReplyDeleteLike all Riverdale Review reporters, Brendan McHugh makes no effort to write as close to the news as possible. Instead, he spews hasty, incomplete and erroneous stories that are little more than thinly veiled attempts at badmouthing those people on Andy Wolf’s enemies list.
We must not forget that Andy Wolf is a lackey and mouthpiece of the local politicians. Neither Councilman G. Oliver Koppell nor Congressman Eliot Engel have ever answered the charge leveled against them eight years ago by Richard Stein, the then co-publisher of the Riverdale Press, that these politicians secretly helped finance Wolf’s purchase of the Riverdale Review. The politicians’ continued silence on this point seems an admission of guilt. And there can be no doubt that Koppell and Engel probably acted in close collaboration with the local state assemblyman, that slippery and venomous operator Jeffrey Dinowitz.
Why should Engel and Dinowitz and Koppell have to answer for anything?
ReplyDeleteIt's clear that no matter what, the fools in our district will continue to vote for these people, even as this country goes down the drainpipe of history.
It's common knowledge that Engel and Koppell bankrolled the Review. There's no surprise there. I've heard that even Mr. Moerdler, the effete snob who affects a British accent, was a contributor too. Perhaps that is why the Review touted his non existent Council campaign last year???
It's clear that the Riverdale establishment is an absolute horror show and has a complicit cheering section in the local media. Even though I tried to warn people 2 years before Obama was elected that he was nothing but a Wall Street puppet running far to the right of his fellow Dems, these local Limosine liberals like the Steins and their ilk simply couldn't get enough of his "inspirational rhetoric." Same goes for the likes of Dinowitz and Engel and Koppell.
These people should all be made to answer for this decision. We are about to enter a third war in Lybia (which happens to have huge oil reserves), Wall Street has absolutely raped the US economy, the poor and middle class are being made to eat shit. And yet, these three still can't seem to get together to go after the real enemy, which is Wall Street and the military industrial complex.
Progressive Libertarianism is the only way forward folks. Drop the Limosine Liberals!!
Unfortunately while we all discuss the losers at the Riverdale Review and Long Island Press, the rich Wall Street fat cats who caused the current depression are all laughing at the brilliance of their plan to pit the middle class and poor against eachother.
He has not need to retaliate, you were just giving back a little of what he dishes out.
ReplyDeleteI prefer reading the Riverdale Press, which has more class, more style, and a much higher quality of objectivity in reporting.
ReplyDelete...wait a minute...how does one BOYCOTT a newspaper that is FREE???? If that boycott is intended for advertisers, there are few enough of them already!
ReplyDeleteAndy Wolf has no journalistic ethics or professional competence.
ReplyDeleteFor example, he never rectifies any information in his newspaper that is harmfully inaccurate, nor does he acknowledge compromising conflicts of interest.
I remember that back in the summer of 2001, Mr. Wolf maliciously distorted any and all news about Laura Spalter, a Riverdale civic activist and Community Board 8 member who was running for City Council against the longtime politician Oliver Koppell.
Andy Wolf never disclosed to his readers the fact that Mr. Koppell was one of the politicians who secretly helped finance Mr. Wolf’s purchase of the Riverdale Review. And later, when the publisher of the rival Riverdale Press challenged Mr. Koppell to confirm or deny the allegation of bankrolling Mr. Wolf, the response from both individuals was a pregnant silence.
As part of his smear campaign against Laura Spalter, Mr. Wolf repeatedly and falsely reported that Mrs. Spalter was an ardent supporter of mayoral candidate Fernando Ferrer, who was then the Bronx Borough President. Mr. Wolf also implied that through Mr. Ferrer she was somehow associated with the controversial Rev. Al Sharpton .
In reality, Mrs. Spalter supported the mayoral candidacy of Peter Vallone, Sr., who was then the Speaker of the City Council. Even when Mrs. Spalter and Mr. Vallone publicly cross-endorsed each other’s candidacies, Mr. Wolf never admitted his error, never corrected it, and never had the decency to apologize.
In the 10 years since, I have watched with ever increasing disapproval as Mr. Wolf's dreadful publication has continued to blur the lines between advocacy and news reporting. He presents conjecture as established fact, and he allows his personal beliefs and secret commitments to totally undermine the accuracy, fairness and independence of his newspaper.
To Sheila (March 5, 2011 8:00 AM) ... I know many of the people involved in the public boycott against the Riverdale Review. Their movement is broad and multi-pronged.
ReplyDeleteThe boycotters say that they will no longer read the paper. They are urging their friends, neighbors and family members to do so as well. They also urge everyone to each take a personal copy of the paper and immediately trash it with the recyclables.
So far, the boycotters have been fairly successful in pressuring some apartment buildings to no longer allow the paper to be distributed in their laundry rooms and lobbies.
And perhaps most effectively, the boycotters have taken their campaign to the level of the newspaper's advertisers. By my count, several important advertisers seem to have left already.
Following in the footsteps of those shameless toxic propaganda hacks John DeSio and Candice Giove, Brenden McHugh is proving to be just like his boss Andrew Wolf.
ReplyDeleteThe concepts of accuracy, truthfulness and fairness in reporting are totally alien to all of them!!
Laura Spalter is just one of a number of people Andrew Wolf has tried to destroy. Let's not forget the completely false "bagman" charge he continues to level against Cassino.
ReplyDeleteWolf is the lowest scum.
Now he is getting what he deserves,and there is more to come.
Personally, I think all of the comments here are great, but would be much more effective if people weren't afraid to use their names. It's time to stand up for what we believe in. Anonymous blogging makes people look like scared little punks, as well intentioned as everyone seems to be on this blog.
ReplyDeleteThe ranting and raving claims of Andy Wolf over the years never actually line up with the facts … accuracy and fairness are not his strong suit. So I think that Brendan McHugh is severely hurting any future he hopes to have in professional journalism the longer he stays on board Wolf’s sinking ship of fools.
ReplyDeleteYes, yes ... by now ANY local newspaper reader in Riverdale with even half a brain knows that the Riverdale Review has no credibility as a news outlet.
ReplyDeleteBut enough already! You don’t need to explain yourselves anymore.
By going after the advertisers, you are going for the jugular. If the boycotters take out even a few more of Wolf’s advertisers, they can successfully call it a day. The Riverdale Review has such a small base of large advertisers that it cannot afford to lose even a few of them.
Newsflash: Wolf's last two protege's are doing very nicely.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't call being a bootlicker for Ruben Diaz Jr. doing very nicely. And as for that hack Candice, she sold her soul years ago to a sloppy looooooser who carries the water for Jeffrey Dinowitz.
ReplyDeleteit seems like 4ever andy wolf has been on a running angry tirade about hidden plots & conspiracies where the villians always happen to be the enemies of the politicians wolf supports .... let's end that newspaper so we no longer need to hear another word about that man's angry world view
ReplyDeleteAnonymous@March 5, 2011 11:27 AM
ReplyDeleteYeah! Agreed. Well said.
The boycott is all well and good but I'm really happy to hear that they are now using the more forceful approach of chipping away at Wolf's advertisers one by one. Viva la boycott!!!
ReplyDeleteomg! It's a picture of a bemused looking guy standing in front of an elevator!
ReplyDelete. . . aka a pretty good indication that the boycott has hit rock-bottom.
The comments that have been written by a couple of Baghdad Bobs are funny and all, but they are also mostly truth-free. The Review hasn't lost any advertisers. Its editorial voice hasn't been silenced or cowed. Its news-gathering capabilities haven't been diminished: they scooped the Press on the Blue Bay/Friedlander story and even beat the Press on the neat story of the kid at 24 who had a piece performed by the NY Philharmonic.
The only people who care about the boycott at this point are potential city council candidates for whom the Review's editorial page would be a major impediment to victory in 2013, and those who are hell-bent on maintaining the status quo at our dysfunctional neighborhood schools.
that these folks now want to target local small businesses when the recovery hasn't fully taken hold and when Johnson Avenue's future hangs in the balance tells me all I need to know.
Pay no attention to Anon. @ March 8, 2011 8:36 PM, who sounds like he must be one of few employees of the Riverdale Review.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that the Riverdale Review has fewer and fewer full-page ads by big companies, and that's no coincidence.
If more advertisers continue to flee that dirty rag of a tabloid, it won't matter what angry Andy Wolf says because the Riverdale Review will have been put out of its misery. So viva la boycott!
I’m sad to say that Anonymous @ March 8, 2011 8:36 PM is wrong ... I just compared the current issue of the Review with some older ones I saved for this purpose. A quick look proves to me that the Riverdale Review’s ad base is definitely beginning to erode.
ReplyDeleteI’m not always so pleased with the Review’s style of reporting, but I do think it is better for a community to have the choice of more than one local newspaper. The way things are looking, I’m increasingly pessimistic that the Riverdale Review can survive.
Anon @ Mar 8 -- 8:36 says "I’m increasingly pessimistic that the Riverdale Review can survive." Pessimistic???
ReplyDeleteWell I’m optimistic OPTIMISTIC that the Riverdale Review is near its end!
BRENDAN MCHUGH IS A SLEAZEBALL
ReplyDeleteAs a boycotter I don't read the Review, but I was told of the disgusting story this week by McHugh about the Van Cortlandt skating rink. Bronxites have no rink and this is a fabulous project that would benefit all of us, while improving a derelict portion of the park, with very little public funding. But McHugh does a hatchet job on it, claiming it's an illegal act by the Cassino-led Conservancy, and implying that Cassino would somehow financially benefit. These of course are all lies stemming from Andrew Wolf's hatred of Cassino, and anyone else who doesn't fear him. McHugh is a sleazeball because he has no scruples and puts his name to the lies. The lies he prints will follow him wherever he goes in future. And let's not forget that this is the guy who interviewed 9-year-olds without parental permission so he could do another hatchet job on PS24. Prospective employers will know what an unscrupulous lier he is. When the boycott is successful and Review goes out of business we will see who will hire him.
There is no evidence whatsoever of impropriety on the part of Cassino, just public benefit. But it's another example of how the Andrew Wolf tries to control our community and keep us from moving forward just to benefit himself. Andrew Wolf wants to call the shots, tell us what we should do, and be a mouthpiece for Jeffrey Dinowitz and Eliot Engel. Cassino, unlike many other civic leaders, doesn't fear Wolf. That's why Wolf hates him.
Gotta laugh at the anonymous guy talking about how the boycott hurts small business and mentions the problems on Johnson Ave. The Review attacked CB8 plan to create a one day pedestrian mall to ATTRACT business to Johnson Avenue, and did so only because it was proposed on the Board by Cassino.
ReplyDeleteAndy Wolf gives negative coverage to projects and plans based solely on whether or not he dislikes the person making the proposal.
ReplyDeleteGotta laugh at the anonymous guy who thinks a one-day pedestrian mall would solve a 80-seat greasy spoon's $25K/mo rent problem.
ReplyDeleteI think this last poster sort of missed the point - Andy Wolf doesn't care about small business, he just has a bug up his ass about Cassino
ReplyDeleteI'm totally impressed by that group of smart, opinionated, strong-willed women out there today on Johnson Ave. leading the public outreach for the boycott against the Riverdale Review.
ReplyDeleteBRENDAN MCHUGH PRINTS LIES
ReplyDeleteHe works for Andrew Wolf and does his bidding. Of course he could refuse and print the truth. But he is also a coward.
Have ALL his articles been lies? I don't think so. I personally enjoy his stories. I enjoyed Candice's too. The Riverdale Review will keep going. Businesses want the publicity and will pay to keep it out there.
ReplyDeleteLenny P.
From the slimness of that sleazy tabloid, it's clear that the Riverdale Review does not have a large base of advertisers to begin with. That paper probably cannot afford to incur the loss of even one or two more advertisers.
ReplyDeleteThe Riverdale Review is a sad, angry little rag, and its days are numbered.
ReplyDeleteAt first, I didn't think that the boycott could work. But over the last few weeks, the Riverdale Review has lost at least 5 major advertisers, all of them big companies!
ReplyDeleteAndy Wolf now seems to be resorting to full-page public service announcements (which are free) and enlarged ads from his remaining local advertisers (probably at no extra charge), all in a desperate attempt to pretend that he's not hurting.
If major advertisers continue to leave at this pace, the Riverdale Review is not long for this world.
The “unholy deal” (where local lawmakers helped finance Wolf ) explains why a lackluster group of politicos has enjoyed such strong editorial backing for more than a decade from the Riverdale Review.
ReplyDeleteMr Koppell / Engel / Dinowitz get a life! there are more important things to be concerened about rather than propping up the Riverdale Review
ReplyDeleteMORALITY ... TRUTH ... ETHICS ... What else are Oliver Koppell and Eliot Engel hiding from us?
ReplyDelete