OPINION | EDITORIAL

OTHERS SAY: Watchdogs bark


Donald Trump, complaining about critical coverage, says that "we have to straighten out the press. Our press is very corrupt" as though the government should be correcting the press. He has it exactly backward, as it is the free press that corrects and straightens out corrupt government.

Look no further than the reporting of Daily News correspondents who last month uncovered the NYPD overtime scandal that OT is being directed to a large number of cops at HQs, not police out in the field.

The city Department of Investigation is probing, as is the Manhattan district attorney, as are federal prosecutors. Everyone except the World Court, it seems. As they all should be, for this is theft from the taxpayers and theft from ordinary cops keeping us all safe.

New Commissioner Jessie Tisch has already dumped NYPD Chief of Internal Affairs Miguel Iglesias, who should have found out about this and didn't, or even worse, did know and let it slide. Tisch, who is in the midst of a cleanup, may also be investigating a crime scene.

And back to what Trump is spouting about--this cascade started with the vigorous free press of our reporters and their competitors at the other news outlets covering the NYPD. The system as envisioned in the First Amendment, that the government cannot interfere with the freedom of the press, is working precisely as the Founders thought.


Upcoming Events