Another Apology to the People of Lakewood as Libels Amid Coronavirus Continue to Fester

By Kurt Siegelin

I’m going to start by apologizing to the people of Lakewood. In vetting a story, I screwed up yesterday. There were many reasons the tweets went out, but the responsibility is ultimately with me. It’s my account. I have a brand to protect. I regret it. I’m sorry for any pain or distrust the tweets created for residents who saw it. Mistakes were made.

Since this played out over twitter the last 24 hours, you here on facebook may not be aware of what happened. So here’s the background:

At 7pm yesterday from Newark, another anchor read a story about Toms River police pulling over a Lakewood school bus. Toms River police were working under the suspicion that a school in Lakewood was still operating and the bus was dropping off kids.

I was on set in Edison getting ready for a doctor Q&A we do nightly at 7:15. Hearing the story was surprising. There had been two instances of social distancing violations in the past 36 hours in Lakewood. I was aware of this. When I questioned Governor Murphy just two hours before, I even asked him about Lakewood. But this? Given our state lock down and schools being closed for a couple weeks now, for someone to still be operating a school seemed unfathomable. My first inclination was to think the story was incorrect in some way. A couple emails between myself a producer went out and I wound up on reporter Jim Murdock’s facebook page. Know this about Jim, he has impeccable sources in the Ocean County area. The story was on his page as we had explained it on air at 7pm. So for as stunning as it was, I was now very inclined to believe it. There was also video of a bus rolling through a neighborhood that we played on air. There was a statement from Toms River police. They had stopped a bus around 2pm and they suspected a school was still open. I then found out that busses do routinely drive through Toms River to drop off meals for families, however that typically happens in the morning hours through noon. So why is a bus being stopped at 2pm? Meal delivery should be over. Too many things were pointing to the veracity of the Toms River police statement.

I then sent the tweet which has caused the problem. I since deleted it but the tweet read:

NEW…
Police in Toms River stop a school bus full of kids from Lakewood. Apparently the school is still “open” despite mandatory shutdown. See the video on News 12 New Jersey. Some stills… (attached were two pictures of the bus in a neighborhood from Friday.)

There are two problems with the tweet.

First, the words “full of kids.” Now, we knew there were children on the bus during the 2pm police stop. They turned out to be the bus driver’s kids. The bus was not full and I shouldn’t have written it. I wasn’t there and couldn’t confirm an actual number. The bus was believed by police to be making afternoon drop offs, so at one point, it was full as full is for that route at least in my mind. That’s why I wrote that.

Secondly, the word “apparently.” I used that a hedge because I could not verify the story. I was reporting what Toms River police suspected. That’s why I put “open” in quotes. That was their language in their email. However, not everyone takes the word “apparently” the same as I intended. Someone wrote “That’s not apparent at all.” True. A better word would have been “allegedly.” But at that point, it’s 7:15. I’m doing the Q&A for the next 15 minutes. I can’t delete or change the tweet. I can’t look at social media.

When I get back to my desk at 7:30, the mentions on twitter have begun. It was ugly stuff. I can judge how a tweet is standing up based on the mentions. The pushback was extreme and it only grew through the night, morning, and daytime today. There were plenty of people who believed it. There were plenty of people saying they were not surprised. But I was focused on those who said the info is incorrect. Those are the mentions that matter. I want to know how they know that? Why is it incorrect? Why would Toms River police send us something not on point?

I did a facebook search of “Lakewood school bus” and found another set of videos of school busses driving around town. The hour of the post isn’t listed, so that’s confirmation of nothing, but what those videos told me was that there is there is an agenda and division in Lakewood. I have never been to Lakewood. But this was a quick education. And the tweet (with my follow ups) was only causing upset in the community. At one point, I wrote that I can’t control how people react to information, but seeing the reaction was honestly pretty scary.

In the end, the police investigation is ongoing, but it will likely conclude that there was not an open school in town and the busses were indeed delivering food. The Lakewood mayor said as much today. You can ask ‘why are they using a school bus for that?’ Or ‘why are they using kids to go up to the door?’ It doesn’t matter. The story I posted on twitter was incorrect. The conclusions people drew from that tweet were incorrect. The (at times) vile posts directed at people in Lakewood were out of line, but created by my tweet. Despite police suspicions — how this all began — it turned out to be unfounded. And you can’t unring the bell.

Here’s what I wonder and worry about. Was it all a media setup? Why was someone filming a school bus last Friday in a neighborhood? Why are there a bunch of pictures and videos on facebook of school busses around town any given day? Are these people outraged at a social distancing violation or angry that some seem above the law or are they pushing an anti-semitic agenda? Do they just not know Lakewood busses deliver meals? The motivations range person to person. My concern through this (and now): The calls of complaint to police about busses in town and the video shot Friday — are these people wishing harm on the Jewish community? I don’t know. But there’s enough evidence from the feedback I got on twitter, that yes, it could very well be. In which case, I got played. Toms River police got played. We both fell right in line with their disgusting narrative and indirectly perpetrated those views by generating the negative reaction the story got. That’s the greatest regret here.

Police are authorities we typically trust. Statements are confirmation. If a prosecutor issues a press release that they are charging someone, we have to believe that. If cops say they’re investigating, we have to believe that. In this case, I should have realized the community we are talking about gets enough bad press. And this was only going to add to it. And I’ll say this, Toms River police should have realized the same. They should have been quicker out with a statement explaining what their investigation found. Lakewood police should have issued a statement. It shouldn’t have waited 20 hours.

I will close with this. The Society of Professional Journalists has a list of ethics. One of the foundational concepts is “Minimize Harm.” Specifically they write, “Balance the public’s need for information against potential harm or discomfort.” And, “Show compassion for those who may be affected by news coverage. Consider cultural differences in approach and treatment.” To think I failed here cuts deep. I must do better.

Bottom line. I am sorry I worded the tweet the way I did. I’m sorry for the reaction it created. None of that was intended in the moment. More care needed to be paid. There needed to be more consideration for how the tweet would be perceived. The tweet created a lot of reaction and none of it was positive relative the coronavirus fight. If I have any agenda, it’s that. We all need to follow social distancing. I have sent outraged individuals on twitter the link to this post. I hope they read this and accept my apology.

{Matzav.com Newscenter}