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| Arnold Diaz (1949-2023) |
Arnold Diaz, the veteran New York TV reporter who spent a long career chasing down malefactors as part of the "shame" beat he created for various stations, died Tuesday after a decadelong battle with multiple myeloma, his son, Alex Diaz, said Thursday. Arnold Diaz was 74, according to Newsday.
The best-known and most honored of New York TV's consumer watchdogs, Diaz literally built a franchise around the word "shame," first for WCBS/2 which he joined in the early 1970s after a run at WPLG in Miami, then later at WNYW/5 and WPIX/11. His many investigations for Ch. 2, where he spent the bulk of his career, were famously appended with the image of a wagging finger, and a brief jingle ("shame on you"). At each story's conclusion, its aggrieved subject — someone whose landlord had just ripped her off, or a guy who couldn't get his money back for a "lemon" car — turned and wagged their finger into the camera too. Most often, viewers saw only Diaz's back during stories, as he followed someone down the street, or as they slammed a door in his face.
For Diaz, the shame beat was built on the simplest and most direct form of newsgathering — tip, or complaints, collected on the viewer hotline. Those many reports — over 1,000, by his own estimate — had impact and won 48 Emmys, among the most ever for a New York TV reporter. Diaz once said he didn't pioneer this style of reporting (which had originated in Philadelphia) "but New Yorkers love revenge and, even if I didn't solve their problems, loved that we exposed" whoever was taking advantage of them, he told Newsday when he retired from Ch. 11 last year.
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