Albany Times-Union reporter Brendan Lyons’ coverage of the Signature Pharmacy anabolic steroid scandal is being exposed as little more than a public relations campaign created in conjunction with the Albany County District Attorney’s Office. It appears that “Soares’ loyalist” Brendan Lyons obtained most of his inside stories from the District Attorney David Soares’ Director of Operations, Christian D’Alessandro. D’Allessandro happens to be a close personal friend of Brendan Lyons (“Legal Opinions Support Finding Soares Misused Funds,” October 15).
The Times-Union and Lyons, who is said to have a long time association with Christian D’Allessandro, Soares top deputy…
Albany Times-Union Editor Rex Smith has vigorously defended Brendan Lyons’ use of confidential sources, like his best friend Chris D’Allessandro, in the Signature Pharmacy journalistic investigation into the distribution of performance enhancing drugs. Smith stressed the need for “federal shield laws” to give reporters like Brendan Lyons “constitutional protection against divulging his sources.”
But is the public good best served when a veil of secrecy hides the incestuous relationship between the fourth estate and prosecutor’s office? Should such cozy relationships between local newspapers and the District Attorney’s Office be disclosed especially when it results in stories that uncritically promote the agenda of the District Attorney?
Brendan Lyons has long been accused of being the defacto public relations agent of the Albany County District Attorney Office and the publicity-seeking David Soares. This would explain why the Albany Times-Union was oblivious to the incompetence of David Soares in his case against Signature Pharmacy and unaware of potential civil rights violations by David Soares office. Perhaps, the friendships between the Albany Times-Union and the District Attorney’s Office obscured the objectivity of the steroid reporting?
The revelation about the relationship between Brendan Lyons and Chris D’Allessandro definitely reframes questions about Lyons’ investigative journalism into the growth hormone and anabolic steroid scandal (“Investigative Journalism Still Thriving in Albany,” April 2, 2008).
So how did this lone journalist from a mid-sized, out-of-state paper beat all the local and national powerhouses on such a major story? And perhaps more importantly, why did he bother
Yeah! How did he get the scoop? Is it possible that it was because Lyons’ long-time good friend Christian D’Allessandro was the top advisor and Director of Operations for Albany District Attorney David Soares?
Maybe. But Brendan Lyons still thinks it was “solid investigative journalism.”
But landing the story really came down to basics careful sourcing and meticulous reporting, factors that have always been the cornerstone of solid investigative journalism.
But maybe it was really because Lyons’ long-term association with Christian D’allessandro who was David Soares’ top advisor and Director of Operations?
Lyons was well-positioned to get advance word of the raid. Since then, he has broken multiple follows, including a report in January revealing that numerous stars, from singers Mary J. Blige and 50 Cent to Danny Bonaduce, were linked to the pharmacy.
How was Brendan Lyons so amazingly well-positioned? Do you think Lyons’ buddy Christian D’Allessandro in the Albany District Attorney’s office leaked the names of entertainers and athletes who used steroids?
The paper’s work on the case made some stories easier to get, but also produced a backlash. “It actually got harder because the local media accused [investigators] of playing favorites, giving us the story,” he says. “And that isn’t what happened. Because of that intense blowback, law enforcement pulled back.”
Investigators playing favorites? How ridiculous! Just because David Soares’ Director of Operations is a friend of Brendan Lyons? Get out of here!
Albany Times-Union Senior Editor Bob Port thinks Brendan Lyons is amazing!
“Brendan is an amazing reporter,” says Port. “Maybe the best I’ve ever had work for me.”
Albany Times-Union Editor Rex Smith praised Brendan Lyon’s work on the Signature Pharmacy steroid scandal.
What I had hoped to do was tell you about the work that led to our national scoop this week on the big steroid bust in Florida. This would have been an interesting tale about how some serious shoe-leather reporting by Brendan Lyons left every other newspaper, magazine and TV network in the country in our dust.
“Shoe-leather reporting?” Or maybe it was because Lyons best friend Chris D’allessandro was the Director of Operations for David Soares?
But to tell you how we got that information wouldn’t be smart, our lawyers say. That’s because so many American courtrooms have become a hostile place for journalists over the past couple of years.
Maybe it was because doing PR for a good friend who was the top advisor for David Soares was unethical? Or maybe it was illegal for Chris D’Allessandro to leak Signature Pharmacy documents to Brendan Lyons?
The fact that Lyons scooped the nation can be traced, I’d say, to the fact that his level of determination isn’t matched by many people in any newsroom I know. Lyons got his scoop the old-fashioned way: He out-reported the other guys.
Out-reporting the “other guys?” Or maybe it was because Lyons long-time good friend Christian D’Allessandro was the top advisor and Director of Operations for Albany District Attorney David Soares?
But, yes, there were some confidential sources involved in Lyons’ work. And so you can’t blame the lawyers for advising me to back off on this column.
Of course, disclosing that Brendan Lyons was working directly with the Albany County District Attorney’s Office as a defacto public relations agency would have probably hurt the credibility and integrity of the Albany Times-Union as an independent, unbiased newspaper.
It is an interesting story of how an ethically- and sometimes factually-challenged local reporter can, by sugar-coating the actions of a publicity-seeking, devious, corrupt, fraudulent, incompetent and possibly criminal District Attorney, help spread steroid hysteria and instigate a steroid witch-hunt throughout the United States.
About the author
Millard writes about anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs and their use and impact in sport and society. He discusses the medical and non-medical uses of anabolic-androgenic steroids while advocating a harm reduction approach to steroid education.
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