WPIX-TV: Mario Diaz
My new journalism hero is WPIX-TV reporter, Mario Diaz. The veteran reporter was covering a story Tuesday (Jan. 24) about the officers arrested in East Haven, Connecticut. They’re accused of racially profiling Latinos. But Diaz ended up with a story that revealed something else: a very insensitive Mayor.
Following up on the officers arrests, Diaz had a one-on-one interview with Mayor Joe Maturo. The Mayor started putting his foot in his mouth after Diaz asked one simple question:
Diaz: What are you doing for the Latino community today?
Mayor Maturo: I might have tacos when I go home, I’m not quite sure yet. I spent two years in Puerto Rico
THE MAYOR: UNEDITED
I MIGHT HAVE TACOS! Yes, he said it! The unedited interview was posted on YouTube, and you can see that the Mayor just rambles on.
Kudos to Diaz for not letting up on the Mayor and allowing him to get by with such an insensitive comment. In his report for WPIX, Diaz said that the Mayor found him later and apologized and said “it was out of context.”
Diaz also revealed that East Haven is 10 percent Latino, but only one cop on the force speaks Spanish. That one officer is not Latino. Diaz asked the Mayor about the lack of Latinos on the police force and Maturo responded “And your point being?”
PRESS CONFERENCE: MAYOR APOLOGIZES
The Mayor had a press conference Wednesday (Jan. 25) to apologize for what he called “insensitive and off color comment.” He claimed that the stress of the situation had gotten to him.
Sure blame it on the stress.
But before the apology, he was blaming his “taco” response on Diaz. He called the reporter’s question “shallow.” Here’s what Maturo said to another local reporter.
Excuses, apologies, insensitive comments: who knows what will come out of Mayor Maturo’s mouth next time. But one thing is for sure, Mario Diaz is not letting any comment get by him.
Keep up the good work Mario! You make us reporters proud and Latinos proud too!
His comment was just un-called for. Period.