District Attorney Charles J. Hynes, of Kings County, New York, recently announced that in the last three years 85 accused child predators have been arrested in Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish community. The cases involve at least 117 alleged victims.
One man, Andrew Goodman, has been charged on 144 stomach-turning counts of sexually abusing two Orthodox boys – one from 11 to 15 years old, the other 13 to 16.
"Andrew Goodman is known in our community as a lifelong molester who preys on young boys and ruins their lives," a local scholar told the New York Post. Hidden video appears to show Goodman leading boys into his home late at night.
Kudos to the New York Post, which has been all over this narrative with an eye-opening series of articles.
Yet one venue that you won't read about any of this is the New York Times, even though these sickening crimes have happened right in its backyard.
Is this another case of "not the Catholic Church"? It sure seems like it.
The Times has never been shy about trumpeting cases involving allegations of abuse by Catholic priests decades ago. Just last week, for example, it relayed the unconfirmed story that an archbishop in Ireland, who died in 1973, was the subject of abuse allegations years after he died.
A glaring double standard? Absolutely.
Indeed, we must demand justice and compassion for victims of clergy abuse. But let us demand equity, fairness, and perspective in the reporting of the Catholic Church abuse narrative.
The New York Times continues to not deliver any of this at all.
-- Dave Pierre is the author of the new book, Catholic Priests Falsely Accused: The Facts, The Fraud, The Stories. Dave is also the creator of TheMediaReport.com and is a contributing writer to NewsBusters.
