The North Shore Leader
Newspaper on Long Island, New York
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The North Shore Leader is a weekly newspaper that serves the North Shore area of Long Island, New York.[1] As of 2022, The Leader has a reach of around 20,000 people.[1]
| Type | Weekly newspaper |
|---|---|
| Owner | Lally Communications |
| Publisher | Grant M. Lally |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | Locust Valley, New York, United States |
| Website | TheLeaderOnline.com |
The newspaper was founded in 1955 by John W. Knott Jr. It was acquired by the Lally family in the late 1990s.[2]
Congressman George Santos
Questions about American politician George Santos's finances first emerged in September 2022 in The North Shore Leader,[3]; no other news outlet reported on the story before the election.[2] In the October 20, 2022, edition of the newspaper listing political endorsements, it stated: "This newspaper would like to endorse a Republican for US Congress in NY3 (Oyster Bay, N Hempstead, NE Queens). But the GOP nominee – George Santos – is so bizarre, unprincipled and sketchy that we cannot."[4] The paper's publisher, Grant Lally, had run as a Republican for the same seat in previous years, and its coverage was inspired by tips from those active in local business and party politics.[2]
On December 19, 2022, The New York Times published an exposé related to the issues around Santos, leading to a follow-up piece in The Leader titled, "The Leader Told You So: US Rep-Elect George Santos is a Fraud – and Wanted Criminal."[5]
In December 2022, the paper was named as a recipient of an Americana Award from Semafor for "The Cassandra prize for best unheeded warning" regarding its reporting on Santos.[6]
On January 5, 2023, publisher Lally gave an interview to WNYC public radio describing more details about Santos: "He took one local political leader on a 5 or 6 hour odyssey, across the North Shore of Long Island pointing out lavish homes and claiming he owned them... It was lie on lie on lie on lie."[7]
In a January 2023 television interview with PBS NewsHour, he spoke of the reaction of other publishers of small newspapers: ". . . they're very cheered by this development that we were able to break this story. And it is now a national story, unfortunately, but it is a national story. And we broke it. And it has reenergized a lot of the local newsrooms here in New York, but, also, I think, global — around the U.S."[8]