Investigative reporter Arnold Diaz, a New York City staple best known for his “Shame on You” segments, died at 74 on Tuesday.
Diaz suffered from multiple myeloma, the longtime journalist’s son Alex told the Daily Beast.
He won 48 New York Emmys throughout his prestigious career which saw him land at CBS2, Fox 5, ABC and PIX11.
“I’ve been lucky to have had a dream job, standing up for the little guy, sticking it to the bad guys,” Diaz said when he retired last year. “In a town where money talks, my ‘Shame on You’ reports, later called ‘Shame Shame Shame’ and ‘What a Shame!’, gave voice to victims whose complaints were too often ignored.
“Complaints about lousy landlords, greedy businesses, incompetent government agencies. The liars, cheats and con artists were rarely punished. But we tracked them down, confronted them on camera, a public shaming that often resulted in victims’ problems being resolved.”
Diaz was born in Brooklyn and later attended Florida State University, where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media Studies in 1971.
He then earned his master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University.
His popular CBS segment, “Shame on You”, saw him stand up for everyday New Yorkers.
Turner Classic Movies described the segment as where Diaz would “track down and confront con artists and other unscrupulous individuals who are accused of lying, cheating, stealing and abusing the system while taking advantage of unsuspecting victims”
“Your anger can be a gift,” his son Alex told the outlet. “Injustice is always worth calling out, no matter how it makes people feel, or how it makes you feel sometimes. My dad’s anger was a gift to the world.”
Some of Diaz’s work was explored in a 1994 New York Times feature, including a mailman charging welfare recipients for delivering their checks and a cab driver overcharging unknowing tourists.
“What I do is the video equivalent of putting people in the stocks, like in the old town squares, so honest people can throw rotten tomatoes at them,” Diaz said.
One of his final reports for PIX11 involved Spectrum wires hanging from a NYCHA development in Long Island City, causing safety issues such as the wind blowing the wires against residents’ windows and breaking them.
He is survived by his wife, Shawn, three children and twin grandsons.
“I leave with no regrets,” Diaz said in 2022. “I’ve left my mark. I may miss the excitement but not the times I’ve been shoved, spit at and threatened with guns.”