That time a NY Post writer libeled Ask a Pol publicly while privately subscribing for UAP updates
READ: Ask a Pol's letter to NY Post (Oct. 4, 2024)
We were recently surprised to see that the New York Post’s Steven Greenstreet blocked us on X instead of apologizing for libeling us. Seems he’s still sore from the spanking his bosses gave him this fall for his blatant public lies about the two Ask a Pol subscriptions he maintains to this day.
See, last fall, Greenstreet publicly claimed “I’m not a subscriber” on X, even as he maintains two free Ask a Pol subscriptions.
While Ask a Pol founder Matt Laslo is NOT known for his restraint on social media, instead of publicly calling out Greenstreet on his bafflingly easily verifiable lies, he didn’t engage him on X.
Instead, Laslo — who moonlights as a journalism and political communications professor — penned a letter to Steven’s bosses at the New York Post, because his conduct was beyond unethical and broke the most basic tenet of journalism: Don’t lie.
Journalists don’t lie. Writers who do are not journalists, they’re fiction writers.
We hadn’t thought of Greenstreet since the fall, but we now see he didn’t get the memo and chose to block us instead of apologizing and correcting the record.
We’re publishing Laslo’s letter for the first time not only to correct Greenstreet’s public lies but also so the community can see who he really is.
Laslo’s letter to NY Post top brass:
“I’m concerned with some of the actions of your employee, Steven Greenstreet,” reads Laslo’s — who’s also a new media and journalism professor — Oct. 4, 2024 letter to the NY Post. “Mr. Greenstreet’s making libelous accusations about me and my publication. Oddly, Mr. Greenstreet has denied subscribing to Ask a Pol, as seen in his September 29, 2024 tweet below. However, he’s subscribed twice to Ask a Pol under two different New York Post email addresses.
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“In honor of the New York Post relying on Ask a Pol for its UAP coverage.”
“While I’m an 18-year veteran political journalist — as well as a journalism, communications and new media lecturer — Greenstreet has been knowingly libeling me as a “UFO fanatic,” even as he’s joined our Discord livestreams and questioned our federal lawmaker guests himself. Exactly what I do at the Capitol daily for Ask a Pol.
“In fact, just a few weeks ago, The New York Post relied on Ask a Pol’s exclusive reporting on Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand as the basis for your Sept. 15, 2024 article, “Congress to get update on UFOs from Pentagon as Gillibrand presses for data.”
Laslo letter cont’d:
“While I understand Mr. Greenstreet harbors some personal animosity towards me, his blatant lying about his use of my service and his false, defamatory personal attacks are deeply unfortunate.
“I’ve befriended many New York Post reporters over the years, and I know Mr. Greenstreet’s actions are not representative of your organization. Still, I hope you will counsel Mr. Greenstreet on appropriate journalistic practices, otherwise you’ll be hearing from me again in the near future (letter cont’d below).
Ask a Pol founder Matt Laslo’s letter to NY Post (Oct. 2024)
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NY Post response to Ask a Pol letter:
We were pleasantly surprised that within an hour of sending this letter, a NY Post editor called and apologized.
A couple hours later, the other senior Post editor called, repeated the heartfelt apology on Greenstreet’s behalf. But his bosses promised they took the issue seriously and promised they were going to have a talk with Greenstreet about journalism ethics.
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“In honor of the New York Post relying on Ask a Pol for its UAP coverage.”
Greenstreet’s still an Ask a Pol subscriber today
While we never expected an apology from Steven himself, it recently came to our attention that his reaction to our letter was to simply block us on social media.* So we just want to warn folks that Greenstreet brazenly lies.
Unlike his bosses who impressed us with their professionalism and standards, as far as we can tell — he did block us, after all — Greenstreet remains unapologetic for deceiving his audience (let alone our audience...) about how he leans on Ask a Pol for original UAP news from Washington.
We’re glad Greenstreet’s still an Ask a Pol subscriber (twice!), we just hope one day he matures to the point where he feels comfortable admitting that publicly.
Que sera sera.
— Prof. Laslo
*Ask a Pol maintains a no blocking rule on social media. That’s partly because we’re critical of public officials for blocking their constituents on social media, but, more so, it’s because we’re journalists.
Ask a Pol strives to see the world as it is, not as we socially engineer it to be.
Back when I was on the bird, Greenie blocked me because—well, I’m not sure why, except maybe I objected to his comments on David Grusch. The truth is, the irrationality and dishonesty of anti-UAP propagandists posing as objective journalists and scientists knows no bounds. Either it is a kind of inability to expand their worldview or they simply are acting in cahoots with the gatekeepers. Someday we might get an answer to this.
Very fascinating but also not surprising based on his past actions. Great work with that letter!