Iconic New York TV journalist Arnold Diaz, known for his signature “Shame” segments exposing wrongdoing, has died.
The longtime investigative reporter died Tuesday following a battle with a cancer known as multiple myeloma. He was 74.
A Brooklyn native, Diaz’s storied journalism career spanned five decades before his retirement from New York’s PIX 11 last year.
He won 48 Emmy awards for his consumer investigative reporting, which uncovered misconduct and held the powerful to account, often prompting action from law enforcement, according to his bio on the station’s website.
He built his “Shame on You” franchise at CBS2, where he worked between the 1970s and 1990s. He went on to do several iterations of the segment later in his career. He also worked at Fox 5 and for ABC News.
“I’ve been lucky to have had a dream job, standing up for the little guy, sticking it to the bad guys. 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,” Diaz said, looking back on his career in a PIX 11 broadcast announcing his retirement last year.
“Complaints about lousy landlords, greedy businesses, incompetent government agencies. The liars, cheats and con artists were rarely punished,” he said. “But we tracked them down, confronted them on camera — a public shaming that often resulted in victims’ problems being resolved.”
He also highlighted some of his signature work during the announcement:
CBS2 remembered Diaz as a “beloved” colleague.
Longtime PIX11 meteorologist Irv Gikofsky, known as Mr. G, said Diaz was a “class act.”
“What you saw on air was [Diaz] off air. And most importantly, he was always there for everybody,” he said, per PIX 11.
Diaz is survived by his wife, Shawn, three children and twin grandsons.
His son, Alex Diaz, told the Daily Beast his dad was unstoppable.
“If you are a human, shame is a thing that you feel. It can be a force for good, and that’s what he did with it. He was just doing good his whole life,” he said.
Alex Diaz told the site his dad also loved sports, music and working out, and he attended the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival this year.
CORRECTION: A prior version of this story misstated the length of Diaz’s career.