I&rsquo;ve always felt my purpose was to bring light to and shine a light on others. My passion always has been storytelling. And my gifts, I feel, are creativity and the ability to connect with people. So, I feel extraordinarily blessed that I get to do all of that in my own community on NewsdayTV.



	As a young child, I would lug around my dad&rsquo;s VHS camera interviewing people and making &ldquo;segments&rdquo; (although I didn&rsquo;t know they were segments at the time). I was always curious, wanting to learn about other people and create. In high school, I loved doing the morning announcements and starting off my classmates&rsquo; day with positivity and the information they needed to know. I would go backstage at the school play to interview performers and then report for a TV show that would air in the cafeteria. That led me to a scholarship at Boston University to pursue a career in television and broadcast journalism. While a student, I was promoted from intern to on-air reporter at our local neighborhood cable news show. And that eventually led to a 17-year career, and counting, reporting on local news and neighbors on my home of Long Island.



	Over the years, I have had the excitement of reporting from some of the biggest entertainment events and interviewing the world&rsquo;s biggest stars. But what&rsquo;s closest to my heart is the privilege of telling the stories of &ldquo;ordinary&rdquo; people doing extraordinary things. Because of the platform I&rsquo;ve been given, some of these stories have changed the course of people&rsquo;s businesses and lives. I am so grateful for the ability to make a difference in my own community. That&rsquo;s what I want to continue to do. I know how important Newsday is in the fabric of Long Island.

Elisa DiStefano

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Newsday Journalists: Elisa DiStefano

Newsday

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There&rsquo;s nothing quite like breaking news.

I&rsquo;ve stood on the edge of wildfires in California, tracked serial killers across the country and sat in living rooms of families, sharing the heartbreak of losing a loved one.

I do it because these stories need to be told.

My dad taught me that, when he was the editor of a newspaper in our sleepy Colorado mountain town. He knew how hard the work was and the responsibility of listening to what people have to say.

The best part of my job is doing something different every day. I might be running to a fire, or a court, or speaking with experts to unpack complicated issues.

I have the privilege to tell the stories of people on Long Island and to report on the issues that matter to Long Islanders. I don&rsquo;t take the stories I have to tell lightly. I know what it&rsquo;s like to speak with a grieving mother and the most vulnerable populations.

I&rsquo;ve been covering breaking news for nearly 20 years, including 10 years at Newsday.

I started my career in Southern California, where I covered criminal justice and public safety. I learned there are great stories everywhere; you just have to find them.

I came to Newsday because I knew it was a great publication. It puts resources back into the community so its team of reporters, photographers and broadcasters can tell their stories.

I live on Long Island and I&rsquo;m raising my family here. My children go to local schools and I&rsquo;m in touch with local issues.

I know the complexities of local government and I know who can get us the right information, quickly.

On Long Island, I&rsquo;ve chronicled the recovery after Superstorm Sandy, the search of a suspect&#39;s home in the Gilgo Beach killings, protests throughout both counties and the heartache of first responder funerals.

I hope that every day I can earn readers&rsquo; trust, because I know how much Newsday means to this community.

John Asbury

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John has spent nearly two decades chasing breaking news and covering everything from California wildfires to Superstorm Sandy. As a Newsday reporter for 10 years, he works hard to earn the trust of Long Islanders every day.

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Newsday Journalists: John Asbury

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Education: Cornell University 
	 
	Neil Best specializes in sports media but covers all sports, with an emphasis on football and hockey. He first worked at Newsday as a part-time employee in the autumn of 1982, then returned in 1985 after two years covering sports for The Anchorage (Alaska) Times. He covered New York City high schools in the late 1980s, St. John&rsquo;s basketball in the early &rsquo;90s and the New York Giants from 1995 to 2004 before moving on to the media beat.&nbsp;



	Honors and Awards:&nbsp;2017 Sportswriter of the Year, National Sports Media Association New York State.

Neil Best

Long Island

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Find out what's happening with Nassau & Suffolk news, Long Island schools, plus the latest crime, courts, politics. Coverage includes Fire Island, the Hamptons & North Fork.

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