History
Andrew Disanto is a TV journalist working for Channel 8 in New York City.[1] His cameraman was named Jeff, and they had their own mobile unit.[2]
Supervillain the Beetle tried to frame Spider-man for the death of small-time criminal Terry Burns, whom Spider-man left tied in his web fluid.[3] The Beetle then released Burns, who then died accidentally of an overdose; then the Beetle tied Burns in an imitation web fluid, so it would seem that Burns had died because Spider-man had tied him up and left. The Beetle stole the security tapes revealing his own presence, and provided a copy of the edited tapes to Disanto. To do so, the Beetle used the alias Jake N. Binners to approach DiSanto and met him in the George Stacy Memorial Halfway House, knowing well that Disanto would protect the identity of his sources.[2] Disanto's exclusive images started the smear campaign against Spider-man, much to J. Jonah Jameson's chagrin.[3] Soon afterward, Disanto made on-street interviews asking the question "Spiderman: Butcher or benefactor?",[1] then was at Ryker's Island to report that Spider-Man had been arrested and was to be publicly unmasked (but Spider-Man escaped before that).[2]
Spider-man eventually tracked Disanto and took him from the mobile unit to literally shake him around and get information on Disanto's source for the images. Disanto ordered Jeff to film the scene, but Jeff was too shocked to handle his camera properly. Disanto told Spider-man about "Binners" and the address; Spider-Man left to eventually clear his name. Once fred, Disanto threatened to fire Jeff, but decided against it as long as Jeff could give a live report of Disanto speaking.[2]