Hard news, soft news, no news

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It happens overnight. The front page of The Record of Woodland Park goes from hard news to soft news or no news with a command from dictatorial Editor Frank Scandale. When I worked there, the Page 1 editor would emerge from the afternoon news meeting and start listing what "Frank wants" and what "Frank doesn't want," even down to the words copy editors were to put into headlines.

Scandale, of course, is only yielding to the pressure on him to sell newspapers as local readers abandon The Record. And you thought putting out a newspaper was a group effort?

Today, an extended story on "sexting," with a large photo illustration, dominates Page 1, informing readers "a federal court may soon decide the legality of sexting" or "sending racy pictures of a young teen" over a cellphone.

Although the story reports a teacher at a Bergen County regional high school was charged with engaging a 16-year-old girl in sexting, the federal appeals court case involves a Pennsylvania school district and a ruling is expected "within the next few months." Even though that court has jurisdiction over New Jersey, the case seems destined to go to the high court, so what's the compulsion of putting this on the front page today?


What about Haiti? Old news. What about a poll on whether state residents think Governor Christie can cut property taxes? A promo on the front is enough. What about local news? There is no local news worthy of Page 1.

The bottom corner of A-1 has another story on autism, which only serves to highlight how little The Record reports on Alzheimer's disease. The editors are incompetent, lazy and desperate, and now we can see they also are discriminating.


But not discriminating enough to recognize the importance of local food news. Above the masthead on Page 1, the editors promote the syndicated Relish magazine, which is inserted into  The Record and hundreds of other newspapers, but not the local market or deli or recipes from local chefs that appear today in Better Living.

The Road Warrior column on the front of the Local section contains a major inaccuracy. The massive Toyota recall involves accelerator pedals that stick, not "unintended acceleration," also called pedal error, which is when a driver mistakenly presses down on the accelerator pedal, thinking it's the brake pedal. This has happened in vehicles where the two pedals are too close to each other.

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Two huge photos of the old Giants stadium (above left) on L-1 tell you there isn't any good local news today in the former Hackensack daily, so the editors had to fill the space with fluff. Inside, the only traffic accident pictured occurred near the paper's new headquarters in Woodland Park.

Education, development or municipal news of Hackensack, Englewood, Teaneck and other important Bergen County towns? Not today. You have to wonder how some reporters keep their jobs. As for the editors, they're secure in the  knowledge the Borgs are too busy enriching themselves to pay much attention to what is happening to a once-great local newspaper.