Image via WikipediaEditors and reporters at The Record of Woodland Park love those neatly packaged news stories, where they can land on Page 1 or the front of another section by merely covering a so-called news conference or a meeting or by rewriting a report or getting reaction to a report.
If the reporters are lazy, then the editors are even lazier. Today's front page is dominated by two such packages: Governor Christie's news conference and a board meeting of the state sports authority. Enterprise? Not needed. Legwork? Unnecessary. All the reporter has to do is show up and take some notes.
For example, Christie is full of thunder about the huge salaries and lobbying costs at the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission. But the agency has been around forever, so why didn't a Record reporter uncover this years ago?
The lead story on the front of Local today came out of a planning board meeting. Two other stories on L-1 are from a court ruling or based on reaction to a state report.
Only two stories in Local show some enterprise by reporters:
Staff Writer Elizabeth Llorente on the obstacles immigrants face when they try to go the legal route and get a green card, a subject she has neglected in favor of hot-button stories on illegal immigrants.
Staff Writer Jay Levin, who writes most of the extended obituaries on North Jersey residents, did a lot of legwork for his piece on L-6 today about the life of a former Bergen County parish priest.
Looking for Hackensack news in the former Hackensack daily? All you'll see is a story based on rulings by two federal judges in lawsuits filed against Police Chief Ken Zisa. Englewood and Teaneck stories are notable by their absence.
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