Friday, April 23, 2010

Is there a message in this front page?

Intensely reading the newspaper in Addis AbabaImage by Terje S. Skjerdal via Flickr













Teachers protest in Teaneck over state aid cuts and pension changes. A man pleads not guilty in the death of his wife, a Bergenfield teacher (though that phrase never appears in the story). And the executive director of a preschool and child-care agency for Paterson children gets a $300,000 compensation package. That's the front page of The Record of Woodland Park today.

Inside, though, an editorial on Page A-20 finally focuses on home rule as the real reason our property taxes are so high, and urges Governor Christie to devote some of his attention to patronage jobs and the system's incredibly expensive duplication: For example, we have 70 police chiefs in Bergen County alone, and more than 70 school superintendents. 

Of course, this corrupt system is decades old, but The Record's all-seeing, all-knowing and all-powerful editors have done little so far to expose it or call for its dismantling. Maybe, they are defending "neighborhood schools" -- code for the predominately white education system outside of Hackensack, Teaneck, Englewood, Paterson and Passaic city.

Staff Writer Jean Rimbach led an investigation of private but publicly funded preschools about five years ago and wrote a three-part series exposing inflated salaries and other wasteful spending -- as detailed in today's front-page story about Ron Williams and the B.J. Wilkerson Memorial Childhood Development Center. I guess her series, under the guidance of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes, amounted to little more than a loud, journalistic fart -- and brought no reform.


The same can be said about another Sykes-inspired, Rimbach-led probe -- this one focused on a single man, Michael Mordaga, former chief of detectives in the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office. 

This was another turd Sykes and Rimbach tried to polish -- as was evident from the single, weak story on the Local front last Dec. 16. Yet, this so-called investigation took nearly three years and squandered hundreds of thousands of dollars in salaries for Rimbach and other reporters, including Monsy Alvarado and Shawn Boburg. 

Could that money have prevented staff layoffs?

Now, Sykes apparently has the hapless Alvarado investigating Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa, a former assemblyman, forcing the reporter to ignore any other news about River City, where The Record was founded in 1895.

Of course, none of this lousy journalism could go on without a total lack of interest in the newsroom shown in the last few years by Publisher Stephen A. Borg and his big sister, Vice President and General Counsel Jennifer A. Borg. These sophisticated siblings apparently are more interested in the Englewood wine bar in which they've invested.


In Better Living today, vegetarians or families who have taken a meatless pledge shouldn't bother reading the review of Soram, a Korean restaurant in Norwood with a limited menu. 

In fact, Restaurant Reviewer Bill Pitcher apparently ate only one dish without beef or pork. The meat-obsessed Pitcher also mistakenly calls that dish -- bibimbap -- "the vegetarian standby on most Korean menus" (the dish is almost always topped with ground meat, vegetables and an egg -- cooked or raw).  He doesn't even mention whether the restaurant serves complimentary, non-meat side dishes such as kimchi, bean sprouts and fish.

The appearance of several house ads in the food pages today tells you Pitcher, the food editor, seems to be running out of news. What's the explanation for a restaurant health inspection list that includes only 12 of the 90 or so towns in the former Hackensack daily's circulation area? (Photo: Reading the paper in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.)


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5 comments:

  1. Tuesday, April 20, Victor writes: "I will no longer publish any personal attacks or other mean-spirited sniping."

    Today, Victor writes: "Now, Sykes apparently has the hapless Alvarado investigating Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa"

    And: "These sophisticated siblings apparently are more interested in the Englewood wine bar in which they've invested."

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  2. I see both of those comments as journalism issues. You're defending the editor you called Mama Crass, the one who kept the Mordaga probe going so long?

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  3. No, I'm not. I'm defending one of the finest reporters I've ever worked with, one with immense integrity, one whom you have unfairly tied to your whipping post.

    Monsy is far from hapless. She's as bright, talented, tenacious and hard-working as they come. But YOU wouldn't know that.

    Deirdre isn't worth a penny per pound -- she's mean, vindictive, Loretta Weinberg's too, basically -- but she's been given the authority that allows her to tell the Alvarados of the world what to do.

    They, in their need to remain gainfully employed, have no choice but to follow directions -- or face extermination.

    I've worked with her, and with Giovanna Fabiano, with Ashley K., with S. Boburg, Nick Clunn, and several others, and have found them not a notch below stellar.

    All I'm saying is: Lay off the people who are actually trying to make a difference. Focus on Mama Crass, a major part of the cancer that has brought down what was once a powerful voice; look at the Mouth Breather, who, according to certain management types, was a "mistake" from the get-go (wait till that lazy moron reads this).

    And don't forget the spineless ninny who has run the operation for nearly 10 years but STILL can't keep talking about Denver. As you have so eloquently noted, the fish stinks from the (bald) head.

    I was assignment editor for 10 years, Victor, and online chief for nearly two. I know who brings it and who doesn't. Not once have I seen you give Kibret Markos the slightest recognition.

    But y'know what? I'd put him up against ANY court reporter in the country. The man has a law degree, yet he writes in a voice that the common person can understand. And he files for online in a heartbeat, often forgoing lunch to report a morning court proceeding before nailing a p.m.-er before 5:30. He puts in the time, the effort, and NEVER seeks anything in return beyond an honest day's pay for an honest day's work.

    Lindy Washburn, Mary Jo Layton, Liz Llorente, Charlie Stile, Herb Jackson, Tom Troncone, Claude Deltieure -- not to mention Tom Franklin, Tariq Zehawi (the best breaking news journalist I have EVER worked with), Kim and Mariel (the lifeblood of online), and John Petrick -- a feature writer who, forced into a breaking news beat, reinvented himself. These are not only talented pros; they are dedicated. They give all the have.

    In the end, though, they have to obey direction (assignment) or find new jobs. And in this environment, it's far, far easier to try and hold on to what you've got than to wade into the shrinking swamp pit.

    P.S. Using the weekly reporters to write daily copy, so that they could then return to their extended deadlines while Record reporters chased down deeper, important stories, was MY idea. Frick and Frank shot it down, but guess what? Suddenly, it's a viable option.

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  4. JerryD's comment above express his views of the newsroom when he was working there. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of anything he says.

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