Image via WikipediaPage 1 of The Record of Woodland Park is telling us today that a bid for a Super Bowl at the new Meadowlands stadium in 2014 is more important than our kids' education now. I see Super Bowl and think Toilet Bowl.
The editors are telling us a tedious story on highway workers who can cash in vacation and sick days should concern us more than the possible layoffs of thousands of teachers. By comparison, the newspaper's own vacation and sick-day policies were a slap in the face when I was a news copy editor there.
No matter what story Staff Writer John Brennan works on, he sounds like he is doing public relations for the subject -- whether it's Jayson Williams, who killed his limo driver after a night of drinking, or the Jets and the Giants. Today, he is true to himself -- 99.6% public relations man and .4% journalist.
I can't get too excited about employees for an agency that doesn't use tax money who decide to work, then cash in unused vacation and sick days. At The Record, if you didn't use sick days, you'd lose them, and the newsroom had an antiquated system for requesting vacation time.
At one time, the paper offered $100 to any employee with a perfect attendance record. After a few years, the reward ended and the number of workers taking mental-health days soared. Even today, some reporters manage to write one story a week -- or in the case of Staff Writer Jean Rimbach, an average of one story a year -- and the editors don't seem to notice or care. Rimbach is said to be a favorite of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes, the newsroom's clucking Mother Hen.
For many, many years, one of my colleagues on the news copy desk fell asleep regularly and had to be awakened to write headlines. He also came in late 20 minutes every day, claiming he was delayed by traffic, but it was clear he didn't leave the house until 5:30 p.m., the start of his shift. He wanted to be paid for his commute, but in the process, he worked two weeks a year less than the rest of us. Another colleague edited three or four stories a night, while the rest of us did 10 to 15, yet the slacker was given supervisory duties.
The place was so dysfunctional and short-staffed that when I wanted to go on vacation for three weeks or more, I needed special permission from Editor Frank Scandale. If my early November birthday fell on the same day as the general election, I had to get special permission to celebrate with a night out.
The A-1 story on teacher layoffs reports that Englewood handed out 88 this week. Surely, fewer teachers will improve education in the segregated elementary and middle schools the paper has ignored for years. The story makes no mention of layoffs in Hackensack.
Inside Local, there are education stories about Dumont and Ringwood, but when was the last time a Hackensack education story appeared?
A story on the election Tuesday of a new mayor in Paterson -- which usually is covered far better than Hackensack -- apparently was delayed for a day.
My favorite story during my time at the Record is about the time I walked into the office about 15 minutes late, having done so a few times previously, and Victor asked me, "Hey Aaron, if you live five minutes from the paper, how come you're 15 minutes late?" He had me there, dead to rights. I tried "The dog ate my Rolex," but he knew I only had a cat.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to see you haven't lost your sense of humor. Your comment on the grass-fed beef post in my other blog is priceless.
ReplyDeleteAnd let's don't forget that the copy editor who occasionally dozed off was among the best headline writers and overall copy editors the Record ever had, and diligently backed up in the slot on many a Saturday.
ReplyDeleteSo I guess if you write great headlines, you can get away with anything, including putting in for time you didn't work. I disagree that he was a good editor of copy -- he often missed things.
ReplyDeleteVictor I am very disappointed in you. You seem to have become an imbittered, sour old man. Your attack of the "sleeping" "slacking" copy editor was not only vicious and mean, but untruthful. As you might recall, I sat but one desk away from both of you for most of those years. If anyone came in late, it was YOU. To say nothing of all the personal telephone calls concering matters at home I don't know what they were all about, but it seemed at least once an hour was some kine of domestic problem. The person you derided had a condition called "sleep apnea" which in time was treated with a CPAP machine, plus medicine. But d4spite his being "asleep" he was THE top copy editor in the place as I far as I, and many others, were concerned. And he had many, many awards to prove it. And what was the purpose of attacking the decent and kind man? What "benefit" do you gain from it? What satisfaction? Please examine your conscience. p.s. he did NOT come in late. My hours were before his, and I was there every day when he came in. Maybe once a week he would be 10 minutes late because of traffic on River St. The rest, on time. What were you talking about, you just made that up. And for what? Get ahold of yourself Victor. We are both old men, all three of you. We are going to die soon. Make your peace, try to be a decent person.
ReplyDeleteNice hearing from you, Paul, I think. He deliberately came in late for years until the supervisors put a stop to it. You may not have been there yet when he was coming in late every day. I was.
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