Image by Nationaal Archief via FlickrThe Sunday paper leads with a crime story -- a Seton Hall student from Virginia is slain at a party in East Orange. Gripping news for Bergen County readers of The Record of Woodland Park.
The dominant A-1 story is about North Jersey's ridiculous home prices, still artificially high despite the recession, and for that we can thank the greedy real estate industry, whose advertising helps keep the paper afloat.
The third front-page story is about a Navy veteran whose slaying hasn't been solved. Why is this cold case on Page 1?
The Local section is another Deirdre Sykes' joke on readers. The big L-1 story has the headline, "Towns weigh change" -- a guaranteed room-clearer -- and the subhead uses the word "service" twice -- a major no-no.
Desk Warrior John "Limp Chick" Cichowski continues to roam far from his mission of writing about commuters, with a story on the driving record of a moron from a reality TV show. You won't find any Hackensack or Englewood news in the section.
Could there be anything more promotional than Elisa Ung's F-6 column on a single pizzeria in Allendale? Does she really expect us to believe the owner is "America's Best Pizza Maker," as an industry magazine proclaims? What a sell-out.
Three letters to the editor in Opinion today objected to the A-1 story Sept. 18 about an obscure Jewish practice of killing chickens for Yom Kippur. Let's hope the editors kill any more story ideas from Staff Writer Deena Yellin, if they involve Orthodox Jews.
Who isn't bored with the full page of photos in Travel showing readers holding up the section while on vacation? This is one page less in a thin, six-page section that the self-styled klutz of a travel editor has to fill with useful information for travelers.
Take a good look at those photos. All of the people appear to be white or Asian, which largely reflects the racial make-up of The Record newsroom, although Publisher Greedy Stevie Borg long ago gave the heave-ho to most of the older workers.
(Top photo: The Record's local news assignment desk.)
Note to readers
The man in me can't comprehend today's Teterboro tragedy -- on a MAJOR h'hway @ the LOCAL AIRPORT, drawing SEVERAL police agencies (local, county, state).
ReplyDeleteBut the publisher sees this dispatch hanging fire at 3 a.m.: "A stretch of Route 46 east near the Teterboro Airport has been shut down while police investigate a motor vehicle accident in which a pedestrian was struck." Sunday fuckers fled so fast, they didn't catch the extra word.
Imagine: A full HALF DAY later, these nimrods mustered no better than a brief that the h'way was closed after someone (no gender) was hit. No one even bothered to stick around to report when it reopened (See CLIFFVIEWPILOT.COM for THE COMPLETE STORY, w/an exclusive pic).
This is what customers pay for? Or izzit a ploy to "make" people buy the paper?
I talk to a LOT of people. And my people talk to people. And we keep hearing the same thing, from real folk to gov't folk to pols, cops, diner waitresses, you name 'em: No one takes the rag seriously.
On the other hand, CLIFFVIEWPILOT.COM is respected by a growing readership (gratuitous plug #1,103: We're 2 mos ahead of initial projections).
Why? We're trusted. We're loyal, not lazy. And more importantly, we're LOCAL, not loco.
When I was @ the River St. rathouse, I had one rule: We don't get beat in our own backyard. Ask Nicole, Leslie, Paulo, Peter, Kibret, Raghu, Karen, Seamus, Monique, Jason, Amy, Mitch. Skip Feeney: He'll cry like a schoolgirl with a skinned knee that I'm too strict, I'm prejudiced, I'm insensitive. Mental fuckin' midget.
("Mike, there's a fire in Emerson. Get on it." 20 mins later: "Mike, why are you still here?" "I called the police chief & left a message, I called the fire chief & left a message." "Did you call anyone else?" "Like who?" "Oh, I don't know.... How about the people ACROSS THE FUCKIN' STREET??!")
Remind me to tell you the story of how I handed Mike a clip file and he asked, "What this?" I have witnesses.
Think about it: With all their resources, they can't match a guy with a laptop, a hard-news G-spot, & a cellphone. The don't-get-beat mentality apparently left when I did. Semel's "LOCAL IS THE FRANCHISE" plea fell on deaf ears.
Someday soon, an outfit will show how its done. They'll be diverse -- ethnically, culturally, economically, trained not only as journos but as web masters, handy w/ a camcorder, clever w/ a headline, quick on the draw, steady, reliable. News in minutes, if not seconds.
We're truly liberated when we stop waiting for other sources to pay their debts and depend solely on ourselves. Remember that.
Sure our respective cases matter -- but only to our egos. Wouldn't it be better to OWN this town? To be in part responsible for their extinction? OK, for some it might not beat a hummer from a certain copy editor in the 2nd floor ladies room -- or, better yet, the press overlook room -- before deadline, no less. But it's still good. (I hate myself sometimes.)
Once some venture capital is flashed, the game changes. As the crusty battleship floods, Francis Dilbert dancing with Barbara Shovelface as Mama Crass croons (moos?) "Dream a Little Dream of Donuts," the talent will dive into the speedboat like Greg Louganis off the high board.
Trust me: The inevitable Big Mac Attack will come. And as we mourn this amazing, terribly misunderstood paradox of a man, his remains will barely be buried before the dipshits who reportedly sprung from his loins (can we be sure?) peddle the place quicker than a knockoff watch in Times Square. Only it ain't gonna be worth a bag of doorknobs.
In fact, people at NYLife tell me scared folks have been rollin' their pensions out before it's too late. Canaries in a coal mine?
More to come, of course....
Thanks for all the good reading.
ReplyDeleteThat pizza article was classic....classic crap. How can you write so much and still say absolutely nothing. Unreal.
ReplyDeleteAnd to think: Elisa Ung is so barren of ideas for her Sunday column, she has to write a veiled advertisement for a pizzeria. It's unfortunate that she is spending the paper's money and not her own. If it was her own money, she might take her job of being the voice of readers more seriously. Instead, she too often is the voice of restaurant owners.
ReplyDeleteWould anyone happen to know what Ung's salary is? Just curious. I need another reason cry myself to sleep at night.
ReplyDeleteWell, Bill Pitcher, her supervisor, was being paid $71,000+ a year. Work from there. I really don't know, but she is error-prone and her knowledge of food and North Jersey are superficial at best. What's her new supervisor, Susan Sherrill, being paid?
ReplyDelete