Image by katewrightson via FlickrDid anything much happen on Wednesday besides politicians holding post-election news conferences in Washington, Trenton and Hackensack to foretell the change in the balance of power come January? Along with an exaggerated main headline in The Record of Woodland Park today, the arrest of a "seasoned burglar" in Little Ferry was good enough for Page 1.
New reality beginsin Washington
That main headline seems premature -- a couple of months early. But I guess Editor Francis Scandale needed to employ some hype to get readers interested in today's political postmortem.
The quote of the day was buried inside:
"Short of suicide, I don't know what I have to do to convince you people that I'm not running [for president]," Governor Christie told reporters (A-8). But should Christie have been more mindful of the recent suicides of a Rutgers student and Chef Joseph Cerniglia of Campania Restaurant in Fair Lawn, and chosen another way to make his point?
In head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section, there is plenty of news from towns that had elections, but Hackensack readers were left out in the cold again.
Downplaying the damage
The first Business page (L-8) doesn't do much with an appraisal of New Jersey's economy from the Rutgers Economic Advisory Service. Is the paper downplaying this report to take the heat off Christie, who announced today the state will shed another 1,200 workers in January to balance the budget?
Rutgers says the state's economy is being held back "by public sector job losses." The jobless rate will fall to 9.2% next year, but it will be nearly another decade before it returns to 5.5% (in 2020), the university said, noting that 269,000 jobs were "lost" in New Jersey during the recession.
How many jobs did President and Publisher Stephen A. Borg cut at North Jersey Media Group before and after he took out a $3.65 million company mortgage to buy a new home? Will we ever know?
Rating food writers
What happens when you send a dessert-obsessed restaurant reviewer shopping for bottled marinara sauces? You get an incomplete story on the front of Better Living today, one that leaves out one of the best sauces out there.
Elisa Ung compares five bottled sauces, all of them a mere 24 or 25 ounces, ranging in price from $2.39 to $7.99. She completely omits the great marinara sauce from Fairway Market in Paramus. It costs about $2.99 for a generous 32 ounces.
She also ignores marinara sauce made by Jerry's Gourmet & More in Englewood, just like former Food Editor Bill Pitcher ignored Jerry's generosity when writing about markets that provide free samples to customers.
In the marinara-sauce and a previous cupcake-mix comparison, Ung notes, "The expensive celebrity-chef products aren't doing so well."
But the only other food coverage today is another promotional story about a celebrity chef's new book for children. Maybe I should read the long interview to help me put dinner on the table tonight.
Today's front page from the Newseum
What a disappointing article on something we all use. It also ignored other significant sauces like Classico and Paul Newman in grocery stores. Also, Trader Joe's has inexpensive -- and organic -- marinaras.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Very superficial, like the writer of the article. All that sugar she consumes is affecting her reporting abilities, assuming she ever had any.
ReplyDeleteWay to go Fairway! There are indeed more sauces than you could shake a stick at, all you have to do is walk down the pasta sauce aisle at ShopRite and before you know it, you're in the next county.
ReplyDeleteI am sure would of left no stone unturned had the article been on fattening deserts.
ReplyDeleteOf curse, that last comment is referring to Elisa Ung, who never met a dessert she didn't eat.
ReplyDeleteOops. That should be "of course," not "of curse." Cursed!
ReplyDelete