Saturday, April 16, 2011

Should the judge have been so chummy?

IMG_7222Image by cuddi via Flickr
After reading The Record today, a subscriber tries to keep from vomiting.

Where did that good-for-nothing Dwight Gooden come from to dominate today's front page?

And why didn't the timid reporter interview the judge after Gooden's sentencing hearing to give readers some insight into why he gave the former pitcher a slap on the wrist for cocaine abuse and endangering the life of his 5-year-old son (A-1)?

Politicians who take credit for change are nothing new, but now The Record of Woodland Park's journalists are getting into the act.

Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin is positively giddy over the announcement of official talks on merging the jails in Bergen and Passaic counties (A-1 and A-13) -- an idea he floated in a March 25 column.

But Publisher Stephen A. Borg's scheme to save money by moving Doblin's office into the main lockup isn't going anywhere, because of fears no one can guarantee the editor's personal safety.

The story on a deal to develop more than 15 acres near the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee doesn't say whether this is the sixth or seventh "historic" agreement the paper has reported in the last 30 years (L-1).

Staff Writer Kara Yorio allows her sources to define a story on shopping at warehouse stores such as Costco Wholesale (F-1).

By apparently not setting foot in any of the stores, she ignores all the high-quality, organic and naturally raised food -- including fresh and frozen wild-caught seafood -- available at prices no other place can match.

Thanks to Editor Francis Scandale, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes, Features Director Barbara Jaeger and their minions for another half-baked edition that raises more questions than it answers.

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3 comments:

  1. Judges rarely if anytime grant interviews, which may be why The Record never reported on your alleged lawsuit. (I say alleged because you wrote about it bit we never read about it in the paper)

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  2. In this case, the judge seemed to have planned throwing a baseball to the defendant, and even penned a note to go with it and his comments in open court.

    OK. He's a sports fan. I get it. But the prosecutor pointed out Dwight Gooden has repeatedly broken promises to stop abusing drugs, so why probation?

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  3. As for my suit, The Record is very selective in reporting age-discrimination cases, and I didn't expect to see a story in the paper about it.

    Kibret Markos, the reporter who covers the courthouse, did hear my opening statement, but I never saw him after that during the five-day trial.

    I called The Associated Press in Newark after I filed my suit, but the reporter declined to write a story, explaining that if the agency reported every age-bias case, it would be filing stories on nothing else.

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