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| The Record has long ignored safety problems in Ford police cruisers. |
Don't bother trying to climb into the brain of Editor Francis Scandale: It's the size of a pea.
Don't bother trying to understand why he loves bonding with other males over sports or why he favors slapping fellow editors on the ass to signal a job well-done.
With the government on the brink of default and readers still trying to make some sense of the slaughter in Norway, Scandale thinks the most important story of the day for The Record of Woodland Park is the end of a football lockout.
Did he order the inane headline at the top of Page 1 today, seemingly an appeal to like-minded readers?
Strap on your helmets
What was the news copy desk thinking? Are readers literally going to go looking for a football helmet? Do even hardened fans wear helmets in front of the TV?
Maybe readers are being told to put on helmets as protection from Scandale, who continues to bombard them with distracting nonsense.
Or perhaps Scandale gives prominence to this story as recognition of how NFL owners are greedily grabbing for more money -- an issue he's familiar with since fellow jock Stephen A. Borg took over as publisher five years ago.
Ford gets a pass
The A-1 story on turnpike lawsuit settlements at the bottom of the page inadvertently highlights safety problems with the Ford Crown Victoria -- used by police departments across North Jersey -- a story the paper has avoided for years.
Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptors went out of control at high speeds, killing Teaneck and Paramus officers. Twelve other officers were killed between 1983 and 2002 when cruisers were rear-ended and caught fire, according to CNN.
Today's A-1 story in The Record reports a 19-year-old fashion model was trapped and burned to death in 2006 after her 2003 Ford Crown Victoria taxi stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike, and was rear-ended by another vehicle traveling 45 mph to 50 mph.
Running in place
Scandale thought more of the football story than two pieces on A-3 today about Governor Christie's ambitions for national office, including his attempts to hide a meeting last year with the head of the conservative Fox News channel.
Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes made sure she made room in Local for the burglary of eight unlocked cars in Tenafly, where Borg lives (L-3).
Sun stroke
Road Warrior Columnist John Cichowski must have been suffering from heat stroke when he wrote his Sunday L-1 column on leaving pets in cars during the heat wave.
What happened to his mission of writing about commuting problems?
The lead article in Local on Sunday -- how politics affect solar-power projects -- was well-researched, but the reporter erred on the location of Bergen County's major installations, as an A-2 correction notes today.
An editorial on O-2 Sunday praises first lady Michelle Obama's program to attack childhood obesity, but is strangely silent on what New Jersey first lady Mary Pat Christie is doing about the problem here.
Unfortunately, Staff Writer Scott Fallon's cover story in Travel on Sunday -- "36 Hours in Washington, D.C." -- adopts a format The New York Times has used for many, many years, and smacks of shameless copying.
Victor, have you ever actually seen Scandale slap, fondle or otherwise touch a male employee's buttocks? I'm calling bullshit on that.
ReplyDeleteI attended only a few news meetings.
ReplyDeleteFondle? Touch? I just said "slap."
In other words, you made it up.
ReplyDeleteReally?
ReplyDeleteDon't male editors at The Record have to sign consent forms that absolve the paper of responsibility for Scandale's actions in news meetings?
Of course not. Stupid lie. Show us a copy of this form
ReplyDeleteI was never an editor and don't have the form.
ReplyDeleteYou seem upset. Are you one of the editors who signed the release form?
Of course, the slapping sounds emerging from the news meetings could have been Scandale riding head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and thwacking her ample buttocks -- in a bid to light a fire under the local assignment editors.
As we all know, that would never work, but would make good theater.
To Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteTry again. Your last comment didn't pass muster.
Anonymous responds:
ReplyDelete"I will die of shame. My copy has been rejected by Victor Sasson. If only I could bring myself to say something nice about him (cut briefly to gag sounds), all kinds of people who used to work for the Record but who got fired ... would love me. It is tempting to sell out for that opportunity, but I'll pass."
My advice: Be nice, moron.
Anonymous took umbrage at me asking him/her to "be nice" and allowed as how I am "rotten."
ReplyDeleteHa, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.