 Image via Wikipedia |
| The boardwalk at Point Pleasant Beach. |
The Record today again cranks up its public-relations machine for Governor Christie with a flattering photo and story on his drumming up business for the Jersey Shore after Hurricane Irene.
Back to the beach
Christie makes pitch for big Shore holiday
No problem with the upbeat Page 1 headlines, but the editors really screwed up the story's lead paragraph and photo captions on A-1 and A-6.
All three mistakenly put Christie in Point Pleasant, a separate community from Point Pleasant Beach, the one with the boardwalk.
Wrong-way Frank
It's a common error, but not one Editors Francis Scandale, Deirdre Sykes and Liz Houlton should be making, especially Houlton, who supervises the news copy desk, which is supposed to catch such boners.
Day after day, this trio's abject ignorance of all things Jersey gives readers the impression they wake up, look around and wonder, "How the f--- did I end up here?"
Greedy governor
Also on Page 1 today, Christie pulls more sleight of hand by grabbing as much as $1.25 billion from higher New Jersey Turnpike tolls to support road, bridge and mass-transit projects that are supposed to be paid for by the state Transportation Trust Fund, which is financed by the gasoline tax.
That money -- and another $1.8 billion from the Port Authority -- was supposed to help pay for new Hudson River rail tunnels, but the governor killed that project and grabbed the $3 billion-plus to preserve his conservative pledge not to raise taxes.
Flood of tears
One story that should have been on the front page today is the L-3 account of the state's worst flood in 1903, though the photo caption doesn't mention the city where a boat rescue took place.
I wonder why Sykes, the head assignment editor, devoted the bottom of the Local front today to a single Jewish family whose relatives died in the Holocaust.
Looking over all the flood news, Hackensack residents are wondering when Sykes will resume covering municipal news. The last stories they saw ran Aug. 25.
Good catch Victor. Now if you'd just lay off the obvious grudge and stop the personal attacks against the publisher and his editors this blog would be worth a subscription. Your personal attacks make your analysis look biased. Try saying "I wonder why the editor" in stead of "I wonder why Sykes" for example.
ReplyDeleteGood catch? This is Page 1. If you can't get that right, get out of the business.
ReplyDeleteMy only "personal attacks" are that these editors are lazy and incompetent and show it every day, and it's time for them to leave the work to others. They have turned the paper into trash.
Worth a subscription? There's no subscription.
As for your last point -- saying editor instead of Sykes -- drop dead.
To Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteThat phrase "good catch" indicates you are a copy editor or spent a lot of time as one.
It's also uttered when a copy editor prevents some screw-up by editors and reporters getting in the paper -- not after it gets in the paper and embarrasses everybody.
After 19 years in the thankless job of news copy editor, I learned to hate that phrase. I prefer, "You saved my ass."