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| Many families in Guatemala are supported by illegal immigrants in North Jersey. |
What do you do when a Guatemalan immigrant is killed in Passaic and apparently the only reporter you have who speaks Spanish covers the city of Hackensack?
"Screw Hackensack," Editors Francis Scandale and Deirdre Sykes of The Record said in unison at the Tuesday morning news conference in Woodland Park, dispatching Monsy Alvarado to report and write today's heart-rending story at the bottom of Page 1.
Alvarado, however, seemed intent on not telling readers right away that victim Antonio Chiroy entered the country illegally, and the story never actually uses the phrase "illegal immigrant."
Was that an oversight by Alvarado's clueless assignment editor or Liz Houlton's news copy desk? The copy desk also uses "SLAYING" as a jump word on A-1, but the jump head on A-6 says "BEATING."
Stories about illegal immigrants who support families in Mexico, Guatemala and other countries are few and far between in The Record, and it's clear that to get in the paper today, Chiroy had to be murdered.
In white news ...
Of course, the big front-page news today is aimed at the paper's favorite demographic -- the overwhelmingly white, overwhelmingly wealthy residents of Ridgewood.
Judging by the coverage of protesters, you'd think expansion of The Valley Hospital is a project akin to the Hoover Dam. The editors are clearly on the side of opponents.
Just look at the drop headline on A-1:
That's so exaggerated, it's laughable.
The hospital's "expansion" plan is confined to its current campus, and doesn't require the taking of more land -- though you won't find that in today's story by Staff Writer Mary Jo Layton.
That's rich
In the third A-1 story today, Rep. Leonard Lance, R-Clinton, calls for rejection of tax-deduction caps in President Obama's jobs bill -- tax increases that would affect individuals making more than $200,000 a year or couples making more than $250,000.
Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson actually quotes Lance as saying the tax hikes "will hurt, not help, the Garden State's struggling economy."
But are wealthy residents the ones who are struggling?
Local yokels
Sykes' Local sections today and Tuesday contain little local news.
The lead story on L-1 Tuesday was a preview of today's A-1 report on the Ridgewood hospital-plan hearing.
A huge chunk of Tuesday's Local front is taken up by another No-One-Was-Injured photo, this one showing a truck fire on Route 17 in Paramus.
On Tuesday's front page, Scandale continued to turn his back on his staff by running a photo from Kenya -- rather than an image of life in North Jersey.
Fortress mentality
The big error in big type at the top of Monday's front page -- the headline over the unveiling of the 9/11 memorial on Sunday -- was never corrected, just as the editors ignored their confusion in two Page 1 stories recently between the borough of Point Pleasant and Point Pleasant Beach.
Of course, the only problem is the names of 9/11 victims are etched in bronze. Who screwed that up?
Name game
Monday's paper also raised a question that was never answered -- what do we call the World Trade Center site destroyed a decade ago?
In Monday's paper, there are references in headlines, captions and text to "trade center memorial," "Ground Zero," "reborn World Trade Center site," "9/11 Memorial Plaza," and "new 9/11 Memorial Plaza" -- and that's just on the front page.
An A-6 photo caption on Monday called the reflecting pools the "National September 11 Memorial." Monday's New York Times continued to refer to a lower-case "ground zero."
Alvarado, however, seemed intent on not telling readers right away that victim Antonio Chiroy entered the country illegally, and the story never actually uses the phrase "illegal immigrant."
Was that an oversight by Alvarado's clueless assignment editor or Liz Houlton's news copy desk? The copy desk also uses "SLAYING" as a jump word on A-1, but the jump head on A-6 says "BEATING."
Stories about illegal immigrants who support families in Mexico, Guatemala and other countries are few and far between in The Record, and it's clear that to get in the paper today, Chiroy had to be murdered.
In white news ...
Of course, the big front-page news today is aimed at the paper's favorite demographic -- the overwhelmingly white, overwhelmingly wealthy residents of Ridgewood.
Judging by the coverage of protesters, you'd think expansion of The Valley Hospital is a project akin to the Hoover Dam. The editors are clearly on the side of opponents.
Just look at the drop headline on A-1:
Hospital expansion could change face of village
The hospital's "expansion" plan is confined to its current campus, and doesn't require the taking of more land -- though you won't find that in today's story by Staff Writer Mary Jo Layton.
That's rich
In the third A-1 story today, Rep. Leonard Lance, R-Clinton, calls for rejection of tax-deduction caps in President Obama's jobs bill -- tax increases that would affect individuals making more than $200,000 a year or couples making more than $250,000.
Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson actually quotes Lance as saying the tax hikes "will hurt, not help, the Garden State's struggling economy."
But are wealthy residents the ones who are struggling?
Local yokels
Sykes' Local sections today and Tuesday contain little local news.
The lead story on L-1 Tuesday was a preview of today's A-1 report on the Ridgewood hospital-plan hearing.
A huge chunk of Tuesday's Local front is taken up by another No-One-Was-Injured photo, this one showing a truck fire on Route 17 in Paramus.
On Tuesday's front page, Scandale continued to turn his back on his staff by running a photo from Kenya -- rather than an image of life in North Jersey.
Fortress mentality
The big error in big type at the top of Monday's front page -- the headline over the unveiling of the 9/11 memorial on Sunday -- was never corrected, just as the editors ignored their confusion in two Page 1 stories recently between the borough of Point Pleasant and Point Pleasant Beach.
Sorrow etched in stone
Of course, the only problem is the names of 9/11 victims are etched in bronze. Who screwed that up?
Name game
Monday's paper also raised a question that was never answered -- what do we call the World Trade Center site destroyed a decade ago?
In Monday's paper, there are references in headlines, captions and text to "trade center memorial," "Ground Zero," "reborn World Trade Center site," "9/11 Memorial Plaza," and "new 9/11 Memorial Plaza" -- and that's just on the front page.
An A-6 photo caption on Monday called the reflecting pools the "National September 11 Memorial." Monday's New York Times continued to refer to a lower-case "ground zero."
No wonder the same help wanted ads run week after week for jobs at the Record even during a recession. The word is out--whenever senior management screws up, another peon takes the heat and it's off with their heads.
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