Exposing Christie's half-truths

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The Record reported Khloe Bistrot in Fort Lee, above,  serves organic meat and
farmed fish. In this week's review of Savini in Allendale, readers are left in the dark.

Governor Christie has been speaking in half-truths since taking office in January 2010, but a new TV ad has Editor Francis Scandale of The Record really taking notice and planting the story in the middle of the front page today.

Ad for Christie

leaves out key facts

Boy, does it ever skimp on facts. I've been seeing this ad for several days, and it sounds like the first in a series of campaign ads for a presidential bid. God speed, and get out of  our lives.

Staff Writer John Reitmeyer treats the governor deferentially, never confronting him on distortions in the ad about bipartisan support, balanced budgets or education funding.

Reitmeyer says the ad includes statements that "don't tell the full story," and the same can be said about his story.


Sloppy editing, editors

Sloppy editing continues to let down readers, as in an A-4 story that reports: "A third toll collector pleaded guilty ... to taking for stealing an estimated $2,282."

Even with three inside pages filled with stories on higher education, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes couldn't find enough local news for the front of Local today.

Does a car that hit a fence in Westwood deserve a photo, let alone the enormous, staged one on L-1 today? How desperate can the newsroom's most powerful editor get?

Is this Sykes' flawed news judgment we're seeing? Or, are the placement of stories and photos left to the layout editor? 

Yet, when readers turn to L-8 today, they find Staff Writer Melissa Hayes' moving story about Christopher Rim, an Academies@Englewood student who founded an anti-bullying group.

Why is this compelling story buried here? Are the editors sick of the anti-bullying message?


Laziness in review

Also on L-1 today, Road Warrior Columnist John Cichowski reviews a year of setbacks for commuters -- because he neglected to actually cover most of them when they were happening.

But his stubborn bias for drivers over mass-transit users is clear in the headline, which refers to "motorists," not "commuters."


Stomach turning

A week ago, Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung told readers that Khloe Bistrot in Fort Lee serves organic meat and farmed fish, but today, she doesn't provide any details about the origin of the food she sampled at Savini in Allendale.

Ung continues to order swordfish at restaurants, including this one, apparently unaware the Environmental Defense Fund warns women and children up to age 12 to avoid it altogether, because of its elevated levels of mercury.

In the data box, she says "value [is] generally good," listing appetizers at $7 to $15, but the review gives $16.50 as the price of an appetizer portion of rigatoni Bolognese.

Finally, why is Ung reviewing a 12-year-old restaurant (Better Living centerfold)?


Last supper

Free-lancer Jeffrey Page continues to damage his credibility with today's Eating Out on $50 review of Sparta Taverna in Ridgefield Park (Page 21, Better Living).

Page and one other person had dinner there, but insisted on stuffing their faces with dessert, spending  a total of $55.95, with tax and tip. The whole point of the review is to keep the dinner tab under $50.

Page also doesn't tell readers that when he reviewed the previous Greek restaurant at the same address in 2009, his $50 likely bought dinner for four people.


Page's downward slide began with his recent endorsement of Barcelona's in Garfield, one of the worst Italian-American restaurants in northern New Jersey.