 Image by marnanel via Flickr |
| All flooding looks the same,as this 2006 photo shows. |
Given the frequency of flooding in North Jersey, the editors of The Record are always ready with their three-prong coverage, as today's front page shows.
First, Editors Francis Scandale and Deirdre Sykes dispatch reporters and photographers to chronicle impassable streets, boat rescues and piles of furniture and personal belongings suddenly turned into trash.
Then, Governor Christie and other public officials gather at the scene of the disaster to shed crocodile tears and promise swift delivery of financial aid.
Finally, groups of fed-up flood victims threaten civil disobedience if government won't pay for long-term solutions -- that's the group of residents in the Page 1 photo today.
Royal screwing
But these poor people don't realize they have been royally screwed -- by fiscal conservatives who claim long-term fixes "cost too much," and by Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin and others who back that position year after year.
The only thing for certain is next month's or next year's flood. On L-1, a related story reports some towns are waiving permit fees, so residents can repair their flood-damaged homes in time for them to be ruined again.
The off-lead A-1 story today is about politics tying up autism-research funds. Funds for Alzeimer's disease were approved. OK. I'm kidding. Scandale and Sykes care as little about old people as they do about flood victims.
God forbid, you were a reporter or copy editor on their newsroom shit lists before I left The Record in May 2008.
Jews play with fire
The third major story on A-1 today is about fire safety in Orthodox Jewish homes. Even with Rosh Hashana coming up, this is such a narrow subject, it should be on the Local front, not the front page.
An A-1 item refers readers to an A-4 story on those hikers blasting Iran. Really, who gives a shit? Next time, try the Adirondacks.
If you live in Hackensack or many other towns, you won't find any news in Sykes' Local section today.
See previous post on year's dumbest headline
Breaking news items:
ReplyDeleteA majority of Americans continue to distrust the media and feel the news media are biased according to Gallup.
"Negative opinions about the performance of news organizations now equal or surpass all-time highs on nine of 12 core measures the Pew Research Center has been tracking since 1985," the (Pew) report notes.
What’s now under the masthead of The Record every day? …”Trusted…Local…Source”.
In trashing the old “Friend of the People It Serves” slogan, the decision is increasingly turning out to be a rather poor communications trade-off. While the decreasing number of current readers may still feel that their paper is “trusting”, the message to those who do not read is equally reinforcing…”I don’t trust the media; they haven’t earned my trust”. Or “who are they to say they are or can be trusted”? Considering that “non-readership” is the growth market for the newspaper, I don’t think I would want to be still believing that “trust” is a strong masthead word.
There’s still time to go back and reinstate the old slogan. It was warm, benefit-based and had clear differentiation from other local media. Or perhaps it’s time to begin to again produce some solid journalism that works hard to earn a market’s trust.
The new slogan came from the marketing wizardry of Publisher Stephen A. Borg after he pushed "Mac" aside, as were house ads promising education, food and other news "every day," which turned out to be part of The Big Lie.
ReplyDeleteBorg had one good idea -- establishing a local obit beat -- but he also presided over unprecedented layoffs and sucked out precious millions to buy a bigger house.
Meanwhile, his father was so marginalized, he allegedly started sending pornography via e-mail to other male managers in Hackensack.
The obit idea was not original to The Wizard. It came out of an industry initiative that discovered readers were fascinated by those who lived "interesting" lives.
ReplyDeleteThe real marketing wizardry could start by putting the sign back up on GMP. Thousands of cars driving by each day might actually encourage a sale or two.
The Adirondacks are west of New Jersey, right?
ReplyDeleteMaybe the owner of 1 Garret Mountain Plaza ordered removal of the sign, fearing the presence of NJMG and The Record would turn off potential tenants or hurt his real estate values.
ReplyDeleteHas the assignment staff mined the building?
One of the most colorful criminal defense attorneys in North Jersey has an office there, and I'm sure there are others worthy of a profile, if the editors weren't in such a big rush to get home and binge, beat their meat or whatever they do in their off hours.
Of course, their "off" hours could be considered their work day, when they are usually turned off.
Right on the Adirondacks. LOL.
ReplyDelete