 Image by Getty Images via @daylife |
| Flooding in Paterson on Tuesday. |
The Record made front-page news of Governor Christie's visits to Wayne on Tuesday and Lincoln Park on Wednesday, but the stories and today's editorial on disaster relief never explain why he didn't go the the hardest-hit North Jersey community -- Paterson.
Floods classified as disaster
Using "classified" in a short-count headline and omitting the word "aid" is shooting yourself in the foot, but it's what we've come to expect from Liz Houlton's news copy desk.
Presumably, Christie will join President Obama in Paterson, but I haven't seen any explanation on why their visit has been set for Sunday. What's wrong with Friday?
The Record ran one small photo of flooding in Paterson. What one official calls the worst flooding in more than a century can be captured only in a photo from the air, but Publisher Stephen A. Borg won't spend the money.
More holes
In a letter that seems to be addressed directly to the laziest assignment desk in the Northern Hemisphere, Linda Palamara of Rochelle Park wants to know why Monday's local news coverage completely omitted "catastophic" flooding in her town (A-18).
Editor Francis Scandale and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes had their reporters running around documenting the impact on businesses, schools, shopping and water quality.
On L-2 today, the region's flooding history and long-term solutions are discussed, but the story belongs on A-1 in place of Christie's self-serving visits to flood areas.
(The $1.8 billion for a flood tunnel -- deemed too expensive in the 1990s -- seems like peanuts today.)
Christie even refused to answer questions from flood-weary Lincoln Park residents, one of whom angrily told a radio reporter he visited only "to show his face."
In view of how often obituaries of prominent residents are literally buried on L-3 and the obit pages, why did Sykes give up so much space on the Local front today for the funeral of an EMT from Princeton?
Beer news
On the Better Living front, Starters, a feature on a recently opened restaurant, carries the byline of Bob Probert, whose work has also appeared in (201) magazine.
Probert reports on a Hoboken restaurant and beer garden that is perfectly suited for carnivores with beer bellies. All the dishes he lists are meat.
The reader letter was right on target..the towns along the Passaic have been totally under-covered...Wallington was finally discovered today; Hawthorne? Fuggetaboutit. Garfield a non-entity; Fair Lawn was a story about a guy getting killed falling off a roof. The old (non-NJMG) Herald News would have covered it; The Record edition makes sure these towns (with no circulation or readers with disposable income) do not exist. Want coverage? Read The Star Ledger or watch News 12.
ReplyDeleteSad, but true.
ReplyDeleteAll the more reason for you and Jerry D to launch a competitive daily in the circulation areas the Record has abandoned. Mister Rocket Scientist Stephen would shrug it off and not throw resources into competing, and when it's too late he'd argue that the Record doesn't have the funds to hire additional staff to cover those towns so he'd pull out his secret weapon -- and throw Jean Rimbach into covering the neglected towns. You could probably line up financing, I'll bet even Rupert Murdoch would love to gain a foothold in Bergen County. And when you've built it up a bit -- you would be creating jobs along the way -- you could probably even buy the Record from NJMG. Imagine that. All you need for now is a dream and business plan, for which with the latter you could get free advice from the Small Business Development Corp.
ReplyDelete