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| The Record is setting records for the number of "turkeys" on staff, including interim Editor Doug Clancy, Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes, Projects Editor Tim Nostrand, Production Editor Liz Houlton, Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin, and Columnists Mike Kelly, John Cichowski and Bill Ervolino. |
Multimillionaire Publisher Stephen A. Borg must be patting himself on the back for today's advertising-rich, Thanksgiving edition of The Record.
Four A-sections, two Better Living sections and a 2-inch-thick sheaf of glossy Black Friday sales fliers must set some sort of recession record.
I felt good just recycling all that paper.
But interim Editor Doug Clancy couldn't avoid filling Page 1 with the have-nots -- who Borg never gives any thought to.
Thanksgiving parade
Cancerous Garfield residents, legal immigrants forced to wait years for visas and low-income people who can't afford a lawyer -- that's quite a parade of unfortunates.
The major element on the front page notes, "Getting a visa to legally reside in the United States can take years."
But the lazy assignment desk under Editor Deirdre Sykes prefers hot-button stories about illegals, and has no intention of exposing the bureaucratic, expensive legal system that is the chief cause of illegal immigration.
The heart-warming, legal immigration story is rare in another way, featuring gorgeous photographs on A-1 and A-8 from the talented staff that Clancy and the other editors often reject in favor of wire-service photos from around the world.
Local losers
The sappy Thanksgiving editorial on A-22 just rubs salt in the wounds of readers upset at how the ascendancy of the younger Borg has coincided with an erosion of local news coverage, especially in Hackensack.
In Sykes' Local section, a story on the Hackensack school board naming a second interim superintendent is missing background on what happened to the original superintendent or who that was (L-2).
Curse of the Irish
Readers can count themselves lucky if they looked at Mike Kelly's nausea-inducing "turkeys" column before they ate their big holiday dinner (L-3).
As usual, Kelly thanks his family for being his "anchor" -- when he should be thanking his assignment editor for not spiking most of his columns or his readers for tolerating his endless pushing around of words.
I didn't see any advice in Better Living this year about where to find a naturally raised turkey, but today, Food Editor Susan Leigh Sherrill passes along recipes for additive-filled leftovers (F-1 and F-4).
One bright spot in the paper today, especially if you care about the environment, is former Editorial Page staffer Jim Wright's column on the "incredible comeback" of the bald eagle and the rebound of other birds (F-7).
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The Borg's should give thanks for being members of the Lucky Sperm Club. That's all. Without it, they'd be cashiers at Wal Mart.
ReplyDeleteGood one.
ReplyDeleteThey'll certainly be cashing in, thanks to WalMart, when the deal to sell 150 River St. goes through.