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| Image via Wikipedia Electrified NJ Transit light-rail cars such as these would serve commuters under a plan to extend the line to several Bergen towns, including Leonia, Englewood and Tenafly. |
Martin "Marty" Gottlieb finally has taken over as editor of The Record of Woodland Park -- as readers can see from a change in the masthead at the bottom of the Editorial Page today (A-10).
Gottlieb's name and title appear between those of Publisher Stephen A. Borg and Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin.
Readers are hoping the former New York Times editor will usher in much-needed change at the North Jersey daily as caretaker Douglas Clancy returns to his newsroom budget chores.
Gottlieb, 64, certainly can ask for better writing and editing from the staff, and a more even-handed approach to such important issues as mass transit.
Two glaring examples appear on the front page today under the main headline, which just as easily could have read:
New day for The Record
The first paragraph of the lead story on Governor Christie's historic nominations to the state Supreme Court is awkwardly written, especially the phrase between the dashes -- "hailed by him Monday for their diversity and 'pure judgment.'"
What an abomination. Did a committee write that lead?
Trashing transit
Given the huge amount of advertising revenue from car dealers, it's no surprise that news stories are anti-mass transit, as demonstrated again by today's A-1 centerpiece on the proposed extension of light rail to Tenafly.
Tenafly officials appear to be the only ones opposing the plan, claiming they will have to give up $200,000 in tax revenue from the loss of commercial property to create parking lots for commuters.
But why add parking? The commuter ferry at River Road and Route 5 in Edgewater is thriving with a shuttle bus and no public parking. Why couldn't light rail do the same?
The A-1 photo caption for the light-rail story also contains an error, calling Englewood "one of the cities affected" by the plan. It is the only city; none of the other towns have a city form of government.
The boring photo of a man crossing the tracks isn't worthy of appearing on the back page, let alone the front page. Where is a photo of the electrified light-rail cars that would serve Englewood and Tenafly?
Hack attack
Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section is missing any Hackensack news.
But I love that photo of a horse carved from snow in Cliffside Park by talented Staff Photographer Tariq Zehawi, who Sykes has had chasing ambulances for too many years (L-1).
The Road Warrior column didn't run on the front of the section on Sunday, as it usually does, and there was no explanation in the paper. It is scheduled to appear again on Wednesday.
Mixed message
On the front of Better Living, the promotional Starters restaurant feature reports MK Valencia in Ridgefield Park serves "American-Italian" cuisine "with an emphasis on seafood," but a photo shows two dishes with meat and none with fish.
At The Times, Gottlieb served as global edition editor, associate managing editor in charge of the weekend editions, deputy culture editor and an investigative reporter and editor on the national and metro staffs.
He has also been editor-in-chief of The Village Voice, managing editor of The New York Daily News, and a reporter at The News and The Record when it was in Hackensack.
Welcome Marty!
ReplyDeleteMay the shit hit the fan.
Victor, how long do you think it would take a new editor like Gottlieb to begin making significant changes in the way the Record is written and edited? Weeks or months?
ReplyDeleteIf he imposed the system used at The Times, he would need to find news copy editors who knew how to rewrite a story and make other significant changes, working with the reporter. They would also have the power to keep an inadequate story out of the paper.
ReplyDeleteNow, most of the editing is done on the assignment desk, and it is done poorly by editors who themselves were just average reporters.
Look at the atrocious lead on the Supreme Court nominees in the paper Tuesday.
How did that get in the paper, especially on Page 1? A total failure of the system, and an indictment of the local assignment desk under Deirdre Sykes, who likes to hold breaking news stories as long as possible to prevent copy editors from making any significant changes.
So, I'd say months.
Come now, Victor. Gottlieb should make a difference, and a significant one, right out of the box. All he has to do is bark and people who may have been a wee bit lax in their duties will pay more attention to copy and leads and captions and the like, and improvements like that show up right away by not showing up. But don't get your hopes up. The Giants are still going to be on the front page for the next two weeks.
DeleteThe Giants are on A-1, A-3 and in Sports today.
ReplyDeleteYou read it here first
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