Despite new editor, headlines from hell

The copy desk furniture in The Record's old Hackensack newsroom was purchased from the same dealer who made this desk, which was used by George Washington.

Killer wife

How does "killer wife" in a front-page headline sit with you?

Actually, the two sets of headlines above the fold in The Record today are so bad, I wonder if they impacted newsstand sales.

On the story about heating bills, the main headline simply states the obvious: Bills are "not so bad in mild winter." Who doesn't already know that besides Editor Liz Houlton, supervisor of the news copy desk?

On the story about the Elmwood Park woman who smothered her husband, the main headline and the drop headline echo each other: 

"Calls for mercy denied" and "despite pleas from kids" repeat like a bad meal.

The Record's news copy desk is a mere shadow of what it once was.

Sleep walking

Judging from all the poor editing evident in the paper, readers are not sure of what it does besides writing clunky headlines.

Houlton's supervision hasn't made much difference -- no surprise given all the errors that got past her cursor when she ran the features copy desk. 

Editor Marty Gottlieb came from The New York Times, where the news copy editors are empowered to edit stories within an inch of their lives, write sparkling headlines and keep incomplete stories out of the paper.

At The Record, any story and any photo gets into the paper -- no matter how badly handled by head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her lazy, incompetent minions -- to avoid putting out an edition with a lot of white space.

Scandale scars

The news copy desk was handcuffed during Francis "Frank" Scandale's tenure as editor (2001-11), but at least it maintained high standards of writing, grammar and headlines under Co-Slot Nancy Cherry.

But those standards left with her in the 2008 downsizing engineered by Publisher Stephen A. Borg, along with several veteran copy editors. He also merged The Record and Herald News copy desks.

One thing that hasn't changed are the graphic artists, who lay out front pages and the fronts of other sections. and who don't have a concept of how hard it is to write a good headline in a narrow space, such as one column or even two columns. 

That's how you get awkward headline phrases like "killer wife."

Sykes loves Christie

On the front of Local today, Sykes pulled out all the stops in covering Governor Christie's town hall meeting in Westwood: two upbeat news stories and another boring political column from Staff Writer Charles Stile (L-1 and L-2).

Stile reports Christie "soaked in the love from the mostly partisan" crowd as he took "a victory lap" for state approval of Pascack Valley Hospital's reopening.

But none of the medical writers or reporters asked about Christie's health, his apparently ballooning weight or his fitness for higher office, despite continued speculation GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney might chose him as a running mate. 

The relationship between Sykes and Christie reminds some readers of the sitcom, "Mike & Molly."

The blanket coverage of Christie apparently prevented Sykes from publishing any Hackensack news today.

Free advertising

At the end of the Starters in Better Living, readers are told the column is "a first look at recently opened restaurants" that is "meant to be a descriptive glimpse, not a critical review" (F-1 and F-2).

So what explains all of the self-promoting quotes from the owners of Mezza in Westwood or the description of the chef's resume? Starters should be called what it is: free advertising.