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| The Local news section today is dominated by a story about war criminal Joseph Kony. |
Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her tireless minions deliver another fun-filled but ultimately disappointing Local section in The Record today.
Rep. Steve Rothman, D-Englewood, met with the paper's unnamed Editorial Board, so that guaranteed him the lead position on L-1 -- just above a story about war criminal Joseph Kony.
The Kony story doesn't try to explain how the brutal Ugandan war lord has escaped capture since he was indicted for war crimes in 2005.
There's news for illegal immigrants, too, in the guilty pleas of two clerks who sold black-market driver's licenses (L-1).
Another photo-op
Sykes exploits another elderly driver's accident for a photo-op on L-3, blown up to fill the space of local news her desk failed to generate.
A story that should have been on L-1 is pushed back to L-3 to lessen the embarrassment for the Rev. James F. Reilly, who is in critical condition with burns he suffered in a fire early Saturday.
Reilly apparently fell asleep while smoking in the rectory of a Palisades Park church.
Hackensack news? Check back next year.
Tone deaf
On Page 1, Staff Writer Jim Beckerman reports "it's hard for customers to put their feelings about the closing of Ronnie I's Clifton Music into words."
Judging from the poorly written and edited story, Beckerman also had trouble putting his reporting "into words."
Beckerman lists doo-wop and rock-and-roll radio shows, but omits WBGO-FM's "Rhythm Revue" and Bob Porter's "Saturday Morning Function."
Odd that SMF would be omitted, given that Porter's son, Mark, a former music writer, local reporter and now weekly editor was once a colleague of Beckerman's at TNT.
ReplyDeleteWhere are TODAY'S local stories? I mean, apart from the turkey of a story about a one-legged turkey. Please....
As of 5:30, the site is filled with stories from elsewhere -- many of them without identifiers telling you that.
I'm sorry, but to me that's "click fraud." You have to open it before you realize you're not interested. They've gotten what they want, though: the traffic numbers.
Funny: Stephen insisted that was something he'd never stoop to.
Right up at the top we have the story of a dead toddler -- but nowhere does it say where in the world the poor child is from. Why not?
Lots o' local content on the Pilot -- incl. the story of what may be the first juror ever in NJ cited for contempt after researching a case online and causing a mistrial. How could they not have that one?
ReplyDelete(... unless it was only in the newspaper and not published online...)
How could they not follow the Pascack Pi-oneers through their playoff competition? It's a sweet story.
Why aren't they writing about the great young bands that are emerging from Bergen County?
I guess it's difficult for them to put it into words.
One of their "top" online stories today was one I published last Thursday out of Bogota. Jeez....
ReplyDeleteIt's worse than pathetic; it's irresponsible.
ReplyDeleteI think you're both being unfair. After all, while it might seem that the Kony story has no local relevance, it could just be one of those honest mistakes where the story idea came up at the news meeting and the assignment staff thought it was about the alleged Bergenfield mobster Kony no Baloney. Don't you agree? Heck, anybody could make a mistake like that. No?
DeleteCongratulations on all your sucksess Jerry D. We all are very proud of you and the heights you've achieved in your personal and professional life.
ReplyDeleteI think the previous poster misspelled success. Must be an assignment editor or manager at the Record, no copy editor would make a mistake like that, even the budget comma implanters who came from the Herald and weeklies. I'm sure she meant to say "Congratulations on your success," because Jerry has indeed been singlehandedly running rings around the Record's coverage of its alleged core readership area.
DeleteI can't believe Beckerman is still there. Wait, I can't believe this whole crew is still there.
ReplyDelete