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| The Achilles' heel. |
The Record's Circulation Department, which is headed by one of those overpaid vice presidents, has long been an Achilles' heel.
It wasn't until I retired and started paying for a home-delivered copy -- instead of picking one up in the newsroom -- that I learned more about how Circulation is working at cross purposes to the editors and reporters who knock themselves out every day.
If your paper is wet -- as mine was this morning and has been on too many mornings in the past -- you have to call before 9:30 a.m. to ask for a replacement.
Skip today's paper
Usually, you'll deal with an automated system, and when you follow the prompts, you are offered two days' credit instead of a dry replacement copy.
Can you imagine how little regard the people running the dysfunctional Circulation Department have for all of the editors and reporters who race to meet deadline and put out a paper every night?
To them, journalism and this once-great newspaper are reduced to little more than sopping wet newsprint that isn't even worthy of replacement.
This morning, my paper was in two plastic bags, and the ends were knotted. But the bags are so flimsy, they often tear when they hit my concrete driveway, and allow water in.
Early deadlines
When I worked nights on The Record's News Copy Desk, we often were told the deadlines were being moved up because Circulation needed more time to deliver the paper when it was snowing or raining or even when precipitation was forecast.
Among other things, that meant late municipal meetings couldn't be reported and late sports scores couldn't appear.
And when we proofed the first good copies off of the press, errors we caught often went uncorrected.
After years of this, I felt that even if someone spit on the sidewalk, the ragtag Circulation Department would need more time to deliver the paper.
Then, one night, Co-Slot Nancy Cherry told us that even though the deadline was moved up 30 minutes on so many nights in the past, the papers sat in the warehouse, because the independent drivers who delivered them hadn't been told to come in 30 minutes early.
Mixed messages
Cherry left The Record several years ago, and the copy editing standards she fought so hard for went with her.
Today, with error-prone Production Editor Liz Houlton in charge of the news copy desk, the quality of editing and headline writing continues to decline.
One rule I see violated is the one against "echoes" -- the use of the same or similar words in different headlines on the same page.
On Page 1 today, the echoing words -- "Historic," "Historical" and "History" -- are in headlines over three stories, from the top to the bottom of the page.
Unbelievable.
More disturbing is the A-1 story about the arrest of a 26-year-old Clifton teacher accused of having sex with a 16-year-old student -- a day after Page 1 glowed about a kinky but fictional relationship between a wealthy businessman and a "virginal" college student.
Editorial Page
Margulies' desperation is clear in the A-22 editorial cartoon about the primary battle between two Democrats in the 9th Congressional District.
In what fantasy world has he ever heard a candidate pushing free-range chicken and hybrid cars over that crap from Perdue and gas-guzzling SUVs?
Hackensack news
Hackensack readers are pleasantly surprised by a story that has nothing to do with the trial of suspended Police Chief Ken Zisa (Local front).
In other momentous city news, a two-car accident knocked down a light pole on Main Street (L-1 photo).
Stop the presses.
It's nice to see you paying a compliment to at least some of the editors and reporters who "knock themselves out" trying to put out a decent paper rather than your constant criticism of the handful of alleged miscreants with whom you're familiar from your days at the Record. But I do have one suggestion: You might want to consider replacing your concrete driveway with a rubber driveway, that way not only would the plastic wrapper not break when the circulation driver heaves it from the truck, but if you opened your front door at the right time, you might even be able to catch the paper when it bounces. Of course there would be one little drawback: You might want to park in the street on very hot days.
ReplyDeleteI think the Better Business Bureau needs to take a hard look at The Record's subscription billing scam.
DeleteBasically, it works like this: You subscribe online. It's a very simple process and you buy for a certain period of time. There are no disclaimers.
But if you let your subscription run out -- the time you paid for ends -- they keep delivering your paper for three months, which they label with an Orwellian "grace period."
But the rub is that they then come after you for that money. Apparently, somewhere on your billing statement they tell you that they extend your subscription by 90 days if you let it run out.
But you are never told this when you sign up, which is what I believe is required by law. I think North Jersey Media Group is in violation of the disclosure law about rebilling.
A note to all the Anonymi out there:
ReplyDeleteIf you don't have anything intelligent to say, please keep your cowardly comments to yourself.