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The most stimulating element on Page 1 of The Record today is a photo from the Olympics with strong lesbian overtones.
How low can you go? Editor Marty Gottlieb indulges in some athletic T&A to sell the Woodland Park daily.
The four stories on A-1 could hardly be called news, and all but one of them could run anytime:
Take a look at the piece under this headline: "The growing burden of student debt."
Does the story present any solutions or report that officials are doing anything about the problem? The way it is written, readers lose interest almost immediately.
Obesity news
And what about the silly "Dems tracking Christie," the headline over the lead story?
I guess Gottlieb doesn't realize readers are sick of politics or that no one has to track a governor who is so in your face and who laughs off his growing waistline and the obesity epidemic that affects so many Garden State children.
Bumbling businessman
Unbelievably, Assemblyman Robert Schroeder and his financial and legal problems appear on the front page for the fourth time since Saturday (A-1).
The Schroeder story has turned into a series, unfolding like a cheap thriller.
The number of lawsuits facing the Republican lawmaker and alleged lawbreaker from Washington Township is now up to 15. Stay tuned.
Another veto
If readers ever get to A-3, they find a story on Christie vetoing a bill to regulate surrogacy and define the rights and responsibility of those involved.
Why didn't Gottlieb put this news story on Page 1?
Even the medical marijuana story on A-4 is better reading than anything on the front page.
Traffic makes the news
Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, are so desperate for local news, they put a Lyndhurst traffic jam on L-1.
On L-3, a headline reports "Closter nearly finished with pond restoration," as if residents are on the edge of their seats, wondering how the work will turn out.
Schools are out
Also on L-3, the Hackensack reporter provides an update on negotiations over a new contract for teachers.
The story says the school board hired an outside law firm under a contract not to exceed $17,000 rather than use its own attorney, Richard Salkin.
Salkin calls that "a departure" from past negotiations, but the story tells you nothing about the outside firm or whether it has links to any school board member or city official.
Christie curse
Buried on L-8, the second Business page, is a story on Christie approving expanded tax credits for developers who build near "transit hubs."
The last paragraph quotes Jeff Tittel of the New Jersey Sierra Club as saying "the governor is hurting jobs in New Jersey and the environment."
Why are all these Christie stories scattered through the paper?
Wouldn't it make sense to have the most significant on A-1, then fill the continuation page with the rest, so readers can tell at a glance what their governor is up to?
Or would that pierce the veil of how the editors are treating the millionaire-loving Christie far more gently than his Democratic predecessors?
But there were more Closter stories than Hackensack stories!!
ReplyDeleteAre you calling olympic women athletes from TeamUSA lesbian?
ReplyDeleteDon't know if they are or not. Has the media ever addressed the question?
ReplyDeleteIs it important to you if they are? It makes no difference to me.
ReplyDeleteI don't care one way or another, but the issue should be dealt with in the media, just as the media should discuss homosexuality among male athletes.
ReplyDeleteThe sordid Penn State sex-abuse scandal is proof enough of how it is suppressed.