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| Nazi anti-Semitic propaganda at Yad Vashem. (Wikipedia) |
Readers can't decide what is worse:
Columnist Mike Kelly pushing around thousands of words in an eye-glazing rewrite of news stories about a hate-filled Polish-American newspaper editor or the stupid headline on top of today's Page 1 story.
Chester Grabowski, the late publisher of the Post-Eagle newspaper in Clifton, is referred to as a "leader" in the main headline.
Where was Editor Liz Houlton, supervisor of the copy desk, out shopping for another schmatta?
And even though Kelly cites Grabowski's anti-black and anti-Jewish remarks in the Polish-American paper, the sub-headline refers to anti-Semitism "claims."
And the long-winded columnist himself cites "an alleged history" of anti-Semitic remarks and support for the Klu Klux Klan. Why "alleged"?
On top of the news
Unfortunately, many eyes fell on Kelly's column, which was displayed on the front page next to a love triangle murder-suicide suspiciously close to the Woodland Park newsroom -- another instance of The Record dramatizing events near its headquarters and ignoring Hackensack and other Bergen towns.
Far better columnist
A far better column than Kelly's was the effort from Staff Writer Harvy Lipman, who writes about John Fugazzie, the founder of a support group for the unemployed who just lost his job (below the fold on A-1).
Lipman's piece is a model of clarity and he gets to the point right away, in contrast to Kelly's endless, overly dramatic, question-filled recounting of events.
"A mystery now hangs over Clifton" is Kelly's lead sentence.
No. The mystery is how he keeps his job after turning out drivel like this three times a week or more or why Editor Marty Gottlieb thinks this kind of crap is good enough for Page 1.
More road kill
Readers' patience -- tested by Kelly on Page 1 -- really gets a workout on the Local front, where the failed Road Warrior columnist writes off Tuesday's front-page story on free train and bus rides for NJ Transit workers.
Staff Writer John Cichowski's obsession with drivers and the MVC forms the basis of numerous columns, but he appears to have actually left the office for today's piece, in contrast to rewriting reports and surveys or answering inane e-mails from readers with inaccurate or incomplete information.
Cichowski rails against free rides for transit workers, cops and state officials on business, ignoring a crisis in mass transit, as does an editorial (A-8).
Dissing Hackensack
Meanwhile, Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, worked hard, as usual, to find Hackensack news.
Staff Writer Stephanie Akin, who has more talent in one finger than Kelly or Cichowski have in their entire bodies, turned out eight paragraphs on Fairmount residents who interrupted a car burglary (L-3).
Cholesterol check
On the Better Living front, Food Editor Susan Leigh Sherrill is back with her let-them-eat-dessert approach to nutrition (BL-1).
A recipe for Chocolate-Chunk Pumpkin Bread Pudding contains 6 egg yolks, 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 stick-plus of butter and 6 ounces of chocolate.
In response, cardiac units at North Jersey hospitals are warming up their ambulances.
Chocolate chunk pumpkin bread stuffing? For a turkey at Thanksgiving? Yuck, with a capital Y.
ReplyDeleteDo you not use egg yolks in your bread pudding? Oh, wait, you don't eat it, so nobody else should.
ReplyDeleteBe my guest and if you eat that kind of food regularly Ill look forward to visiting you in the hospital.
ReplyDeleteAaron needs to learn to read.
ReplyDeleteI love it..."Cichowski rails against free rides for transit workers"...this might be the closest to a rail that he ever gets...
ReplyDelete