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| On Tuesday in Teaneck, the line of drivers waiting to fill up their cars was mercifully short -- only about a half-block long at this service station on Cedar Lane. |
Can you think of a more ridiculous way to cover a presidential election than sending reporters to rallies of delirious supporters exhorting their candidates to victory?
Can you imagine a worse way to cover a storm that devastated New Jersey than to report damage and outages in broad strokes, ignoring major communities like Hackensack?
Or to fawn over a governor who stepped up and did the job he was elected to do?
Irresponsible reporting
At times like these, readers want to know why the media, including The Record of Woodland Park, aren't accountable for their irresponsible reporting -- on big and small stories.
Today's coverage of the recovery effort after Hurricane Sandy is typical, focusing on Ridgewood and other well-off communities where more than half of households still have no power (Page 1).
But for the third or fourth day in a row, there are few, if any details, about Hackensack, the most populous community in Bergen County and the county seat.
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| Flood waters destroyed the showroom and waiting room of Hackensack Toyota on River Street. A temporary waiting room was set up opposite the desks of service writers. |
For example, The Record never reported the bridge connecting the city to Teaneck was closed to all traffic for several days nor that it has reopened.
Nor has there been any meaningful reporting on the losses suffered by restaurants and other businesses that lost power, whether on Hackensack's Main Street or elsewhere.
Lazy ways prevail
Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza, the editors who are in charge of assigning reporters to stories, can't let go of their lazy ways, and it infects the entire paper, including Page 1, which is the pride and joy of Editor Marty Gottlieb.
Today, for some reason, yet another front-page story on growing frustration over the slow pace of recovery re-uses a quote from Governor Christie that appeared on Monday's A-1.
Everyone knows Christie is never at a loss for words, so why couldn't Sykes and Sforza find something fresh for their readers?
Few damage photos
Before the hurricane hit, Sykes and Sforza were content to run photo after photo of minor, non-fatal automobile accidents, but where is the two-page spread of photos showing the damage Sandy caused on the shore or locally?
Today's A-3 story on Christie finally getting a hug from Bruce Springsteen, his music idol, never explains how the rocker got his arms around the rotund governor.
My wife said the Christie she saw on TV today looked like he had lost weight, and I said, "Of course, all the pizzerias lost power and can't open."
End of partisanship?
Did you read the BS editorial praising the bipartisanship of Christie and President Obama touring the shore together (A-9 on Monday)?
We all know Christie flew all over the country campaigning for conservative Mitt Romney in a bid to defeat Obama and continue the war on the middle class.
And we all know the media's one-dimensional coverage of the campaign has ignored the deep, Tea Party-inspired divide that has paralyzed Congress.
And we all know that won't end unless the lying Romney is defeated today, and selfish Tea Party members lose their seats in the House, restoring a Democratic majority.
John and Sandy
Getting back to hurricane coverage, Road Warrior John Cichowski launched a rant against the emergency restrictions against cars with fewer than three occupants entering Manhattan (A-9 on Sunday).
Mounting his high horse, Chicowski wrote:
"Nobody, for example, seems to have considered the 92-year-old Little Ferry asthmatic who called me to complain that he simply wanted to get into his car -- alone -- to reach his daughter whose New York apartment had something he didn't have -- heat."
But the error-prone Cichowski forgot or ignored no high-occupancy vehicle rules were imposed on the George Washington Bridge.
And maybe it's the 92-year-old asthmatic's daughter who should have more consideration for her father -- like maybe driving her car or renting one to pick him up in Little Ferry.
He was in the middle of the storm of the century, for crying out loud. What kind of woman forces her 92-year-old father to come to her?
Sandy took two men
Today's front page coverage of Sandy finally has a human dimension after days of quotes from Public Service Electric and Gas Co., Christie, angry mayors, weather experts and the occasional homeowner shivering under layers of blankets.
Who isn't moved by the obituaries for two retirees, Joseph W. Godleski and Fletcher Fish, the only Bergen County or Passaic County residents who lost their lives in Super Storm Sandy (A-1)?
And who isn't outraged by today's Page 1 quote from Ralph LaRossa, the supremely insensitive president and CEO of PSE&G, the dysfunctional public utility we appear to be stuck with:
"Tensions are mounting, and frustration levels are high," LaRossa said in the understatement of the century. "I'm empathetic to that."
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