Sunday, June 23, 2013

Long, involved stories that excite only the editors

A Juneteenth celebration on Saturday in the Ridgefield Park section of the new Overpeck Park, above, included a lot of great food, such as this fried whole red snapper prepared by the Church of God of Prophecy in Englewood, below.





Call them retrospectives or process stories, the three takeouts that start on Page 1 of The Record today excite only the editors and reporters who worked on them, and put the rest of us to sleep.

How can Staff Writer John Brennan go on and on about "equity," "tax abatements," "tax breaks" and "private financing," but never tell readers when that monstrosity called American Dreams Meadowlands is going to be repainted (A-1 and A-7)?

The ugly hulk visible to every driver on the turnpike has turned into a long-running Jersey joke.

One-track mind

Meanwhile, Staff Writer Karen Rouse continues to obsess over a safe haven for NJ Transit railcars and locomotives, ignoring the screams from rush-hour commuters who have to stand in the aisles (A-1 and A-6).

Check out the dated black-and-white photos and stale news in the Jersey mob story, which is linked to the death on Wednesday of actor James Gandolfini, who portrayed the boss in "The Sopranos," a TV fiction that ended 6 long years ago (A-1, A-6, L-1 and BL-1).

Those old photos remind readers of the dated thumbnails that run with columns by aging Staff Writers Mike Kelly and Virginia Rohan, and Travel Editor Jill Schensul.

Refreshing news

The only bright spot on the front page is the upbeat story on retiring Teaneck teacher Rosanne Ponchick, who used tea-bag tags as a teaching tool (A-1 and A-5).

More road error

On the Local front, Road Warrior John Cichowski continues to ignore North Jersey's nightmarish traffic jams and related commuting issues to go on and on about driving and cellphones (L-1).

His last column was far from accurate, according to an e-mail to management from a concerned reader:


"The Road Warrior returns in his June 21 column [Friday] to one of his many fiascoes and piles on even more of his confusing mistakes and advice about when to call 911 or #77 while driving. He contradicts state laws, police guidelines and Web sites.
"He advises and reports that drivers should call 911, when they should call #77, and vice versa. He advises and reports that drivers can also call local police, which is impractical since most people do not have police numbers for every town they drive in.
"The Road Warrior continues to repeatedly quote officials, who make false statements, which also contradict state laws or guidelines, without any fact-checking or counterpoints.
 "How does The Record management allow dissemination to its readers of such grossly unsafe, mistaken reporting and confusing advice, which does not comply with state  statutes and guidelines, and then not insist the Road Warrior make needed corrections?"

The full e-mail appears on the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:


Road Warrior is who ya not gonna call

Noisy bikers

Another driving-related issue Cichowski won't dare touch are all of those municipal anti-noise ordinances routinely violated by owners of Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

Those bikers modify their Harleys to make as much noise as possible, then thumb their noses at all of the people they disturb with their piggish behavior.

These menaces hoodwink The Record and other media with charity runs, such as the one reported today on L-1.

2 comments:

  1. Victor, aren't you the one who filed suit against NJMG for age discrimination?

    So why do you mock Kelly and Rohan and Schensul for getting older?

    You, of all people, should be more tolerant.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm not mocking them for getting older, just criticizing them for their vanity and dishonesty in using old column photos that make them look far younger than their haggard selves. Plus, Kelly's writing sucks.

    ReplyDelete

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