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| Residents of Tenafly have asserted their constitutional right to commute individually in gas-guzzling luxury vehicles, rejecting an NJ Transit proposal to extend pollution-free light-rail service to their wealthy community. Plans now are for light-rail service only as far as downtown Englewood and Englewood Hospital and Medical Center. |
By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR
Today and every Sunday it seems, The Record runs a column assessing how Governor Christie is doing in his bid for the White House.
In the past couple of years, Columnist Charles Stile appears to have done little else than report on how state and national politics will affect Christie's bid for the GOP nomination in 2016 (A-1).
Tabloid news
Today, Editor Marty Gottlieb went tabloid on Page 1, with a lurid story on a Closter couple's murder-suicide while their 15-month-old son remained unharmed.
The headline was trite:
Couple's violent end
shocks community
Really, how many stories like this does the staff have to do before realizing neighbors usually know very little about the lives of the people next door?
And when will The Record stop labeling photos of police on the front steps of a dead couple's home as showing officers "searching for clues" (A-6).
Christie, Wilson
But Stile's column also is at the top of the front page, next to this sensational report.
Far more interesting is Staff Writer Jim Beckerman's shocking story on the 100th anniversary of "Birth of a Nation," a racist film that apparently was endorsed by the last New Jersey governor to become president, Woodrow Wilson (A-1).
Wilson screened "The Birth of a Nation" in the White House, the first film to be shown there (A-10).
Focus on TV news
The fourth main element on Page 1 is a story about Brian Williams taking a break from anchoring the "NBC Nightly News" after false on-air statements that he was in a helicopter hit by a rocket-propelled grenade while in Iraq in 2003.
Newspapers have far more serious issues to deal with -- from the faked Washington Post story on an 8-year-old heroin addict that won a Pulitzer Prize to fabricated New York Times quotes in stories by Jayson Blair to the drastic decline in local-news coverage at The Record.
More fabrication
What Staff Writer John Cichowski did recently in The Record's Road Warrior column isn't any different.
Despite a photo showing nothing of the kind, Cichowski deliberately tried to panic readers into believing a Route 4 bridge in Teaneck was unsafe, because, he claimed, it had a "gash" in a major supporting pillar.
Since then, that bridge and other Route 4 bridges shown in a subsequent column have remained open while state officials closed other spans for emergency repairs.
The Record hasn't run a correction of Cichowski's false statement, but today uses a photo of another Route 4 bridge that "got one of the lowest scores for deck evaluation" (O-2).
Does that mean the bridge is unsafe? If so, why hasn't that bridge been closed for repairs?
If it's not unsafe, why run the photo with an editorial labeled, "Closing bridges"?
On A-2 today, a correction notes a Route 17 overpass was incorrectly identified in a Friday story on bridge repairs as a Route 46 overpass.
Worse was a correction on Saturday's A-2, admitting the inept news desk ran the wrong photo for U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman, who grew up in River Edge.
Turkeys galore
On the Better Living cover, Elisa Ung's The Corner Table column doesn't contain a word on whether the ground turkey in the restaurant dishes she loved was raised naturally without harmful antibiotics (BL-1).
And how did jazz musician and Teaneck resident Rufus Reid overlook the Golden Grill Restaurant as a great place to hang out in the township (BL-1)?
On the Business cover, Richard Newman's story on Uber, Lyft and other ride-sharing services doesn't mention the low pay and exploitation of the drivers (B-1).
And sad but true, Staff Writer Melanie Anzidei apparently couldn't find a single North Jersey company that used the windfall from cheap fuel to raise employees' pay (B-1).
On the Opinion front, Columnist Mike Kelly asks, "Did Saudi Arabia pay for 9/11 attacks" (O-1).
But Kelly never mentions what Americans have know for more than a decade:
Osama bin Laden was born in Saudia Arabia to the family of a billionaire and founded al-Qaida -- which claimed responsibility for the 9/11 attack -- after funneling arms, money and fighters into Afghanistan to oppose the Soviet Union.
Second look
Last week, The Record ran a glowing story on how a developer will save $1 million by using a space-saving carousel parking system when an office building at 210 Main St. in Hackensack is converted into apartments.
But the story didn't make clear the elevator-like steel structure won't be enclosed.
A photo of the Parkmatic structure on the front of Friday's edition of the Hackensack Chronicle shows just how ugly this space saver will be.
Lets sum up NJMG alleged financial problems. Trouble selling there 150 river street property. There Pension in under funded. They owe millions on there printing equipment. They do a sale/lease back deal on Rockaway Plant. There employees receive no pension or 401k match. Many employees haven't received raises in years, and many employees are under paid.
ReplyDeleteNJMG IS BANKRUPT! ITS THAT SIMPLE!
Kudos on your connection between NBC's immediate response to Brian Williams potential deception about an incident that happened to him, which if true doesn't affect a single viewer, and The Record's non-response to the Road Warrior's known exaggerated lie, which was making some drivers, government officials, and others unnecessarily panic about the condition of the Route 4 bridge over the Hackensack River.
ReplyDeleteI also had been thinking about this comparison.
The picture for the O2 editorial about closing bridges is that same Route 4 bridge, which has not been closed and for which there are no immediate plans to have it closed since its condition, while not in good shape, does not warrant it, that the Road Warrior lied about concerning its structural condition.
The Record, which continues to support an overwhelming amount of false disputed claims by the Road Warrior, and the Road Warrior believe in the theory that if you repeat or repackage a deception often enough that readers will begin to believe the deception since they keep reading about it.
Journalists are not supposed to lie and when they do, the editors should cut them loose.
DeleteYears ago, a reporter at The Record was caught fabricating quotes by his editor, who was reviewing a story for publication.
Instead of firing the reporter, the head assignment editor just demoted him to police reporter.
Tenafly is smart to not want the Hudson County trash light rail would bring.
ReplyDeleteNumerous bus lines stop there, asshole.
DeleteNJMG is bankrupt?
ReplyDeleteMorally, perhaps? Not financially.
Even if NJMG declared bankruptcy, the Borg family would continue to prosper and publish the paper every day.
DeleteHow many times has Donald Trump declared bankruptcy, using the courts and legal system to his advantage, and cutting his debts and obligations?
Stephen Borg wouldn't be losing his $3.65 million McMansion, Mac Borg and pal Jon Hanson will still have a private jet, etc. etc.
Without a doubt morally. Because there not THE TRUSTED SOURCE.
DeleteAs they advertise on the front of The Record newspaper.
Victor -- did you catch the coat that M P. Christie was wearing in today's Record picture [Sunday]. It looked custom made or designed and not a "Pat Nixon Republican Cloth Coat."
ReplyDeleteVictor -- the reference to the Pat Nixon cloth coat was my joke. I am sure that Stile would not even understand the reference. You should understand why Stile, Hayes and Doblin (at least until last week) were so hot on Christie running). It gives them a chance to be big shots. The national media will be looking to them for comments on Christie just as Stile got on MSNBC over the bridge scandal. They will be going to Iowa and New Hampshire and will be interviewed by all of the local media. Further it they could use the Christie candidacy to get a job with a bigger media outlet. they would not be the first journalists to do this. If Christie took off and I doubt that he will there is no reason to suppose that a bigger outlet would want to hire Hayes or Stile to cover him. it is interesting that the Times and not the Record exposed Christie's travel actions although it was well known that he likes to travel like a king.
Delete