Editors send wrong message -- again

Maya Angelou via last.fm

What messages are the lazy, incompetent editors at The Record of Woodland Park sending to readers when today's most important story is a sordid, statutory rape case involving a once-great athlete -- a day after the front page highlighted pedophiles in Thailand? Are their minds in the gutter in their desperate bid to sell papers?


The large photo of handcuffed ex-Giant Lawrence Taylor in court only reinforces the impression that to get on Page 1 of The Record, a black man has to be charged with a crime (unless you are President Obama). 

After all, the former Hackensack daily has drastically reduced coverage of the three most diverse communities in Bergen County. Yet, a trio of reporters were assigned to the Taylor story.


Wouldn't the celebration of women staged by renowned poet Maya Angelou at Fairleigh Dickinson University have been a far-better choice for the centerpiece on A-1 today (instead of a mere promotion at the bottom of the page)? Or what about the protest by librarians over huge state aid cuts? 

Are Editor Frank Scandale and Just-Managing Editor Frank Burgos obsessed with sex crimes? This is what the Borgs and their North Jersey Media Group must mean when they proudly proclaim their commitment to "responsible journalism."


Is their anything redeeming in the Local news section? Check out the ridiculous headline at the bottom of L-1:

Light rail line to use electric cars

Of course, NJ Transit's light-rail system uses electricity, so the headline is the equivalent of saying:

Cars will have gasoline engines

Headline writing at the paper has deteriorated to the point where the only object seems to be getting the paper out, no matter what the stories and headlines say -- or don't say.  

The Englewood reporter was assigned to cover Maya Angelou, so you won't find any news from that city, as well as nothing about Hackensack, but Teaneck gets a two-paragraph mention on L-6.

Why downplay North Jersey news?

Image via Wikipedia

This morning, readers picked up The Record of Woodland Park, hoping for detailed coverage of last night's Hackensack City Council meeting on the suspended police chief, and the latest on Governor Christie's drastic state aid cuts and his unprecedented attack on the judiciary.


All those stories are here, but how they were played tells you volumes about the desperation of the lazy, incompetent editors to sell papers.


The noisy, packed meeting in Hackensack is promoted at the bottom of Page 1 -- which several days ago was almost completely devoted to the arrest of Police Chief Ken Zisa -- but the story gets pushed back to the Local front. Also squeezed to the margins of the front page are a proposed 74% cut in state library funding and the constitutional crisis over Christie's rejection of state Supreme Court Justice John Wallace, who is African-American.


So what's the big news today? The inept, would-be Times Square bomber is talking to investigators (and paint is drying on houses all over North Jersey). Is this really such a big deal? Look at that terrific photo. Six investigators, some of them on their cell phones, on a porch in Connecticut. Wow. A real prize winner, if I ever saw one. 

I guess this is an example of the "responsible journalism" practiced at North Jersey Media Group.

Are the editors trying to minimize Christie's slash-and-burn campaign? Why not finally give voice to Hackensack residents on Page 1 after a virtual blackout on any city news outside the Police Department for many, many months?

Look at the high court decisions the governor criticizes: affordable housing and special aid for school districts to ensure a thorough-and-efficient education. Both benefited minorities, and the justice Christie rejected is the only black on the court. See a pattern there? 


Except for the Hackensack Council meeting story on the front of Local, there is no news from Hackensack, Englewood or Teaneck.


As for coverage of the council meeting itself, there was way too much background information and not enough on what happened at the meeting. An editorial on A-12 -- citing conflicts in Bergen County -- calls for the state Attorney General's Office to take over the Zisa investigation.

Who voted for this turkey?

Image via Wikipedia

At least it's on the front page. An assessment of Governor Christie's campaign promises and what he's accomplished -- or hasn't accomplished -- is crowded down into a corner of Page 1 today in The Record of Woodland Park. The page is dominated by a cold murder case and the would-be Times Square bomber.

Don't bother reading the Christie story. You won't be getting a property tax break this year -- not even a rebate check. You'll probably be paying more, to make up for cuts in state school and municipal aid, and you'll definitely be paying more if you take mass transit. Hoping for a state pension? Christie won't be contributing any state money to it, either.


Christie loves drivers so much (more than even Road Warrior John Cichowski), he won't be raising the low gasoline tax to ease the burden on others, and he's giving the Borgs and other rich folks a pass, too.

"Christie fixes will take time"

The headline says it all. But you probably knew that. Did you vote for this turkey anyway?

As for the rest of the paper, it's back to the news business as usual. That means no Teaneck or Englewood stories in Local, and only a short follow-up on the charges against Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa. The county prosecutor is recusing himself, citing a conflict that involves a witness.

When the Zisa story broke last week, it covered almost the entire front page. When The Record and its parent, North Jersey Media Group, moved out of Hackensack last year, not a line appeared in the paper. This is what the Borgs call "responsible journalism."