Editors always ask, 'When will the jury reach a verdict?'

Working for The Record on Sept. 11, 2001, Photographer Thomas E. Franklin captured this iconic image of three firefighters raising an American flag above the rubble of the Twin Towers. But the photo didn't appear on the Sept. 12, 2001, front page of The Record, then headquartered in Hackensack. However, Franklin's photo did show up on the cover of the New York Post on Sept. 13, 2001, missing any credit to him or The Record.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

If you're a reporter covering state or federal courts, you soon get used to stupid questions from the editors directing coverage in the newsroom.

"When is the jury coming back?" is an especially annoying question courthouse reporters hear -- in view of the jurors' secret deliberations.

You can bet editors asking stupid questions led to Page 1 stories today and Tuesday trying to predict what will happen at the federal trial of two former allies of Governor Christie in the George Washington Bridge lane closures three years ago.

On Tuesday, Staff Writer Paul Berger, who covers the Port Authority, weighed the chances of Bridget Anne Kelly and Bill Baroni, the former aides and confidants, being convicted -- like the 190 other men and women facing "federal charges in New Jersey in the past six years."

Today, Berger and Peter J. Sampson, who covers federal court in Newark for The Record, provide readers with another tutorial -- Jury Selection 101 (A-1).

The headlines are especially ridiculous, because the jurors are the triers of facts, and will decide the guilt or innocence of the defendants:

"Bridgegate
trial could 
hinge on
jury picks

"Judge's first challenge
is finding unbiased panel"

And on the continuation page:

"JURY: May swing GWB trial"

No. They definitely will "swing" the trial.

Bridgegate whitewash

A Bridgegate editorial appears on A-8, noting Christie once joked he moved the traffic cones himself to close access lanes to the bridge, triggering five mornings of gridlock in Fort Lee.

"Little would surprise New Jersey residents ... even if Christie's jest turned out to have been the truth."

And for the first time, The Record is calling the publicly funded $8 million report from a law firm that exonerated Christie "a whitewash."

New York skyline

The star of today's front page is the story on the renewal of the Manhattan skyline, part of The Record's coverage of the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on America (A-1).

Don't miss the centerfold by Staff Writer James M. O'Neill -- "REACHING NEW HEIGHTS" -- which amounts to a love letter from North Jersey residents who have watched the transformation of the skyline since the Twin Towers were leveled (A-4 and A-5). 

9/11 flag recovered

The story on recovery of the flag raised over the rubble of the World Trade Center recalls one of the darkest days in The Record's Hackensack newsroom, which was in use until 2009 (L-1).

The events had nothing to do with the terrorist attack itself or the column of black smoke rising from the rubble -- clearly visible through the big windows of the fourth-floor newsroom, where the staff had just put out an extra and were working on the morning edition of Sept. 12, 2001.

When the flag-raising photo captured by Staff Photographer Thomas E. Franklin was transmitted to the newsroom, the front page had already been made up with a photo showing pretty much what every other paper had -- an image of the smoking towers or a plane flying into one of them.

Photo Director Rich Gigli couldn't persuade Editor Frank Scandale and the woman he succeeded, Vivian Waixel, to put Franklin's photo on Page 1, because bean counters decided remaking the front page would be too expensive.

Franklin's photo ended up on a back page in the paper of Sept. 12, 2001, and that likely destroyed his chances of winning a Pulitzer Prize for Photography.

That same business mentality was used when The Record reprinted thousands of copies of the Sept. 11, 2001, extra without correcting a front-page photo caption that misidentified the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center.

Franklin's photo

In the years that followed, Jennifer A. Borg, then vice president and general counsel of The Record, jealously guarded the copyright of Franklin's iconic photo.

But that didn't stop the advertising department from inserting a glossy 8-inch-by-11-inch copy of the 9/11 flag-raising image into the paper one day.

On the flip side was an ad for All American Ford in Hackensack.

Editors scramble to catch up to big local story

These rules of conduct displayed on an NJ Transit local train to Suffern, N.Y., above and below, help explain why Governor Christie has such disdain for mass transit. The GOP bully surely would be thrown off the train if he tried his in-your-face, insulting behavior with other commuters.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

The Record of Woodland Park continues to play catch up today on a big Hackensack story -- the untimely death of prominent businessman Jerome S. Some, who was killed crossing the street in front of his Prospect Avenue high-rise on Tuesday night.

Deputy Assignment Editor Dan Sforza has struggled to keep up with the story since then, even following the lead of this blogger in reporting charges against the driver and interviewing the 87-year-old's survivors.

It doesn't seem possible for a daily newspaper, but here it is the fourth day after Some's death and Sforza is only now naming the poor man's widow, Diane Some, who is shown in a photo on the Local front (L-1).

The photo runs with a story on Friday's humor- and tear-filled funeral in Hackensack.

Local editor wilts

Running the local-news operation in the absence of his boss has exhausted Sforza, but the former reporter is doing a good job padding his report with Law & Order news, photos of minor fires and accidents (L-3 and L-4) and wire service obits of obscure people (L-5 and L-6).

Food crystal ball

What's the point of the Better Living cover story today on "the next big trends in cuisine" (BL-1)?

It's pretty clear the North Jersey chefs interviewed have at least one eye on the bottom line: 

Not one predicted that restaurants will be serving more organic and naturally raised or grown food, knowing that would cut into their profits.

Second look

It's hard to believe that Friday's front-page story on so-called apartheid schools in New Jersey completely omitted mention of Englewood's long-segregated public schools.

The elementary and middle schools in the white-ruled city certainly fit the profile: "1 percent or fewer of the students are white."

Maybe someone can explain to me how North Jersey Media Group Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg, former publisher of The Record, could have lived on Englewood's East Hill for decades and allowed his newspaper to be so derelict in its duty to the city's minorities.

Of course, his children, Stephen and Jennifer, were considered too special to attend public schools. And now that they are running The Record, they have as much disdain for Englewood's public schools as their father.

Cashing in on 9/11

The Borgs refused to spend a few thousand dollars to remake the front page on Sept. 11, 2001, and relegated to a back page the iconic photo of firemen raising the American flag over the rubble of the World Trade Center.

But in recent years, Jennifer A. Borg, Esq., the paper's hotshot lawyer, has milked the photo for all of the damages she can win from people who violate NJMG's copyright.

On Thursday, an L-3 story in The Record reported NJMG is seeking as much as $150,000 in damages from Jeanine Pirro, a Fox TV personality, for such a violation.

A few years ago, a glossy 8-by-10-inch copy of Tom Franklin's famous photo was inserted into copies of The Record.

On the other side was an advertisement for a Ford dealer in Hackensack.

Bankrupt Christie turns to Obama -- again

The license plate and stickers on a Chrysler PT Cruiser, spotted Friday on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, speak for themselves.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

Governor Christie has made such a wreck of state finances he's grabbing $15 million in federal Sandy relief funds to help the owners of shore businesses (The Record's front page today).

Wait a minute.

The fire that destroyed 50 businesses in Seaside Park and Seaside Heights last week had nothing to do with Superstorm Sandy, and may even have been set deliberately.

Since he took office in January 2010, Christie has used voodoo economics and cuts to middle- and working class programs to balance his budgets.

He's also grabbed federal money from NJ Transit and the Port Authority to fix state roads after he cancelled the Hudson River rail tunnels, dealing a blow to commuters and labor.

The GOP bully may be a hero to shore residents and business people, and the editors of The Record, but North Jersey voters will do their best on Nov. 5 to drum him out of office.

Bankrupt him

Another Page 1 story today discusses the risks in a second federal indictment of former Bergen County Democratic Party Chairman Joseph Ferriero (A-1 and A-10).

All the legal mumbo jumbo is fine, but the story ignores this:

Even if acquitted, Ferriero will be forced to spend a large part of the hundreds of thousands of dollars in allegedly ill-gotten gains to defend himself, and that's poetic justice.

Kelly is back

Readers can't tell if a related column on the Opinion front is more about Ferriero or Staff Writer Mike Kelly, who goes into great detail about what the so-called journalist said in his 2008 interview with the champion of pay to play (O-1).

The strongest word Kelly had for Ferriero was "boss."

"This is how politics works," is the last line from Kelly, who completely misses the bigger picture (O-4).

This is how democracy -- our corrupt system of government -- works. This is the wonderful system that we export to the rest of the world -- the system Kelly and other members of the media can't stop glorifying. 

And this is the system that has been poisoned by Christie and Tea Party crackpots.

More road lies

On the front of Local, Road Warrior John Cichowski again ignores the daily commuting nightmare for yet another column on MVC lines (L-1).

The Addled Commuter is fresh off two columns greatly hyping the diversion of some drivers who entered the upper-level toll plaza of the George Washington Bridge from Fort Lee streets last week:

Here's what a reader concerned over all the errors and distortions in Cichowski's work had to say in an e-mail to management:

"In his Friday and Saturday columns, the Road Warrior relies on a series of false rumors and exaggerated false statements and assessments to over-hype and distort significantly more traffic congestion to the upper level of the GW Bridge. It was due to temporarily reducing number of tollbooths allotted to a local Fort Lee entrance for only 5 morning rush hours.

"His first column was falsely titled Closed tollbooths a commuting disaster, and the Road Warrior falsely reported in these two columns that two tollbooths were 'closed' and 'shut down.' All of this contradicted the facts and The Record's own photograph with the Friday column, which showed these tollbooths remained open, but were used for other highway traffic instead of cars from the Fort Lee entrance.

"Road Warrior had to sheepishly admit in his follow-up column that this traffic congestion was really a short-term situation based on a PA traffic pattern study in contradiction to denials by him in his Friday column, and was not a permanent change, as he and others repeatedly implied in that column.

"Yet, the Road Warrior could not resist republishing false rumors from his Friday column and making up new false rumors about the fictitious reasons for this temporary change."

To read the entire e-mail on the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers, click on the following link:

Inscrutable Road Warrior screws readers


Man with tits

What do you make of the big photo of a bearded, pot-bellied Sussex County man with tits next to the Road Warrior column (L-1)?

It's hard to believe there wasn't someone more photogenic at a tattoo fest in Secaucus.

The drought on Hackensack news in Local continues today, although the byline of Hannan Adely, the reporter assigned to the city, has been appearing on 9/11-related and other stories.

Say it ain't so

Readers can't have much respect for another columnist, Brigid Harrison, a political science professor at Montclair State (O-1).

Today, she describes the mean-spirited Christie as the "brash and beguiling soon-to-be-reelected governor."

Why does Harrison prostitute herself only months after she blasted Christie for putting "a great double-digit victory" on Nov. 5 "over the lives of women in New Jersey" who lost $7.5 million in preventive health funds (June 23 column).

Or her June 16 column that labeled Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, a Democrat, as "a sell-out" for endorsing the homely GOP slob.

She also called DiVincenzo "a politically expedient compromiser who doesn't give a rat's fanny about what's best for a political party he allegedly bosses."

Christie is "beguiling"? Give me a break, professor.

Frugality rules

On the Business front, Your Money's Worth Columnist Kevin DeMarrais can't stop boasting about what a smart money manager he is (B-1).

It's one thing for the frugal DeMarrais not to buy organic food, but it's irresponsible for him to publish a monthly Market Basket survey of supermarket prices without organic or naturally raised milk, poultry and other items.

In the same way, advising seniors to chase discounts at fast-food restaurants, as he does today, ignores the many dietary restrictions they are under and the crappy beef and other low-quality items served.

Also, where did The Record get the ridiculous  illustration at the bottom of his column on the Business front -- an elderly woman in curlers with a bullhorn?

Another suit

A story on A-3 today reports that North Jersey Media Group has filed another copyright-infringement lawsuit over use of "an iconic 9/11 photograph," this time by Sarah Palin and her political action committee.

The Associated Press story has  a huge hole  in it: 

The Record's management refused to spend the money to re-make Page 1 on Sept. 11, 2001, to highlight the inspirational flag-raising image from Staff Photographer Thomas E. Franklin, and banished it to a back page.

Now, NJMG General Counsel Jennifer A. Borg is spending far more in legal fees to punish anyone who uses the photo, even if full credit is given.

The Star-Ledger 3, The Record A Big Fat 0

Image via Wikipedia

The Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal.

"I should never have listened to them! I should never have listened to them!" Editor Francis Scandale wailed as he pounded his desk in the Woodland Park newsroom, recalling 9/11 and the night he blew winning a Pulitzer Prize for The Record.

"Now, Frank, there's always next year," head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes -- Mother of All Editors -- said soothingly as she tried to comfort the boss.

Scandale was reacting to Monday's news that The Star-Ledger of Newark won its third Pulitzer Prize since January 2001, when he took over at The Record (A-7). 

'Pull It, Sir'

Instead of winning journalism's biggest prize for The Record, Scandale has become "Pull It, Sir," in the colorful vernacular of Jerry DeMarco, former Breaking News editor.

About eight months after Scandale arrived in Hackensack, he faced the biggest story of his career -- the 9/11 attack on America, which was visible from the newsroom -- and blew it big time when he put a potentially Pulitzer Prize-winning photo on a back page.

Of course, I can only guess at the reasoning of Pulitzer board members. but why give a prize to a photo even the newspaper didn't think worthy of the front page?

Unique image

Photographer Thomas E. Franklin's image of firefighters defiantly raising the American flag over the ruins of the World Trade Center would have advanced the story and made The Record's front page unique among the world's newspapers.

Bowing to pressure from the business side -- he was told it would be "too expensive" to re-make A-1 -- Scandale slunk away with his tail between his legs, marking the first of his many failures in the job.

And it was a job he probably got because he had helped The Denver Post win a Pulitzer for its coverage of the Columbine massacre in 1999.

In 2008, The Record's coverage of the EnCap golf-resort project was a finalist in the local news category of the Pulitzer competition -- in other words, an also-ran. 

Today's paper

Oh no. A verklempt Scandale allowed Staff Writer Deena Yellin to hijack the front page today for a another story and big photo about those crazy Orthodox Jews and their obscure rituals (and she's one of them). 

This reminds me of how Scandale always assigned two Castro-hating Cuban exiles to write about Cuba for The Record.

Does even 1 out of every 1,000 Jews burn bread and other chametz before Passover? And the photo of a rabbi in a fire helmet doesn't even show any bread being burned. Can Scandale get any more desperate than this?

Readers shouldn't hold their collective breath for Yellin stories on Orthodox Jews who are trying to take over municipal councils and school boards in Englewood and Teaneck, so they can cut the taxes they pay for public schools their kids don't use. 

Screwing the middle class

Despite an A-3 story on protests over big companies not paying taxes on billions of profits, the clueless Business staff fails to come up with a story on how they do it.

Also on A-3, Governor Christie is so busy trying to find new ways of destroying the middle-class way of life in New Jersey, he didn't pay his taxes on time.

Arrogant judge

Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin deserves rare praise for an A-10 editorial calling a non-custodial sentence for former baseball player Dwight Gooden "absurd" and criticizing Superior Court Judge Donald Venezia for ignoring the "public's interest."

Two Ridgewood stories appear in Sykes' Local section today, but none from Hackensack. Still, Sykes has to use another one of those gee-whiz, non-fatal accident photos to fill space (L-6).

Rubbing salt in wounds

With gasoline heading for $4 a gallon amid record unemployment and housing foreclosures, doesn't Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung's lavish meal at a restaurant in far off Red Bank sound a lot like fiddling while Rome burns (Better Living front)?

Editor hides his incompetence

Did you see Editor Frank Scandale's column on the front of Opinion today -- an elaborate explanation of why The Record of Woodland Park ran a photo showing a female suspect giving the finger to the photographer? 

He mentions his involvement over the years in deciding what photos to run, going way back to the Columbine massacre in 1999, when he was at The Denver Post. But he conveniently ignores his biggest blunder -- relegating Record Photographer Thomas Franklin's incredible flag-raising shot on 9/11 to a back page. How shameful. 


Your Money's Worth Columnist Kevin DeMarrais has probably written about the solar panels he had installed at his home a half-dozen times, including today's takeout on the front of Business. 

But because his story only refers briefly to the experience of one other homeowner, readers never learn how the process of getting solar panels is frustratingly slow, because of a stubborn state and local bureaucracy. Yet, he's familiar with my experience, because I sent him e-mails.


I had to lay out more than $40,000 to get solar panels put up on the roof of my Hackensack home. From the day I applied for a state rebate and put down a $10,000 deposit with the installer, 1st Light Energy, it took more than two years to get the panels onto the roof, and a couple of more months to get them online (in October). 

I still have not received any solar renewable energy credits, which I  anticipated will repay me in six to seven years.

-- VICTOR E. SASSON