Will ex-Times editor's retirement revive local coverage?

Pedestrians on Euclid Avenue in Hackensack faced a number of obstacles on Thursday afternoon, including uncleared snow in front of the house at 90 Euclid Ave., above and below, and uncleared corners at Euclid and Grand avenues.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

One look at what may be Editor Marty Gottlieb's final front page today tells you the former Times veteran is no fan of the local-news coverage for which The Record once was praised.

In the four years he's been running the Woodland Park newsroom, the number of sports and sensational crime stories on the front-page has soared, such as the amputee and alleged murderer on A-1 today.

And Gottlieb has allowed local Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza to pad their thin local-news section with endless Law & Order coverage, numerous stories about Paterson's dysfunctional government (L-1), and minor accident and fire photos (L-3).

On Thursday afternoon, crossing Grand and Euclid avenues in Hackensack required detours, above and below. Snow from the blizzard of 2016 stopped falling last Saturday night.

The 'context' editor

In a column on A-19 today, Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin appears to be damning Gottlieb with faint praise.

"This is Marty's last week at The Record. He is retiring. He will be missed," Doblin writes, adding that four words sum up what he has learned from working with Gottlieb: "Look at the drapes."

Doblin claims Gottlieb is one of those editors who "leave indelible marks on how to practice journalism," a reference to the editor's insistence that no news story is complete without "context."

Of course, that was what Gottlieb learned in his many years of reporting and editing at The New York Times, where he ended his career as the high-flying editor of global editions in Paris and Hong Kong.

But providing "context" at The Record meant Gottlieb would edit and rewrite every Page 1 story filed by local reporters and approved by local editors.

Then, those reporters and editors would have to rework the stories from his hand-written notes, sucking out what little energy was left in a newsroom that had grown lazy under Sykes, Sforza and Francis "Frank" Scandale, the editor who was fired in late 2011.

Front-page stories became wordier, more complex and far less reader friendly.

And Gottlieb was a big fan of publishing the endless ruminations of Charles Stile, Mike Kelly, John Cichowski and the paper's other burned-out columnists on Page 1.

In the process of focusing on the big picture, coverage of Hackensack and many other towns waned dramatically.

Editor Martin Gottlieb is in his last week at The Record, but it remains to be seen if the Woodland Park daily will boost local-news coverage after he retires.

HUMC

Today's story on a new president for Hackensack University Medical Center is missing salaries for Ihor S. Sawczuk and Robert C. Garrett, president and CEO of Hackensack University Health Network (L-1).

Their bloated salaries are important, because the Hackensack complex has fought for years to preserve its tax-exempt status, shifting the property tax burden onto city residents and businesses.

Garret was paid nearly $3 million in 2012, according to NJBIZ.com's "Medical Millionaires."

Today's HUMC story carries the byline of Mary Jo Layton, but it appears to have been taken straight from hospital press releases, and doesn't mention the medical complex's controversial non-profit status.

And there is no pronunciation guide so are readers to assume the new president's last name sounds like "Sawchuck"?

No shortage of B.S.

Staff Writer Elisa Ung, the paper's chief food critic, is so busy stuffing her face with low-quality burgers she doesn't have to time to investigate how the cows were raised (Better Living).

So readers have to assume the beef used at Black Rebel Burger in Wood-Ridge and Mooyah in far-off Old Tappan is pumped full of harmful antibiotics and growth hormones, and may actually contain manure and superbugs (BL-12).

If you go, stick with the vegetarian options.

See:  How dangerous bacteria travel to your table

On Page 1, editors make big deal out of small transit story

In downtown Englewood, this North Dean Street storefront has been vacant forever, perhaps a testament to the exorbitant rent demanded by the landlord.

Syros Taverna on Palisade Avenue in Englewood was virtually empty on Thursday around 6 p.m., as were many other nearby restaurant.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record has had a long line of reporters too lazy to ride NJ Transit buses and trains, and report on the quality of service, as did top journalists who wrote subway columns for the New York City papers.

That may be why the Woodland Park daily ignored for months, if not years, long delays faced by North Jersey commuters who board buses for home at the antiquated Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan.

And that's why The Record hasn't reported commuters from Bergen and Passaic counties often can't find seats on buses and trains during the morning rush.

Off the rails

Now, Christopher Maag, the latest in a long line of mediocre transportation reporters, goes on and on today about a decidedly minor transit story, the AirTrain at Newark Liberty International Airport.

The big-black headline is so wrong it's criminal:

AirTrain's demise

comes as no surprise

Few readers will plow through this history lesson to find out the AirTrain's "demise" or death isn't coming until at least 2022 (A-6).

The Port Authority may have squandered millions or billions of dollars on the monorail, but this bi-state agency isn't, after all, supported by taxes.

Patronage mill

What can you expect from an agency famous for cost overruns, one that is little more than a patronage mill for the governors of New York and New Jersey?

That's why Governor Christie apparently was able to get his cronies to shut down lanes on the George Washington Bridge, using the span to retaliate against Democrats who refused to endorse him for reelection.

Maag and the editors who give him his marching orders continue to ignore the biggest transportation stories of all:

The fallout from Christie's 2010 decision to pull the plug on Hudson River rail tunnels, and his refusal to back a higher gasoline tax to fund road and bridge repairs, and transit improvements.

Muslims, Syrians

Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin is so eager to breath life into Christie's dying campaign for the White House he completely forgets to mention the GOP bully wanted to bar all Syrians, even orphans, from entering New Jersey (A-9).

And he made that statement long before Donald Trump said he would bar all Muslims from entering the United States.

Local news?

Today's Local section carries two stories about Teaneck (L-1), and one on Englewood (L-3), but nothing from Hackensack, biggest of the three.

Staff Writer Stephanie Noda's piece on cleanup of the old police pistol range doesn't mention how the noise of early morning gunfire awakened hundreds of Englewood residents for years, especially those who worked at night in hospitals or on the copy desk of The Record.  

Today's edition is filled with problems from start to finish

First Presbyterian Church on Passaic Street in Hackensack.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

You'll find plenty of amateurish writing and editing in papers put out by students at Fairleigh Dickinson University and Bergen Community College.

But on the front page of The Record of Woodland Park?

In today's lead Page 1 story, Staff Writer Christopher Maag should have said:

"Governor Christie's choice for Port Authority chairman told lawmakers who approved his nomination Thursday the agency is troubled and he promised things would change."

Instead, somewhat nonsensically, Maag has "Governor Christie's choice for chairman of the Port Authority" promising "that things would change in testimony to lawmakers who approved his nomination Thursday."

Of course, nothing is changing in his testimony.

Which border?

Just above the fold, a front-page headline declares:

"Possible deal on border crisis"

Given the tensions in Ukraine, you could forgive readers who think the deal is with Russia, especially because the word "immigration" is left out.

Shooting of Genesis

A brief on A-1 today sends readers to an L-6 story reporting the family of Genesis Rincon, the 12-year-old who was fatally shot in Paterson, said two others were involved in the shooting.

And the defense attorney for the lone 19-year-suspect said "his client has nothing to do with the shooting."

The arrest of Jhymiere Moore was announced on Thursday's Page 1, but questions from the family and suspect's lawyer are demoted to Local.

Minds on vacation

Another Page 1 story -- on school buses that failed inspections and drivers who falsified driving records -- should have run during the school year (A-1).

Why did Editor Marty Gottlieb put this on the front page during the summer?

A-2 today carries three corrections, including one about the suspect in the Genesis Rincon shooting.

Resident wimp

Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin, the resident wimp and ass-kisser, wrote an offensive opinion column about the shooting of Genesis and how Paterson should close public buildings and cut services to put more cops on the street (A-19).

Doblin, whose knees knock together at the thought of crossing Governor Christie, doesn't mention how Paterson and other cities laid off cops after the GOP bully slashed their state aid.

Web site has news

NJ Spotlight.com reports today Christie has sent state police to Trenton, where the number of murders this year set a record, and the acting state attorney general has asked prosecutors not to plead down "gun-related charges in exchange for a conviction as a way of increasing jail time for those convicted."

Why hasn't this been reported in The Record?

And why didn't Doblin suggest deployment of state troopers to Paterson or even call the governor for comment on Genesis' death and increasing gun violence in Silk City?

This kind of tortured prose from Doblin is sickening:

"The death of Genesis on a street named for Rosa Parks cries out to the heavens. It should stop us in our tracks, make us wail, rip our garments and steel our resolve to do more than talk. To do something. Something."

Hackensack news

On the front of Local, a story on a new high-rise development on Main Street in Hackensack carries a familiar byline, Hannan Adely, who was replaced by Maag.

But the story doesn't mention a cross street on Main, expecting residents to have memorized the addresses on a street that stretches from the courthouse to Route 4. 

More on Saks woes

Another story about the closing of Saks Fifth Avenue in The Shops at Riverside contradicts the first account, which cited "routine maintenance."

The retail reporter finally called the Hackensack City Manager's Office and found out "the shopping center was doing a routine inspection ... when it discovered a crack in an underground column that supports a portion of the Saks store" ((L-7).

"Hackensack City Manager's Office" is capitalized in a brief on Page 1, but not in the Business page story on L-7.

There are full-page ads in today's paper from Macy's, not Saks, and that probably has the bean counters at North Jersey Media Group shitting in their pants.

'Perfect' shortcake

In Better Living today, Staff Writer Elisa Ung pulls out all the stops to promote Park West Tavern, a Ridgewood restaurant that charges high prices for small portions (BL-16).

Appetizers top out at $16 and entrees cost as much as $44.

Ung, the paper's restaurant reviewer, continues to struggle with her writing, and appears not to get much help from Esther Davidowitz, the food editor whose run-on sentences take the wind out of many readers.

Star reporter left big holes in Drewniak profile

These are the three George Washington Bridge access lanes on Hudson Street in Fort Lee, above and below, that are at the center of a storm over a Christie administration plot to tie up traffic in the Democratic borough. Two of the three lanes were closed for four days.

Today, an employee of Babe's Taxi in Fort Lee said he complained to a Port Authority police officer about the resulting gridlock, and was told to send "a letter to Governor Christie."

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Michael Drewniak, Governor Christie's prickly press secretary, is one of the 20 insiders hit with subpoenas in the George Washington Bridge traffic scandal, The Record reports today (A-1).

And although Christie himself hasn't been subpoenaed, he has hired a prominent lawyer to conduct an "internal review of his office" (A-1).

But on Thursday, the paper published thousands of words about Drewniak without attempting to explore how closely the former reporter works with Christie or how he has handled previous controversies involving his boss.

Big holes

The profile in cowardice by Staff Writer Stephanie Akin, one of the paper's stars, also failed to explain Christie's and Drewniak's favorite tactic for handling pesky members of the press:

They ignore e-mails inquiries, refuse to take calls and issue blanket no comments until they have had time to carefully craft a response, hoping the controversy will die down.

On Thursday, Christie abruptly left a Stafford Township meeting on Sandy aid without taking questions from residents or the media (A-1 and A-7).

Assumes too much

The Drewniak profile assumed readers were intimately familiar with his role as communications director or liaison with the media.

And it failed to tell us how closely Drewniak works with Christie, despite the central nagging questions in the Bridgegate controversy:

What did the governor know about the closure of two of three bridge access lanes that caused gridlock in Fort Lee on four days in early September, when did he know it and was he part of the cover-up?

Who is the victim?

The GOP bully claims he is the victim in the Bridgegate scandal, because his staff "lied" to him, and that he first learned of the plot from media reports.

Does Drewniak meet with Christie every morning and discuss how the administration wants to respond to media questions?

Were members of Christie's staff -- such as the disgraced Bridget Anne Kelly of Ramsey -- part of those daily meetings?

Kelly, the deputy chief of staff who was fired last week, had sent an e-mail to a Christie crony at the Port Authority, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

And Drewniak received e-mails from Christie appointees on the Port Authority, asking how they should respond to Star-Ledger staffers who asked about the lane closures and gridlock in the Democratic borough.

Earlier controversies

Christie has been involved in controversy before, when he was U.S. attorney in Newark, and Drewniak was his chief spokesman at the time.

It would have been instructive to readers if Akin had told them how Drewniak handled media questions about the hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting fees Christie steered to his former boss, John Ashcroft, as well as to former U.S. District Judge Herbert J. Stern.

The most insight Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin can muster is to compare Bridgegate to an old movie (A-19).

Life is a bitch

The families of missing minority women likely were shocked by a story in Local today, reporting on the search for a missing dog (L-3).

The story carries the byline of  the local obituary writer.

The lesson is that if you are the parent of a missing black or Hispanic woman, you have to buy a billboard to get the attention of the Woodland Park daily.

Editors were blind to rot in Christie's inner circle

Playground murals in Hackensack, above and below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Is it believable that The Record is only now learning about vindictiveness and dishonesty among members of Governor Christie's inner circle?

Since he took office in January 2010, the Woodland Park daily has been in Christie's corner, calling him a "rock star" and wildly "popular," and in at least the past year, reporting obsessively about his White House potential.

Naive editors

Today, however, a harshly worded editorial demands an explanation from Christie on how members of his staff and cronies on the Port Authority pulled off a politically inspired traffic jam in Democratic Fort Lee, supposedly without his knowledge (A-11).

The editorial writer appears to be shocked that Christie appointees "gleefully" disparaged "public officials, first responders, the media, schoolchildren and pretty much anyone else who might be inconvenienced by the closures" of access lanes to the George Washington Bridge in early September.  

NPR connects dots

This morning, National Public Radio reported that many of Christie's closest aides and appointees once worked for him when he was U.S. attorney in Newark or came from the state Attorney General's Office.

Michael Drewniak, his foul-mouthed media liaison, also was spokesman for Christie the corruption-busting federal prosecutor.

Delayed outrage

Referring to Christie's Port Authority appointees and his Trenton aides, today's editorial notes:

"The pure joy David Wildstein, Bill Baroni, Bridget Anne Kelly and Michael Drewniak display in either being unhelpful or actually destructive is sickening." 

Equally sickening is how everyone from Editor Marty Gottlieb to the paper's columnists and reporters have been in love with a politician everyone else refers to as  the "GOP bully."

Uphill battle

This was especially evident during last year's gubernatorial campaign, when state Sen. Barbara Buono's campaign couldn't gain traction with The Record because her fund-raising lagged far behind Christie's.

This despite Buono, a Democrat, documenting high unemployment, a lagging state economy and Christie's continuing war on the middle class.

In a column today, Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin sounds naive when he says:

"But what I do not get is why [Governor] Christie did not know sooner" about a plan among four members of his inner circle "to create a traffic nightmare in Fort Lee" (A-18).