Editors run fake and real horse races on the front page

At Newark Liberty International Airport's Terminal C this morning, this departure level was relatively calm. The airport's cellphone lot still is hard to find because there are no signs at airport entrances that direct drivers there. Follow signs for "Rental Car Returns" and "South Area," then you'll see signs directing you to the lot.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Nearly 11 months before the major party conventions and nearly 15 months before the election itself, can anyone predict how close the 2016 presidential contest will be?

Of course not, but that doesn't stop the media from engaging in endless rounds of speculation on the nominees and who worries whom, such as today's Page 1 story in The Record.

Editors and reporters are so bored they have to manufacture a horse race every four years as a way of trying to engage readers whose real interest are the issues that affect their every day life -- such as the environment, gun control, Social Security and Medicare.

The Record's editor, New York Times veteran Martin Gottlieb, and the people running most of the nation's media shy away from exploring important issues, preferring to report extensively on the political conflict that has paralyzed Congress, and given birth to the "sound bite."

More manure

For the only real horse race on the front page today, see the disappointing performance of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, whose wealthy owner lives in Teaneck.

The report from the spa town of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., was written by veteran sports reporter John Rowe, whose newsroom demeanor resembles that of a funeral director.

Gender change

A-1 is dominated today by a sensitive piece on a soldier's gender change from Staff Writer Todd South, the Hackensack reporter who is a veteran of the Afghanistan war.

In a Tweet today, South called the piece on Jennifer Long of Kearny "a story that took a lot of work but was worth it."

That may explain why Hackensack readers haven't seen any stories about the city from him recently, including in today's Local section.

The gender-change story continues on A-12 and A-13 -- totaling nearly two full newspaper pages -- making one wonder how many readers will stay with it to the end. 

Local news?

Readers' eyes continue to roll over the complete breakdown of editing and fact-checking, despite such six-figure newsroom editors as Deirdre Sykes and Liz Houlton.

A typo in the first paragraph of a local obituary for a World War II fighter pilot is so obvious readers wonder how everyone -- assignment editor, news editor, copy editor, copy desk supervisor, page proofer and Houlton or their stand ins -- could possibly have missed it.

"The Battle of the Bulge" is rendered as "The Battle of the Budge."

Opinion section?

The copy of The Record thrown onto my driveway today is missing the Opinion section, which includes the lone Margulies cartoon of the week.

Click on the following link to see the cartoon, one of the few mentions of Governor Christie in today's paper:

California's drought is getting worse ...

In Christie's New Jersey, even a racehorse restores pride

For drivers, it's a rough ride on River Street in Hackensack and scores of other streets in North Jersey that have been patched after extensive utility work or simply neglected, sometimes for a decade or more. Still, we pay some of the highest property taxes in the nation.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The front page of The Record today gives you some idea of how depressed New Jerseyans are in the fifth year of Governor Christie's reign.

When a woman gushes over winning $16 and a racehorse is said to restore pride in the Garden State, you definitely know we are mired in deep doo-doo (A-1).

Staff Writer Christopher Maag reinforces the point in his sixth paragraph, noting "the sitting governor" was "booed loudly" by his constituents "as he stood in the winner's circle."

So, the record crowd at Monmouth Park in Oceanport booed Christie, the horse's ass, and cheered the racehorse, Triple Crown winner American Pharoah.

Climate change

Another story on Page 1 today describe how Christie sides with industry, not the environment, when it comes to making public information on potentially dangerous oil trains passing through Bergen County (A-1).

And thanks to Christie, New Jersey likely will be one of the Republican-led states that oppose President Obama's initiative to cut greenhouse gases and fight climate change (A-1).

As the media have done with every issue since the president took office, climate change is politicized and presented in terms of Democrats v. Republicans, and not what's good for the country and the environment.

However, the sub-headline on the Obama story goes too far:

Power plants
and states to
fight Obama

Of course, as the first paragraph of The Associated Press story clearly states, opposition is expected from "Republican-led states," not all states (A-1).

Muslim pride

Also today, The Record continues its campaign to humanize Muslim-Americans with a story on Abrar Shahin, "the fashionable hijab-wearing Muslim teenager" from Clifton "who has become a global sensation" (A-1).

Local news?

On the Local front, a story on a final link in the Secaucus Greenway includes a Meadowlands map with few labels, so readers have to scour the story for clues on where they can find the start of the public footpath (L-1).

The story leading the Local section never explains why the four Di Cosmo brothers are selling "their local watering hole," The Front Porch, after 34 years (L-1).

Many thousands of words, but why should readers care?

What the early stage of renewal on Main Street in Hackensack looks like. A 14-story apartment building is planned for the site.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I've never heard of an "Internet catfish scam," but if it has nothing to do with tainted seafood, I don't care what it is.

Today, Editor Martin Gottlieb of The Record delivers one of the most boring front pages I've ever seen.

Dominating Page 1, a report identifies the victim of the Internet scam as a young woman who lives in Matawan, which is far from Bergen County.

Another front page story -- a newly released study on NJ Transit's rail-safety team -- begins with a defense of the agency even before any criticism is leveled.

Bridgegate

Also above the fold, a Bridgegate report gets no closer to revealing Governor Christie's involvement in the George Washington Bridge lane closures two months before the 2013 election (A-1).

The fourth main element today speculates on whether American Pharoah is going to be raced again or allowed to have sex several times a day with another horse (A-1).

On the Local front, a story on the Orthodox Jewish community embracing the racehorse's Triple Crown victory never explains why owner Ahmet Zayat, who lives in Teaneck, named the stallion after the biggest oppressor of ancient Jews (L-1).

Christie lies

Three days after Christie accused Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton of seeking an "opportunity to commit greater acts of voter fraud," The Record finally responds today.

"The charge is ludicrous by any measure," an editorial declares (A-9).

Then, why was the unofficial GOP presidential candidate's charge published on Saturday's front page in what amounted to little more than a sensational sound bite?

A racehorse chases all local human news off of Page 1

The Forest Avenue ramp in Paramus has no lane allowing drivers to merge onto Route 4 west, above, making it one of  Bergen County's biggest bottlenecks, with cars often backed up onto Forest. Drivers pass the old Forum Diner, below, an eyesore that has been closed for years, and wonder why a merging lane couldn't be carved out of the vacant parking lot.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

After hours of TV coverage on Saturday and the millions of words that preceded it, readers of The Record likely won't bother doing more than glancing at the photo of a racehorse on Page 1 today.

More animal news appears in Local today -- rotting deer carcasses on road shoulders near and far, and coyotes that are frightening Saddle Brook residents (L-1 and L-7).

Local human news is scarce, however.

TV coverage of the Belmont Stakes, the last leg of the Triple Crown, began at 2:30 Saturday afternoon and ran past 7 p.m. -- this for a race that lasted less than 3 minutes.

To fill all that time, commentators ranged far and wide, even telling viewers American Pharoah's jockey grew up on a goat farm outside Mexico City.

Not long after that, a commercial for a cable-TV service showed a beach with a woman whose enormous breasts were spilling out of her bikini, a goat and a horse.

Was that just a coincidence?

Local news?

You know local Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza are desperate when they lead their section with a routine post-trial motion to set aside the racketeering conviction of Joseph A. Ferriero, onetime Democratic boss in Bergen County (L-1).

Road Warrior John Cichowski, the so-called commuting columnist, goes on and on today about deer carcasses seen among roadside litter near and far, including Pennsylvania and Minnesota (L-1).

The confused columnist is now referring to every driver, including state troopers, as "road warriors."

Also, does the headline make any sense?

What's "fragile" in the conflict between drivers and deer? "Bloody coexistence," maybe. But "fragile"?

Better Living

One look at The Corner Table column today, and you can tell restaurant critic Elisa Ung ran out of anything meaningful say about readers' restaurant experiences (BL-1).

On Friday, Ung praised the "high-quality" ingredients in a couple of dishes she liked at Sorrento Ristorante in East Rutherford.

But in the lukewarm, 2-star review, she didn't back that up with any information on whether they were naturally raised or grown.

And the Sicilian-born chef lost points because she hated one of his desserts.

Kelly loses it

On the Opinion front, Columnist Mike Kelly compares airport security to "a near theatrical experience that is unlike anything else in life -- except perhaps a mosh pit at a rock concert" (O-1).

No one edits Kelly, so he often sounds like a moron, even though he's been writing a column for, what, 20 or 25 years?

And in recent years, he's been avoiding his own near-death experience -- emergency open heart, coronary bypass surgery -- one that could make compelling reading and perhaps help others struggling with heart disease.

When The Record was in Hackensack, Kelly was among dayside newsroom staffers who were allowed to take a break and go outside and jog, and he appeared to be one of the fittest.

If you have any column ideas for Kelly, his contact information appears here:

Contact Mike Kelly 

On Teaneck horse owner, editor is upstaged by ex-paper

Chubby's on Queen Anne Road in Teaneck, one of the oldest barbershops in Bergen County, is offering a free mane trim to any resident who owns a racehorse.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The front pages of The Record and The New York Times today report extensively on the Teaneck millionaire whose racehorse has a shot at the Triple Crown on Saturday.

But The Times does a far better job exploring the human-interest angle, especially how Ahmed Zayat has managed to remain an observant Jew during his rise to the top of the murky horse racing industry.

In doing so, the Manhattan-based national and international newspaper tells a story that Teaneck residents, especially the township's Muslims and Orthodox Jews, will find much more engaging than The Record's report (A-1).

Isn't it rich? 

Martin Gottlieb is upstaged and outflanked by the paper where he had a stellar career as a reporter and editor before he took over as editor of The Record, where he started his journalism career in the early 1970s.

Muslim or Jew?

One startling revelation in The Times story:

"Publicly, Mr. Zayat alternately identifies as Muslim and Jewish."

Before he moved to the U.S., Zayat privatized the former state-held beer company in his native Egypt, and "pioneered a line of nonalcoholic beers that appealed to the conservative Muslim country," The Times reports.

But in 2006, he bought a $4.6 million colt and named it Maimonides after one of the greatest Jewish philosophers.

"As a Muslim, he said at the time: 'I wanted to say something with a tool I had, which was a horse. I wanted to be pro-peace, and about loving your neighbor.'"

In Teaneck

"He lives with his wife and four children in a largely modern Orthodox neighborhood of Tudor and Victorian houses known as West Englewood in Teaneck ...," according to The Times.

"They keep kosher, arranging menus in advance at racetracks and, if they cannot locate a hotel close by, they stay in an R.V. and walk to the track, as they did at the Preakness Stakes, to avoid driving on the Sabbath."

The Times story continued:

"When asked for clarification about his religion, Mr. Zayat said, 'Why is it relevant, and why does it matter? It's personal.'"

The Times story was the talk of Teaneck's Orthodox Jewish community today.

Two men discussing Zayat and the race wondered how many synagogues will leave on a TV so that congregants can watch his stallion, American Pharoah (a misspelling of "pharaoh"), in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday.

Also on Page 1

Don't miss the scintillating story on the rising number of bank branches in Bergen County (A-1).

Gottlieb leads the front page with a Washington Post story on Chinese hackers hitting the Office of Personnel Management as a warning to the four federal employees who call North Jersey home (A-1).

Another Page 1 story on "more than $1 billion in ... fees paid to Wall Street money managers in the last five years" doesn't tell readers whether Governor Christie has anything to do with the giveaway.

A-1 horse racing, soccer and Christie -- but no real news

Hackensack High School students waiting for stretch limos and other transportation late Tuesday night after their senior prom at Westmount Country Club in Woodland Park. On the way there, the students passed 1 Garret Mountain Plaza, where The Record is headquartered, and heard loud snoring coming from the newsroom.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Readers find two asses on The Record's front page today -- American Pharoah, the one with the tail; and absentee Governor Christie, the one with the tall tales.

Horse racing, world soccer and another Christie campaign press release printed verbatim by Columnist Charles Stile doesn't make much of a front page.

Oh, endangered turtles and a dishonest Rutherford contractor fascinate you?

Editor Martin Gottlieb guided The New York Times' international edition in Paris and Hong Kong, but today and on too many other days, he appears to be the wrong person to run a North Jersey daily that once prided itself on its local news content. 

Major screw-up

Error-prone Road Warrior John Cichowski comes up with another boner on the Local front today, where he recounts how a woman driving an SUV knocked down a crossing guard trying to protect children in Leonia (L-1).

Charlie Lee was assigned to Broad Avenue and Fort Lee Road in Leonia when the incident occurred on May 27, but the confused Cichowski identifies the intersection on first reference as "Grand Avenue and Fort Lee Road," which is a few blocks away.

The error is repeated in the caption on the continuation page, even though the photo over the caption shows Lee on Broad Avenue, not on Grand Avenue (L-6).

And Cichowski betrays his readers by not asking the police chief why an officer isn't assigned to the busiest intersection in town during rush hours.

Last August, a 60-year-old woman was dragged to her death after a school bus hit her as she crossed Broad Avenue.

Local obits

One of Publisher Stephen A. Borg's major decisions after he took over from his father was to assign a full-time reporter to write expanded local obituaries.

But on too many days like today, the life stories of important, fascinating or controversial North Jerseyans are buried among the death notices in the Local section (L-6).

That doesn't make sense and betrays the paper's mission to deliver local news to readers.

And it's especially wrong because it was one of the few Borg decisions that served journalism, not commerce.

Politics and public transit, horse's asses and Teaneck

In a rare nod to public transit, The Modern in Fort Lee offers tenants of the 47-story luxury tower a free shuttle to and from the New York City subway. The building overlooks the infamous George Washington Bridge access lanes shut down by the Christie administration. The Record's support for mass transit has been lukewarm at best while the owners cash in on ads from car dealers.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

After Tuesday's fatal Amtrak crash outside Philadelphia, editors of The Record and other media began wringing their hands over our unsafe, crumbling Northeast Corridor rail system.

Today, the Woodland Park daily carries two news stories and a column that blame politics for setting the stage for disaster. (A-3, A-4 and O-1).

Of course, these are the same conflicts and controversies generated by the two major parties that have defined all media coverage of elections and public policy in New Jersey and the nation for many years.

And the Record's support for public transit, including the extension of light rail to Bergen County, has been spotty.

The editors allowed Staff Writer John Cichowski more than a decade ago to turn the Road Warrior column from a champion of all commuters into a platform for drivers.

When Governor Christie cancelled the Hudson River rail tunnels in October 2010 and grabbed leftover money to fix roads and bridges to avoid raising the gasoline tax, the editors didn't blink.

The GOP bully cited potential cost overruns on the massive tunnel project, but then rubber stamped exorbitant Hudson River toll increases to cover similar cost overruns on the Port Authority's new World Trade Center.

Horse's ass

For the second time recently on the front page, Editor Martin Gottlieb delivers a good slap to residents of Teaneck by declaring the outcome of a horse race a "win" for the township (A-1).

I'm sure struggling merchants on Cedar Lane and township officials who scramble to balance their budget will receive absolutely no benefit from the owner of American Pharoah, who lives in Teaneck, proving once again that Gottlieb is a horse's ass.

Must-read list

Today's Road Warrior column ignores commuters altogether by reporting on the Port Authority's lost historic photos and other archival material (L-1).

Good luck trying to figure out the conflict between manufacturers and New Jersey car dealers in today's Business section cover story (B-1).

Of course, there is no mention that buying a new car and servicing it at the dealer is one of the worst experiences a consumer can have -- unless you buy an all-electric Model S directly from Tesla.

And that's probably because North Jersey Media Group, owner of The Record, reaps tens of millions of dollars in ad revenue from those very same dealers.

Battle ax

The upbeat profile of WNBC's New Jersey correspondent, Pat Battle, doesn't mention her total lack of interest in the 2013 City Council election in Hackensack, where a slate of reformers succeeded in ending decades of rule by the Zisa family (BL-1).

I'm surprised the Better Living editors didn't call the Teaneck resident another "win" for the township.

Don't miss The Corner Table column on everything Staff Writer Elisa Ung knows about truffles (BL-1).

And Real Estate brings us a riveting story on luxury pools costing from $100,000 to $1.5 million (R-1).

A third 'win'?

Columnist Mike Kelly also lives in Teaneck.

But he's far from a "win" as he once again suffocates readers with unnecessary background on the Amtrak crash, which has dominated the news for close to a week (O-1).

The headline is promising:

Politics derails

infrastructure Rx

And his first paragraph is hard hitting, but then readers bog down in five long paragraphs on details of the crash, including Kelly telling them he took the same train "often."

Did anyone turn the page to find out if the burned-out columnist had anything else to say?