Paper's obese editors long ignored our obese governor

A front-page "ANALYSIS" in The Record today credits four officials and declares that NJ Transit bus commuters no longer face long lines and delays in returning home from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan, above. Now, will the Woodland Park daily finally take notice of the shortage of rush-hour seats on NJ Transit trains?

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

In The Record's front-page story on Governor Christie's weight loss, experts note a candidate needs "to look like the part they are running for."

But the story never explains why Record reporters covering Christie's campaign in 2009 and his inauguration completely ignored his weight and whether he was fit to serve.

That may be because after working side-by-side with at least two obese editors in the newsroom, the reporters covering Christie didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.

And that continued for years as only the national media tried to find out how much Christie weighed, and late-night comedian David Letterman guessed the GOP bully had ballooned to 400 pounds.

See this Eye on The Record post from 2011:

Guess how much Christie weighs 

Better or not?

A front-page story last Wednesday and another one today declare an end to long lines and afternoon rush-hour delays for NJ Transit bus riders leaving the midtown Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan (A-1).

But Jay Holahan of Teaneck says in a letter to the editor today:

"As a 25-year commuter, I don't recognize any immediate improvements ...." (A-13).

News or snooze?

Residents of Hackensack, Teaneck, Englewood and many other Bergen towns won't find anything about them in Local today.

The lead story in the section is a controversial proposal to replace Memorial Field in far-off Washington Township with artificial turf (L-1).

The local editors needed another Dean's List to fill their pages (L-2).

Poor food choices

Free-lancer Kate Morgan Jackson's list of a dozen "great food stores" for home cooks omits Whole Foods Market, Costco Wholesale and two of the best, Jerry's Gourmet & More and Balthazar Bakery, both in Englewood (BL-1).

Jackson appears unwilling to stray too far from her Upper Saddle River home.

On Wednesdays, the food blogger also supplies Better Living with unhealthy recipes, many filled with artery clogging cream and butter.

When police chiefs hang out at donut shops

Englewood Cliffs built a municipal building after rejecting the police chief's request to operate out of the nearest Dunkin' Donuts.

The lead story on Page 1 of The Record today -- reporting "the latest surge" in North Jersey house burglaries -- contains not a word on what, if anything, the police are doing to prevent those crimes.

The eight reporters -- and an unknown number of editors -- who worked on this piece quote police brass or detectives in several towns, but they put the onus on homeowners.

You'd think the overpaid police chiefs got together at their favorite Dunkin' Donuts to orchestrate their quotes, deflecting attention away from the poor job they are doing to stop the burglaries.

Chief nag

Cliffs Chief Michael Cioffi is typical in blaming the victims for not being vigilant: "The problem I have is people don't set their alarms. They figure they're home, everything is OK."

Geez. If a homeowner in Englewood Cliffs or any other town can't feel safe in his own house, that's a sad commentary on the effectiveness of the police.

Copping out

Are the cops doing anything innovative to stop burglaries? 

For example, are the police masquerading as workmen and driving through neighborhoods of high-end homes in an unmarked van to catch the culprits?

What about detectives in unmarked cars posing as Realtors to find burglars before they break down doors? 

Questionable

You'd think that eight reporters, plus head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and Deputy Assignment Editor Dan Sforza, would have answered those questions.

You'd think Editor Marty Gottlieb would have noticed the story he picked for the top of the front page had holes big enough for several of the Woodland Park daily's Mercedes-Benz delivery trucks. 

And although Sykes' Local section has had several recent stories about house burglaries in Tenafly, the borough where Publisher Stephen A. Borg lives isn't mentioned in today's piece or shown on an A-6 map.

Joke is on us

On A-3 today, Englewood reporter Melissa Hayes seems to have been assigned full time to cover Governor Christie's "Jersey Comeback" stand-up routine. 

The deep partisan divide caused by the no-tax positions of Christie, the Tea Party and other rabid conservatives is buried on A-5 today.

Margulies mocks first lady Michelle Obama's anti-obesity campaign by portraying President Obama's efforts to revive the economy as a dessert (A-10) -- another bizarre comparison from The Record's mad cartoonist.

Can readers impeach Margulies?

Greedy lawyers

On the Local front today, Staff Writer Kibret Markos keeps readers in the dark, as usual, about how much of a $6.3 million verdict for botched surgery will be going to the lawyers.

The headline says "$6M" and the first paragraph of the story says "$6 million," but on L-6, the award is given as "$6.3 million." 

Reporting lapses

Today, I see the same bylines in Local and on A-1, even a single reporter's multiple bylines, making me wonder about the staffers whose names I rarely see as the days, weeks and months roll by.

Are they being protected by Sykes, Sforza and other editors as they collect their paychecks under false pretenses?

Is it something they learned from Sykes and Sforza, who have contributed little to the local news operation in the past decade?

Where is the Hackensack and Teaneck news today or stories from many other towns? The only Englewood news is an obituary of Shirley Passow, a civic-minded resident (L-3).

Sykes and Sforza still needed big photos of a minor fire and accident to fill L-1 and L-3.

From hunger

On the Better Living cover, it's hard to understand how Staff Writer Bill Ervolino missed Balthazar Bakery in Englewood in his "North Jersey's World of Bread."

Balthazar's artisanal, preservative-free products are found in thousands of homes, as well as at hundreds of Manhattan and suburban restaurants.

Balthazar is simply better than all of the other places he mentions.