More on the layoffs at The Record of Woodland Park

Louis Street in Hackensack's Fairmount section, above and below, is one of many city streets that have fallen into disrepair, and it's far from the worst. As property taxes continue to rise, residents are asking city officials where is all the money going?

 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

At least two newsroom employees at The Record of Woodland Park have taken the buyout offered to staffers over 60 years of age, and five others were laid off to cut expenses.

Justo Bautista, a police reporter; and Charles Saydah, editor of letters to the editor, accepted the buyout, with severance capped at 12 weeks of salary.

Many companies pay one or two weeks of salary for each year of service, meaning a 20-year employee would receive 20 weeks to 40 weeks of salary, far above the ceiling at North Jersey Media Group.

The newsroom includes employees of the Herald News, which long ago was designated as an "edition" of The Record to allow NJMG to report a combined circulation that props up advertising rates.

Editor is 'sincere' 

In addition to award-winning Cartoonist Jimmy Margulies, layoffs include Staff Artist Lance Theroux, who is 59, and three sports reporters, who are in their 30s and 40s, according to an Anonymous comment received by Eye on The Record. 

This same source also said:

"I heard that Editor Marty Gottlieb held a staff meeting this past Tuesday, and talked about the layoffs.

"People felt he was sincere in regretting having to let some people go whose work was of good quality and made The Record a better paper."

Readers' reaction

Here is reaction to the forced departure of Margulies on HackensackNow.org, a community message board:

"That is a real loss. He was one of a dying breed," said Homer Jones.

"I agree about Margulies, he's great," Regina chimed in. 

The Editor of HackensackNow said:

"Jimmy was doing caricatures of children at a county fair at Overpeck Park last summer in a booth for The Record.  He did one of our daughter and captured her smile just right. He seemed like a focused, caring sort of person.  I wish him all the best."

A contributor -- who calls himself or herself  "just watching" -- recalled:

"Part of my daily routine every morning was to log on to The Record's Web site, and look at the political cartoon of the day.  I often disagreed with his slant on things, but I always enjoyed them."

Today's paper

The obstinately conservative Republicans in Congress and Governor Christie, New Jersey's own GOP bully, are making a mess of the cleanup from Superstorm Sandy (A-1).

Did anyone besides me awake this morning and wonder how North Jersey survived the "budget sequestration" -- given the end-of-the-world hype by The Record and other media?

Four stories about Englewood or Englewood Cliffs appear in Local today, but there is nothing from Hackensack, Teaneck and many other towns.

Law & Order stories take up much of L-1 and L-3. 
     

A riposte from Cartoonist Jimmy Margulies

Was the captain "texting" before the ship hit an iceberg?

Jimmy Margulies was quick to defend his Titanic cartoon, which ran in The Record on Sunday -- 100 years after the ship went down with more than 1,500 passengers.

The cartoonist deflected my criticism on Tuesday -- that he used a non-sequitur to attribute the cause of the disaster to "texting" by the captain.

Margulies says:

"For your information, not only did The Record publish my cartoon on the Titanic, but Newsday did also, as well as The Palm Beach Post.

"You are the only one in the entire country who objected to it.

"And what does winning awards in the past have to do with this cartoon? The awards I won were for cartoons done in previous years.

"In addition to your completely irrational and  hateful attitude towards many of your former colleagues, your editorial judgements are very questionable, to say the least.

"You often do not know what you are talking about."

Jimmy Margulies

Margulies is typical of most journalists, who never feel a need to explain themselves to readers or provide any insight into the editorial process.

Saying his cartoon was published elsewhere is really lame. Am I supposed to bow down to the editorial judgment of Newsday or The Palm Beach Post?

Sadly, newspaper journalism is at a low point. Even The New York Times has had scandals.

I brought up his awards because Margulies is wildly inconsistent. Maybe, journalism prizes should be awarded for a body of work, not just one or two cartoons or stories.

And if Margulies doesn't care to be exposed to my "hateful attitude" toward some of my former colleagues, I invite him to read my food blog, where the only hateful attitude is toward low-quality meat and poultry.

Here is a link to my blog, Do You Really Know What You're Eating?  

Click here: Eat Me!

How do the Borgs' expenses compare?

Image via Wikipedia

French President Nicolas Sarkozy's wife reportedly is expecting.

Editor Francis Scandale uses Page 1 of The Record today to make a big fuss over expenses that "approach $30,000 a year" and bar tabs rung up by Bergen Community College President G. Jeremiah Ryan.

$30,000? That sounds like the fuel bill for Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg's private jet. What about his legendary drinking habits?  What about the $3.65 million mortgage Publisher Stephen A. Borg sucked out of North Jersey Media Group?

Are readers supposed to believe college tuition would be cut, if Ryan spent less? By how much? $2 a course? Send Staff Writer Pat Alex back to school for writing on A-1, "Ryan expensed $464 for dinner...."

To further demonize the college chief, Scandale picked a photo showing Ryan laughing, with his arms folded in a defensive position -- an image likely used for an earlier,  but far-less-negative story. (The staff photographer, Ted Axelrod, is the husband of Food Editor Susan Leigh Sherrill.) 

Tax scam

Nowhere in his A-1 story on higher tax revenues does Staff Writer John Reitmeyer mention the state could land nearly $1 billion more with a tax surcharge on millionaires.

On A-4, the Woodland Park daily reports Dominique Strauss-Kahn is alleged to have sexually assaulted a single mother from Guinea in West Africa who was granted asylum. The father of her 15-year-old daughter died.

Strauss-Kahn, chief of the International Mother F------s, shows how not to use sex in a macho nation like France, if you want to run for president against the incumbent, Nicolas Sarkozy, who scored a coup with word his ex-model wife is pregnant (A-5). 

Christie and Sykes

For a change, Margulies' message couldn't be clearer in his cartoon today on Governor Christie's rumored presidential run, launched from the wreckage of women's health programs and public school budgets (A-10).

A letter to the editor on the same page, from Lisa London of Norwood, outs head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes for using an oversized photo to promote "The Real House Bimbos of New Jersey" on the Local front Tuesday, while downplaying local news.

Today, Local has real Hackensack news for a change: A story on L-1 claims the $88.4 million budget adopted by the City Council on Tuesday is expected to cut property taxes because of a reassessment.

The last story on the city budget appeared on April 6. 

See previous post: More stupidity from the Road Warrior

Food editor cooks up a good one

Image via Wikipedia

Cartoonist Jimmy Margulies lampoons the attempt to kill the toll collectors union.

Susan Leigh Sherrill, The Record's food editor, is referring to me as "a disgruntled reader" -- pretty mild when you consider all the names I've been called since I started Eye on The Record.

And all the vicious names I've hurled at the Borgs, the editors and incompetent staffers, including Bill Ervolino, Mike Kelly and John Cichowski.

Sherrill apparently was upset by my reference to her light workload in my April 20 post:

"Life is easy for Food Editor Susan Leigh Sherrill, whose entire job seems to be publishing a single recipe on Wednesdays (F-1), plus writing a few items for the Second Helpings blog and tweeting her brains out."

On April 22, she tweeted this to her 115 followers:

@susanlsherrill Susan Sherrill

I ask you, is 4-6, maybe a coupla more, tweets a day "tweeting my brains out?" A disgruntled reader seems to think so ...

Today's paper

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' local news staff must have great depth for her to allow Staff Writer Shawn Boburg to do today's Page 1 takeout on Ground Zero reconstruction, the second in five days.

Today's piece on the soaring, inspirational transit hub is a milestone at the Woodland Park daily, marking the the most extensive discussion of mass transit in years. Are cost overruns in a federally funded project really Page 1 news?

And its construction is a milestone at the Port Authority, reversing the agency's historically poor treatment of PATH commuters.

Coddling reporters

In fact, Sykes' local news staff really must be loafing, if the number of bylines in her A- and L-sections are any indication.

On Sunday, there were only eight Record staff bylines in 22 pages; today, there are fewer than that in the A- and L-sections. I would guess the size of the local reporting staff is at least 50. 

What, exactly, are they doing? I guess they don't find Sykes and her assignment minions very inspirational.

One thing they're not doing are the traditional school election boxes, which briefed readers on school board candidates' positions and school budgets. Today, only a listing of budget amounts and candidates' names appear (L-6).

Lying to readers

This is what Publisher Stephen A. Borg must have meant when he promised readers education news "every day."

But what readers have learned is how little Borg, Sykes and Editor Francis Scandale really care about keeping readers informed. And how the staff includes highly productive members and others who can write as much or as little as they want, without consequences.

The Borgs are beefing up security at their homes now that the so-called James Bond burglars have reappeared in North Jersey's wealthiest neighborhoods (A-1).

Didn't Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg and his wife lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in antique jewelry in one of those smash-and-grab jobs years ago?

Today's Margulies' cartoon (A-11) is in poor taste, given the New Jersey Turnpike Authority's drive to destroy the toll collectors union, with no plans to pass on the savings by lowering tolls paid by drivers and truckers.

Scamming taxpayers and readers

Image via Wikipedia

Editor Francis Scandale and Staff Writer John Reitmeyer finally are telling readers Governor Christie's tax-cutting campaign pledge and his first 14 months in office have been one big scam on middle-class homeowners (A-1).

But don't hold your breath waiting for The Record to report how the Republican bully seems to be working in concert with conservative governors in Wisconsin, Connecticut, Maine and other states in an unprecedented assault on unions, public education and other middle-class values.

Union busting

Just take a look at the A-1 story at the bottom of Page 1 today and try to figure out whether the reporter is exposing E-ZPass cheaters, giving turnpike officials ammunition in their attempt to privatize toll collection or just justifying her existence.

The reporter, Staff Writer Karen Rouse, continues to carefully avoid laying out for the readers what a big hit unionized toll collectors would take if forced to work for a private firm. You have to get your calculator out to learn the average pay of $65,000 a year would be cut to $25,000, assuming $12 an hour and a 40-hour workweek.

Time to move

But Scandale apparently thinks the biggest A-1 news today is a long tale about "several homeowners" along the Ramapo River in Oakland whose land is being washed away, although photos show only one property.

Someone should tell homeowner Tara Farley to take a hike, if she thinks other taxpayers are going to finance stopping the erosion of her back yard. The sad truth, omitted from the story, is that ratables-hungry officials should have never allowed homes to be built there in the first place.

By calling red-light cameras "Big Brother" (L-1), are head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and Road Warrior John Cichowski denying they are a win-win for everybody -- except maniacal drivers -- by cutting crash deaths and generating sorely needed money for cash-strapped towns and cities?

Corporate stupidity

How did Scandale, Publisher Stephen A. Borg and big sister and Vice President/General Counsel Jennifer A. Borg let the Q&A with a plaintiff's anti-discrimination lawyer get into the paper (B-6) -- given how poorly they've treated older workers in recent years?

Can anyone figure out what Margulies is trying to say with his cartoon today (O-2)?

Image via Wikipedia

Gobble, gobble

Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung devotes her column today to sampling "sensible options at local chains," but is silent on whether she will go back to stuffing as many desserts into her mouth as the paper's budget will allow.

An apparent production error sailed by the features copy desk: Only a crust is shown over text describing one of those sensible choices, a "breakfast power sandwich" at Panera Bread, called just "Panera" in the article. Maybe Ung ate the rest of the photo.

Walking foot in mouth

Award-winning Travel Editor Jill Schensul has earned a reputation of being a good writer, but you wouldn't know it from three clunkers in her cover story (F-1) on "Best Places to Walk: From New Jersey to New Zealand."

1. "... Cold enough to freeze your nose hairs." 2. "... Quivering wedge of cheddar." 3. "You're in the middle of a wow sandwich."

No. You're in the middle of a long story no one bothered to edit.

Schensul also writes about a walkway on an abandoned elevated railway in Paris, but ignores the same type of walkway in lower Manhattan.

Oh, say, can you see Margulies?

Image via Wikipedia

This is an insightful comment from Aaron Elson, a former news copy editor at The Record:

"It's amazing, but not surprising, that Margulies is nowhere to be found on the Record Web site; a search produced a cartoon from March 4. Two friends of mine have been longtime fans of Margulies and have often told me what a shame it is that he's been ordered -- for well over two years now -- to limit his cartoons to New Jersey subjects. Before that, they pointed out, his cartoons on national subjects often appeared in the Sunday New York Times collection of the week's best editorial cartoons. It has to be frustrating for an excellent editorial cartoonist like Margulies to have to put up with such a short-signed edict such as that. He is, after all, one of the more talented, and indeed hard-working, members of the staff. 

"Eye on The Record" says:

If memory serves, apparently it was Publisher Stephen A. Borg who ordered Jimmy Margulies to confine himself to New Jersey issues. Before that, Margulies' work was syndicated, and the newsroom mail box often was piled high with his cartoons in envelopes -- each one addressed in the cartoonist's beautiful script -- that were headed near and far, including one to his father in Teaneck.

 After all these years, the North Jersey Media Group Web site remains truly pathetic. Some of the best content of the newspaper never makes it to northjersey.com or is simply too hard to find. This despite specialized staff members (the digital news group) who were blessed with ergonomic furniture and new, flat-panel computers while the news copy editors struggled with old monitors and desks left over from the typewriter era.