Borgs have returned to Hackensack as the Fourth Edition

The former headquarters of The Record at 150 River Street in Hackensack are expected to be torn down after the Borg family sell 19.7 acres to an apartment developer. The city has already designated the land for redevelopment. The old staff entrance is shown above.

The bus shelter, left, was supposed to be used by employees after smoking was banned inside the building.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

After selling North Jersey Media Group to Gannett for a reported $40 million in July, the Borg family have formed a new company and returned to Hackensack, where their flagship paper, The Record, was headquartered until 2009.

The new company, Fourth Edition, retained the pension and retirement funds, and starting this month, pension checks were issued under its name.

Little else is known about the company, including its address in Hackensack.

The Borgs still own 19.7 acres along River Street in Hackensack that are expected to fetch $20 million to $30 million when sold to an apartment developer.

The property is held by Macromedia Inc., according to city tax records.

The privately held Macromedia was set up in 1921.

Front pages

From the looks of Page 1 today and Friday, Editor Deirdre Sykes and her minions started their Labor Day weekend on Thursday.

This coming Tuesday, Sykes will be replaced by one of Gannett's super editors after only seven months in the job, and will assume what the company calls "a new leadership position in the newsroom."

Healthy eating

Readers who watch their weight and cholesterol might question why the entire Better Living cover today promotes the grilling of artery clogging food, including pork ribs, Chinese long beans with butter and chicken with sour cream (BL-1).

Meanwhile, the only healthy recipe -- for grilled catfish -- appears on BL-3.

Friday's paper

Below the fold on Friday, two stories explore attempts to right historic wrongs.

Three Korean men rode their bikes across the country to Palisades Park to "honor" women who were sexually enslaved by the Japanese army before and during World War II.

Next to that story on Friday's A-1, The Associated Press reported Georgetown University will give preference in admissions to descendants of slaves the Jesuit-run institution sold.

Keystone Kops

Thanks to all of those shopping centers, Paramus homeowners pay some of the lowest property taxes in Bergen County.

But in terms of police protection, residents are getting shafted, according to a shocking story on Friday's Local front.

Staff Writer Melanie Anzidei reports that police apparently have thrown up their hands over "a spike in residential burglaries."

On Thursday, Deputy Chief Robert M. Guidetti issued yet another "alert" to residents and gave them advice on how to protect their homes, such as locking doors and windows "when away or while sleeping."

Seventeen residential burglaries were reported since January, but 13 of them occurred between May and August.

News media gawk at Trump as a new Hitler rises among us

The Aug. 10 front page of the Daily News called on the New York businessman to quit the race for the White House.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record and other news media are giving a wall on our southern border as much legitimacy as any other public-works project, including new Hudson River rail tunnels and a new Manhattan bus terminal.

You won't find any fact checking in today's front page report on wacko racist Donald J. Trump's visit to Mexico or yet another speech on immigration filled with hysteria, half-truths and outright lies (A-1).

Even though the Mexican president "made clear that Mexico will not pay for the wall," the GOP presidential nominee insisted they never discussed payment (A-6).

Hitleresque

Trump's vow to deport 11 million illegal aliens and bar any Muslim from entering the country isn't that far from Hitler's purification of the Aryan race and the extermination of 6 million Jews.

At least in Israel, the government justified spending billions on a "security fence" to keep terrorists from killing citizens, but thousands of Palestinian workers enter the county each day to do work Israelis refuse to do. 

Mexicans are definitely not the criminals and rapists Trump insists they are, and illegal immigration from that country is at historic lows, though you won't see that reported in The Record or other media.

Many generations of Mexican-Americans live in California, Arizona and other states, and thousands of them came to the U.S. long before Trump's grandfather emigrated from Germany.

Deportations

Nor will the media report President Obama is driving civil libertarians crazy by deporting more illegal aliens than any other president.

The Woodland Park daily also refuses to cover the dysfunctional legal immigration system's high fees and endless delays, which prompt many immigrants to enter the country illegally.

Instead, The Record reports Trump's rants with a straight face.

It's likely Trump would shaft U.S. citizens by forcing them to pay for an unnecessary wall while cutting taxes on the wealthy.

Local news?

Crime dominates the Local front today in the form of a large courtroom photo of sucker-punch defendant Kristian Gonzales, 18, and flamboyant defense attorney Harley Briete (L-1).

Gonzales pleaded guilty and faces three years in prison, but readers must decide whether the violent teen or the high-priced lawyer has the more outrageous hair style.

Despicable Trump grabbed the front page today, but immigrant protesters who blocked the entrance of Trump Tower in Manhattan weren't given equal time (L-1).

They said Trump is a hypocrite because undocumented laborers worked to build the Fifth Avenue tower, and are also involved the construction of his hotel in the nation's capital.

The Oradell firehouse is shown in this image from Google Maps and NJ.com.

Road kill

Editor Deirdre Sykes, who has only four more days in the job, treats a woman killed by a car as so much road kill.

A brief on L-3 today reports Judith James, 64, of Paramus was struck and killed by a car around 10:35 Monday night in front of the Oradell firehouse.

The story adds nothing to Wednesday's L-3 caption under a photo that showed pavement marking left by investigators, and gave the woman's name and age.

But Sykes and overworked police reporter Stefanie Dazio say nothing else about the victim, including whether she was married, had children or grandchildren.

Also missing is how well the street is lit or whether she was in the crosswalk.

The driver was identified, but Oradell's Keystone Kops are quoted as saying the investigation is continuing and no charges have been filed.

This brief is like so many others The Record has published, but it never dawns on Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin to call for stiffer penalties when cars kill people, especially if the driver gets off by claiming he or she "never saw" the pedestrian.

Hackensack construction closes day care center building

Rainbow Castle Preschool at 142-48 Main St. in Hackensack was evacuated after pile driving and other construction work at a site next to the building damaged the foundation and other parts of the building, a city official said.

One of three "UNSAFE STRUCTURE" notices on the two-story building, which has offices on the second floor and remains empty about a month after it was declared unsafe for "human occupancy." This notice is dated "7-27-16."

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Teachers, children and other occupants of a Hackensack day care center were ordered out of the building after work on a 14-story project next door damaged the foundation, walls and other structures.

City officials also ordered a work stoppage on the project, a 382-unit apartment building and 7,500 square feet of new retail space at Main and Mercer streets -- the biggest and most visible sign of a sweeping downtown rehabilitation plan.

In early February, Eye on The Record reported that everyone from children attending the preschool next to the enormous pit to the lawyers down the block were going bananas over the constant hammering of steel support beams into the ground.

"I can hardly concentrate," one lawyer said.

An employee of Rainbow Castle Preschool at 142-48 Main St. said the noise was driving everyone crazy, but that the children had grown accustomed to the repetitive thud that can be felt inside the building.

In addition to preschool, Rainbow Castle offered infant and kindergarten classes, and most of the children came from working class families.

Complaint to state

Then, in July, a complaint was made to the state agency that licenses day care centers, and that led to an inspection of the building, a city Building Department official said today.

Based on a report from the project's engineer, the two-story day care center building was declared unsafe and evacuated on July 27, the official said, and construction work next door was halted.

The day care center can't reopen until city officials review a second report from the same engineer that it is safe.

The 14-story project is an undertaking of the Alkova Cos. of Alpine, and the day care center building owner is Fairway Terrace Corp. of Norwood.

Calls to the day care center are referred to a "Mr. Song," but his number is no longer in service.

The pile driver is silent now, and no work is going on at Main and Mercer streets in Hackensack, below.

Today's paper

Governor Christie's elaborate public relations machine scored another splashy front page in The Record today (A-1).

A news story and political column at the top of Page 1 regurgitate every single word and claim from Christie about the successful expansion of Medicaid in New Jersey.

But there's bad news in yet another adoring column from Staff Writer Charles Stile, who reports the GOP bully "hasn't given up the dream of running for president" in 2020 (A-8).

That likely means Stile hasn't given up his dream of being chosen as Christie's communications director, in the unlikely event the worst governor in New Jersey history wins the White House.

Sanitizes record

Sadly, the A-1 Medicaid pieces and an upbeat editorial on A-6 completely omit any mention of Christie being among more than 30 conservative Republican governors who refused to set up a state marketplace under the Affordable Care Act.

That attempted sabotage meant people seeking health-care insurance were thrown onto the overburdened federal marketplace, and had far fewer plans to choose from.

Oscar Insurance is the latest to announce it will no longer cover New Jersey residents on Jan. 1.

Slanted editorial

Similarly, an editorial on rising gun violence in Paterson slams city officials from wanting to raise more revenue with a traffic-ticket blitz (A-6).

Hire more cops, thunders Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin, while conveniently forgetting to mention Christie's deep state aid cuts to Paterson and other poor cities forced the initial Police Department layoffs or that his vetoes loosened controls on concealed weapons.

This deliberate slanting of stories, columns and editorial about Christie continues even after the wealthy Borg family sold North Jersey Media Group to Gannett Co. on July 6.

Gannett P.R.

Also on Page 1 today is the inspirational photo and profile of Gianfranco Iannotta, 22, a Garfield resident who will complete in the Rio Paralympics next week.

But the shameful public relations for Christie at the top of the page is echoed below the fold with Gannett Co. P.R about The Record's new president and editor (A-1).

Here's a perfect example of what editors call "burying the lead." 

The replacement of Editor Deirdre Sykes after only seven months in the job -- as reported on NorthJersey.com on Monday -- isn't mentioned until deep into the continuation page (A-4).

Meyer and Green

Most of the announcement is devoted to the resumes and accomplishments of Nancy A. Meyer and Richard A. Green, who will take over as president and editor, respectively, on Sept. 6.

The story is filled with corporate jargon, but doesn't address the drastic decline in local-news coverage since the Borgs moved their flagship paper out of Hackensack in 2009.

Meyer is described as an "exceptional team builder who develops innovative, customer-centric solutions to drive sustainable growth" (A-4).

Green is "returning to his favorite place -- the newsroom," according to the corporate press release.

"He will be a strong news leader for ... North Jersey Media Group," another executive enthuses.

Green says he looks forward to working with the "team" at NJMG "to develop plans to continue expanding our audience, diversifying our revenue base, and building out our digital voice."

Gannett describes NJMG as The Record, "which serves Bergen County and neighboring areas ...; the Herald News, a daily newspaper for Paterson and surrounding towns; more than 50 community weekly newspapers; a high-end monthly magazine; and several digital properties, including North Jersey.com."

Columnist assumes role of Christie's Bridgegate attorney

An image of veteran Trenton Columnist Charles Stile from C-Span in 2007, when The Record of Woodland Park was headquartered in Hackensack. It's not known whether the dark splotches on his forehead are from falling to his knees and touching his head to the floor every time a New Jersey governor walks into the room.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Editor Deirdre Sykes of The Record has sunk to a new low with today's sustained Page 1 attack on the credibility of an aide to Governor Christie at the time of the Bridgegate scandal.

Just 10 days ago on A-1, Columnist Charles Stile labeled as a "bombshell" a newly revealed text message that Christie "flat out lied" to reporters in late 2013 about his administration's involvement in the George Washington Bridge lane closures.

Now, Stile argues, former Christie aide Christina Renna was only "a mid-level administrative staffer" whose text messages "don't prove anything at all" and "raise questions about [her] credibility" (A-8).

Stile goes on and on, just as a $650-an-hour defense attorney would, to persuade readers Christie is blameless -- even though the vast majority of New Jerseyans have convicted the GOP bully in the court of public opinion.

Of course, the truth will come out next month when the trial of former Christie confidants begins in Newark federal court -- about three years after the lane closures were used to punish a Democratic mayor who refused to support Christie's reelection.

Veto crazy

Stile has been on Christie's side since his first day in office in early 2010, writing column after column about the governor's so-called reform agenda, and promoting him time and again as a bipartisan compromiser.

That was the case even as Christie's vetoes mounted, eventually setting a record for any New Jersey governor.

A veto is the opposite of compromise, but Stile is keeping up the B.S. long after other columnists and editorial boards have denounced Christie.

Talking about his 500-plus vetoes, an editorial today deals a mild rebuke to Christie for killing a bill that would have allowed automatic voter registration as part of applying for or renewing a driver's license.

Noting the state Motor Vehicle Commission uses a six-point identification program to prevent fraud, the editorial calls Christie's mean-spirited veto "illogical" (O-2). 

Any other newspaper would call the veto what it is -- more voter suppression by Republicans like Christie who know low turnout favors them, as it did when he was reelected in 2013.

Have a heart

As with the obesity that dogged Record editors for many years, heart disease is a subject the Woodland Park daily tries to avoid.

Columnist Mike Kelly has never written about his brush with death before open-heart coronary bypass surgery, even though thousands of readers would benefit from his experience. 

Instead, Sykes today runs the third major story this year about Frank Bodino, 70, who got a second heart transplant and a new kidney at a New York hospital (A-1).

Staff Writer Lindy Washburn says 30,000 transplants are performed each year in the United States, but doesn't tell readers that's the total for all transplants.

Bodino is far from the common man -- about 2,300 people have heart transplants each year.

But thousands of heart surgeries are performed every day, and "in a recent year, surgeons performed 500,000 coronary bypass procedures," according to the Texas Heart Institute.

Saving newsprint

Gannett Co., the new owners of The Record, continues to save tons of money on newsprint by printing what appears to a single local-news section for Bergen and Passaic counties (L-1 to L-8).

Today, you won't find any Hackensack, Teaneck or Englewood news in Local, but you will find a half-dozen major stories from Paterson and other Passaic County communities, and even a story from Montclair.

Heart-attack food

The Better Living cover discusses North Jersey restaurants that don't dare take customers' favorite dishes off the menu (BL-1).

Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung describes Maribar as "filet mignon with bearnaise sauce and chestnut puree" instead of as "a heart attack on a plate" (BL-3).

The chef who took over at the Saddle River Inn in 2013 made the dish even less healthy by adding "roasted shallot butter" to the bearnaise sauce.

An editing error tells readers five of the "lasting dishes" are discussed on BL-3, but readers find only four.

I guess at the last minute the editors couldn't bring themselves to cut anything out of Bill Ervolino's moronic column on the same page, comparing his dog's eating habits to his own.  

What about Spain?

"Rooms with a View of History" -- the feature on the cover of today's Travel section -- is a superficial discussion of hotels in historic buildings that is missing a lot more than room rates.

Surely, world-weary Travel Editor Jill Schensul must have heard about Spain's paradores, a chain of government-run luxury hotels dating to 1928 that are located in refurbished castles, fortresses, palaces, convents and other historic structures.

Each one has a restaurant serving regional cuisine.

For example, the Parador of Granada is in a former convent on the grounds of the magical Alhambra.

Yet, Schensul's long article doesn't contain a word about Spain or the paradores (T-1 and T-3).

Trump's lies, bigotry and hatred are no longer Page 1 news

Nude photos of Melania Trump -- "a potential First Lady" -- weren't out of bounds for editors of the New York Post, above and below. The Oval Office becomes "the Ogle Office," as in "stare at in a lecherous manner."

The photos were from the early years of her modeling career, according to The Post.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

"Another staff shake-up" in the Republican presidential campaign of wacko racist Donald J. Trump isn't front page news.

Of course, that didn't stop Editor Deirdre Sykes of The Record from running a Page 1 story about Trump from her new masters at USA Today.

Trump's lies, bigotry and hatred have been getting a big boost from editors like Sykes, CNN and Fox News.

Is there no end to their mindless promotion of the New York businessman's insanity?

Illegal housing?

Five staffers from The Record was so busy crediting firefighters and police officers for saving residents from a Little Ferry fire no one asked whether the three-family home is legal (A-1).

A 5-year-old girl and her grandmother died Wednesday from injuries suffered in explosions and a fast-spreading fire late Tuesday night. 

Christie veto of another minimum-wage hike is a sure thing

In February, Governor Christie's endorsement of wacko racist Donald J. Trump for president prompted seven major New Jersey dailies to call for his resignation. The Record of Woodland Park was the exception. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Editor Deirdre Sykes of The Record continues to sanitize Governor Christie's record, especially when it comes to his 500-plus vetoes -- many aimed at bills helping the middle and working classes.

On Saturday's front page, Staff Writer John C. Ensslin reports Christie has "several more weeks to mull over" three dozen pending bills, including one that would raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.

Of course, Ensslin and Sykes know the fate of this latest proposal will be the same as the hike he killed in 2013, but nowhere in the story do they report that veto.

On the continuation page, Ensslin notes "Democratic lawmakers fully expect Christie will veto ... the bill raising the minimum wage from $8.38 to $10.10 per hour with additional hikes of at least $1 until it reaches $15 by 2021."

If Christie vetoes the bill, the issue won't go on the ballot until November 2017. 

After the GOP bully vetoed the earlier proposal, voters OK'd a hike in the minimum wage in November 2013.

Wasting newsprint

Even hard-core baseball fans think The Record overdid the coverage of Yankee Alex Rodriguez's last game on Friday.

Sykes ran two columns and two news stories about A-Rod on Saturday (Page 1 and the Sports front).

Sports Columnist Tara Sullivan was so desperate for an angle she seized on a thunderstorm during the pre-game ceremonies to declare:

"The human lightning rod getting interrupted by the real thing."

"A-Rod" is a creation of tabloid headline writers who never had the room to write "Rodriguez."

Local news?

Saturday's local-news section was filled with news from Paterson (L-1, L-2, L-3 and L-6).

But the local editors must have the missed the exit to Hackensack.

A photo of a man carrying bottled water up the stairs to his Hackensack apartment is all the news city residents got (L-6).

Today's Local section is completely missing Hackensack news.

Transportation writer John Cichowski had to figure out some way to justify a column on traumatic brain injuries from falls so he compares the number of deaths to "being killed on foot in traffic" (Road Warrior on L-1).

Going to pot

Today's front page carries a moving account of veterans who smoke marijuana to find relief from the haunting images of war and death (A-1).

The story by Staff Writer Todd South, himself a veteran, comes two days after the federal government's decision to withhold the approval of marijuana for medical purposes.

Officials said there is no scientific evidence it works. 

In nod to evil Christie-Trump axis, editor is ignoring issues

A cartoon by Adam Zyglis of The Buffalo News sums up the controversy nicely.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The baby boomers and retirees who are The Record's core readership certainly want to know whether wacko Donald J. Trump would cut their Social Security and Medicare benefits.

But Editor Deirdre Sykes could care less, as she continues to focus on what a Page 1 story refers to as "the partisan whipsawing" following Trump's war of words with the parents of a Muslim-American soldier killed in Iraq (A-1).

And Sykes continues to allow Governor Christie, transition chief for the racist GOP presidential nominee, to call everyone else a crook and to demand release of their emails (A-1).

What about Christie's emails and text messages, especially the ones that were erased in the Bridgegate scandal? Or his cellphone, which went missing for two years after the September 2013 lane closures?

Doesn't The Record have any interest in them?

Meanwhile, Christie's former top aide and image maker told CNN on Tuesday she will vote for Hillary Clinton on Nov. 8.

Maria Comella called Trump "a demagogue ... preying on people's anxieties with loose information and salacious rhetoric," according to WNYC-FM News.

The largely favorable coverage of Christie shows Sykes continues to bow to The Record's editorial board.

The Woodland Park daily declined to join The Star-Ledger and six other major New Jersey dailies in calling for Christie to resign after he dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Trump.

For Trump's stance on Social Security, see:

GOP nominee ducks AARP questions

Local news

In Local, Sykes buried another story on L-3 that could have been played on the front page to give readers a break from all the partisan political coverage, and news from the Vatican.

The headline over Staff Writer Jim Norman's upbeat account of National Night Out events in Hackensack, Paterson and other communities said it well:

A time for cops, residents
to find common ground

Once again, Governor Veto is the cause of gridlock in N.J.

Trumpisms are not-so-thinly veiled racism. President Obama spoke for millions of Americans today when he said GOP nominee Donald J. Trump is unfit to serve as president.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

You haven't seen it in The Record, but Governor Christie's 500-plus vetoes are once again at the root of gridlock in the state Legislature.

That's the subtext of today's lead story on Page 1:

Pension ballot 
measure stalled
by transportation 
fund dispute

Editor Deirdre Sykes once again wastes precious space by running a news story and a political column on the impasse, and both reporters quote the same people and cite the same events (A-1 and A-6).

What's the point of that duplication?

Gasoline tax

Staff Writer Dustin Racioppi reports Senate President Steve Sweeney wants to round up a veto-proof majority on a bill to raise the gas tax by 23 cents a gallon to replenish the transportation fund.

Governor Veto (err Christie) has called the measure "dead on arrival," just as he's done so many times before on bills to raise the minimum wage, tighten gun controls, raise taxes on millionaires and so forth -- more than 500 times since early 2010.

Line monitor

Are lines outside the Motor Vehicle Commission office in Lodi really front-page news (A-1)?

If anyone is stuck in the "slow lane," it's Staff Writer John Cichowski, who has been banging out the Road Warrior column for nearly 13 years -- to the consternation of bored readers.

Cichowski has ignored mounting traffic congestion, a broken mass-transit system and less enforcement of speeding laws on state highways to gnash his teeth over MVC lines, potholes and other slow-lane issues.

Trump backlash

The last major element on A-1 today is the growing backlash against GOP presidential nominee Donald J. Trump in his feud with a Muslim-American couple who lost their son, an Army captain, to a suicide bomber in Iraq in 2004 (A-1).

An editorial calls "disgraceful" how the wacko racist has treated Khizr and Ghazala Khan (A-8).

'Don't support Trump'

Writing in The Huffington Post, Paramus lawyer Thomas M. Wells recalls Trump once hired him as his attorney on a planned shopping mall called Trump Centre.

Now, Wells says, "bullies will always exist somewhere, but the White House shouldn't be that somewhere."

The No. 1 reason Wells cites for Trump's unsuitability as president: "The man lies all the time."

See: Please don't support Trump for president


Local news?

Police and court news continue to dominate The Record's local-news section.

An L-1 story about a 9-year-old boy who died days after he was pulled out of  pool at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly doesn't say whether a lifeguard was on duty.

Instead of that boring political column on A-1 today, Sykes could have published some good news from Paterson for a change -- the story of filmmaker Randy Jackson, who gave up his life as a drug seller and pimp.

His short film, part of a series called "The Bottum," will be shown Thursday night at a downtown multiplex (L-3).

Conventions are over, but not mindless political coverage

On a sweltering Thursday, we boarded NJ Transit's No. 165 Express in Hackensack and arrived in midtown Manhattan in about 30 minutes. The regular round-trip fare in $9, but seniors pay only $4.10.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Just when you thought all the shouting at the political conventions was over, The Record continues to waste the front page on boring politics.

If Charles Stile's column on Hillary Clinton's New Jersey supporters doesn't have your eyes rolling, a USA Today story on Donald J. Trump should really put you to sleep (A-1).

The news media keep on trying to make the wacko racist New York businessman sound intelligent, but try as they might, he keeps shooting himself in the foot.

Trump -- who has never served in the military, but wants to ban all Muslims from the U.S. -- complained about the speech at the Democratic National Convention made by the father of a Muslim-American soldier killed in Iraq.

Khizr Khan said Trump has "sacrificed nothing for his country" (A-1).

Trump's rebuttal is that he's "made a lot of sacrifices" by building "great structures" and creating construction jobs.

None of the reporters interviewing Trump asked how putting up buildings is a "sacrifice."

Local news

Editor Deirdre Sykes' front page does have two local stories today.

The main element is a plan to remove a traffic bottleneck on Kinderkamack Road in Emerson, but there are so many other traffic nightmares in Bergen County the paper's so-called Road Warrior columnist has ignored for more than a decade.

The second local story is the obituary for a Clifton woman who was such a big fan of Amelia Earhart that she moved to Atchison, Kan., the aviator's birthplace.

Bergen County readers find five major stories from Passaic and Morris counties in today's Local section, and a column about a "momentous" event in Paterson on the Opinion front.

Hackensack readers looking for news about their city should take a look at what the Hackensack reporter was doing on Saturday -- covering police news in Butler (L-1).

Lying down on job

Readers who wonder whether there is a dress code in the Woodland Park newsroom find the answer today on BL-3, where a photo shows Staff Writer Jim Beckerman lying down or at least semi-reclining on the job.

I guess the veteran feature writer was just taking a load off as he gathered information on "Bergen County's long-awaited dine-in multiplex" in Fort Lee (BL-1).

The Better Living cover is The Record's third and most elaborate plug for iPic, which hasn't even opened yet, so it's no wonder the owner has got a big, fat smile on his face, as readers can see from another photo on BL-3.

Aircraft noise

Saturday's front-page story -- "Flight-path test sputters" -- is the latest in what has to be one of the most bungled and biased reporting jobs in recent memory.

Residents of Hackensack, Teaneck and Englewood have been complaining about noise from Teterboro Airport for years, but that was rarely, if ever, reported in The Record.

Then, the Federal Aviation Administration proposed a new flight path for business jets that would prevent them from flying over Hackensack high-rises and the nearby medical center to land, starting in April.

The shift of the flight path over Route 17 communities had them howling, and The Record quoted their officials extensively on the front page and elsewhere in the paper.

Now, media must focus on issues -- not polls and popularity

Hillary Clinton making history on Thursday night in Philadelphia, where she accepted the Democratic nomination for president after pledging to work to improve the lives of women and everyone else. (Photo credit: UPI)

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

With just over three months until the Nov. 8 presidential election, readers can only hope the hysterical news media will focus on the issues that affect our lives.

When will The Record and other news outlets start a serious discussion of the candidates' positions on gun control, immigration, climate change, the minimum wage, taxing the wealthy and so many other compelling issues -- and then take a stand?

In the case of the Woodland Park daily and Editor Deirdre Sykes, readers shouldn't hold their breath.

Partisan politics in New Jersey and the nation have been shoved down their throats by Columnists Charles Stile and Herb Jackson for far too many years.

And Columnist Mike Kelly has taken so many pot shots at President Obama readers have to wonder whether the veteran reporter has been infected by the racial animus apparent in the Republicans who gridlock Congress.

Seeing history made 

At least one of The Record's editorial writers -- commenting on Hillary Clinton making history -- had the good sense to admit:

"We are missing an extraordinary moment. We are so caught up in the pettiness of politics and personalities that we are not seeing the history made in Philadelphia, the city where our history began" (A-18).

"...Before Wednesday is another forgotten moment, savor it not as a partisan, but as an American."

Endless politics

On the front page of The Record today, the lead USA Today story on Clinton's speech to the Democratic National Convention is filled with partisan politics, and actually includes a rebuttal from wacko racist Donald J. Trump, the Republican nominee (A-1 and A-6).

The stark differences between the candidates have been glossed over.

For example, Trump wants to a tax break that would put an extra $1.3 million in his pocket and in the pocket of every other member of the 1%, but backs an increase in the minimum wage to only $10.

Clinton calls on the wealthy to pay higher taxes to help finance social programs for families and to bolster Social Security. 

Holes in coverage

The Record's story is missing most of Clinton's attacks on Trump as a potential leader, but the New York Port reported she "savaged" the businessman:

"He loses his cool at the slightest provocation. A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man you can trust with a nuclear weapon," she said of Trump, "mocking her ... rival's claim that he knows more about ISIS than American's military leaders."

The Post also reported that Clinton:

• "Accused Trump of 'being in the pocket of the gun lobby,' while saying she had no intention of repealing the Second Amendment.
• "Slammed her opponent for having his clothing line and furnishings for his hotels made in other countries while he talks about bringing jobs back to America.
• "Said large corporations should pay their 'fair share' of taxes, and not accept tax breaks with one hand while handing out pink slips with the other.
• "Vowed to support police officers while at the same time reforming the criminal-justice system to rebuild trust between cops and the communities."

A horse race

What will likely happen now that the conventions are over, The Record and other news media will go back to publishing polls that purportedly show the closeness of the White House race.

But you won't see the media reflecting on how their endless coverage of partisan politics and conflict has produced one of the world's most apathetic electorates.