Sloppy writing, editing drag down daily report

The Modern, a 47-story residential building under construction in Fort Lee, overlooks three local access lanes to the George Washington Bridge at the center of the Bridgegate scandal. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Stories on Page 1 of The Record continue to be poorly written and edited.

You'd think the front-page would get the most attention from assignment and news editors, copy editors and proofreaders, but A-1 today exhibits more sloppy journalism.

And it's not just the Monday editions, which are put out by a relatively smaller newsroom staff.

In today's story on the possible replacement of NJ Transit chief Jim Weinstein, he is described as "a low talker" in the first paragraph or "lede" in newspaper parlance (A-1).

The lede of a news story or column should sparkle, but this one is just puzzling.

'Hoisted'?

Later in the same paragraph, we learn Weinstein "had been steeped in nearly two decades of political and public service" -- like tea, I guess.

Then, the reporter tells us, Governor Christie "hoisted" Weinstein "to the helm of NJ Transit."

You'd hoist a dead body with ropes and pulleys, but I imagine Weinstein was elevated to or appointed executive director of the state mass-transit agency.

In the second paragraph, the word "tunnel" was dropped: "... constructing a commuter rail under the Hudson River."

Two tunnels

Once you plow through all of these errors (actually, the project was to build two tunnels), the reporter gets to the point: 

Weinstein backed Christie's decision to kill the Hudson River rail tunnels as a "loyal foot soldier, laying aside his own interests to deliver the orders of his boss."

This story, as well as all of the accounts about the Port Authority and the Bridgegate scandal, are nibbling at a single theme, which WNYC-FM (New Jersey Public Radio) has been exploring in recent weeks:

NJ Transit and the Port Authority have become political arms of the Christie administration.

Syrian refugees

In a second Page 1 story today, the reporter says Syrian refugees in North Jersey hear "horror stories" about "sons executed before their fathers" (A-8).

Does she mean "in front of" their fathers? 

The Port

Today and Sunday, The Record has been reporting on the possible involvement of Port Authority police officers in the George Washington Bridge lane closures (A-1).

Two news reports on Sunday raised "new questions about whether some officers at the bridge knew of the political motivations behind the lane closures" -- to punish Fort Lee's Democratic mayor for not endorsing the GOP bully for reelection, the paper reports today (A-1).

But on Jan. 17, I spoke to an employee of Babe's Taxi in Fort Lee who said he complained to a Port Authority police officer about the resulting gridlock and was told to send "a letter to Governor Christie."

The exit for the taxi company's garage is on Hudson Street, which provides three access lanes to the bridge's upper- level toll plaza. 

On A-8, a story on a journalism award to Staff Writer Shawn Boburg for his GWB stories ignores how little reporting he has done on the Port Authority's refusal to expand mass transit amid increasing traffic congestion.

Harvy Lipman

Non-profit news appears in the Local section today (L-3), but the reporter who covered the beat since 
2006 died "last week" at 63, the Woodland Park daily reported on Feb. 12 (L-6).

Harvy Lipman was hired after Publisher Stephen A. Borg directed the editors to create a beat to cover charities and news of non-profits.

If Lipman accomplished nothing else, he will be remembered for his June 2012 article, "Hardship Grows Amid Wealth" -- about how the recession "had left pockets of poverty in wealthy communities in North Jersey."

Lipman recounted "the experiences of people who made good livings and had risen through the middle class to obtain enough wealth to live in such communities as Mahwah and Ramsey, only to find themselves jobless, with depleted retirement accounts and living on food stamps," his obituary noted.

The article is all the more remarkable because it was written for The Record, where the editors have seemed completely undisturbed by Christie's assault on New Jersey's middle class or no-tax policies that have wrecked the state's economy.

Headlines, then screams from readers

Nazi anti-Semitic propaganda at Yad Vashem. (Wikipedia)

Readers can't decide what is worse: 

Columnist Mike Kelly pushing around thousands of words in an eye-glazing rewrite of news stories about a hate-filled Polish-American newspaper editor or the stupid headline on top of today's Page 1 story.

Chester Grabowski, the late publisher of the Post-Eagle newspaper in Clifton, is referred to as a "leader" in the main headline.

Where was Editor Liz Houlton, supervisor of the copy desk, out shopping for another schmatta?

And even though Kelly cites Grabowski's anti-black and anti-Jewish remarks in the Polish-American paper, the sub-headline refers to anti-Semitism "claims."

And the long-winded columnist himself cites "an alleged history" of anti-Semitic remarks and support for the Klu Klux Klan. Why "alleged"?

On top of the news

Unfortunately, many eyes fell on Kelly's column, which was displayed on the front page next to a love triangle murder-suicide suspiciously close to the Woodland Park newsroom -- another instance of The Record dramatizing events near its headquarters and ignoring Hackensack and other Bergen towns.

Far better columnist

A far better column than Kelly's was the effort from Staff Writer Harvy Lipman, who writes about John Fugazzie, the founder of a support group for the unemployed who just lost his job (below the fold on A-1).

Lipman's piece is a model of clarity and he gets to the point right away, in contrast to Kelly's endless, overly dramatic, question-filled recounting of events.

"A mystery now hangs over Clifton" is Kelly's lead sentence. 

No. The mystery is how he keeps his job after turning out drivel like this three times a week or more or why Editor Marty Gottlieb thinks this kind of crap is good enough for Page 1.

More road kill

Readers' patience -- tested by Kelly on Page 1 -- really gets a workout on the Local front, where the failed Road Warrior columnist writes off Tuesday's front-page story on free train and bus rides for NJ Transit workers.

Staff Writer John Cichowski's obsession with drivers and the MVC forms the basis of numerous columns, but he appears to have actually left the office for today's piece, in contrast to rewriting reports and surveys or answering inane e-mails from readers with inaccurate or incomplete information.

Cichowski rails against free rides for transit workers, cops and state officials on business, ignoring a crisis in mass transit, as does an editorial (A-8). 

Dissing Hackensack

Meanwhile, Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, worked hard, as usual, to find Hackensack news.


Staff Writer Stephanie Akin, who has more talent in one finger than Kelly or Cichowski have in their entire bodies, turned out eight paragraphs on Fairmount residents who interrupted a car burglary (L-3).

Cholesterol check

On the Better Living front, Food Editor Susan Leigh Sherrill is back with her let-them-eat-dessert  approach to nutrition (BL-1).

A recipe for Chocolate-Chunk Pumpkin Bread Pudding contains 6 egg yolks, 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 stick-plus of butter and 6 ounces of chocolate. 

In response, cardiac units at North Jersey hospitals are warming up their ambulances.

Finally, some ink for the have-nots

Few white students attended Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood before it added the Academies program. Englewood Cliffs sued to remove its students years earlier.

Not long after he pushed his father aside in June 2006, Publisher Stephen A. Borg hired a non-profit reporter to find out whether the pennies the young millionaire was donating to charity were being wasted.

Borg was born with a silver spoon in his mouth -- not with a social conscience -- so it's no surprise The Record hasn't paid too much attention to the victims of the recession, which saw the high-living publisher move into a $3.65 million mansion. 

Today, Editor Marty Gottlieb and that non-profit reporter, Harvy Lipman, present a hard-hitting package of stories and photos under a banner headline on Page 1, documenting that the number of North Jersey residents "falling into poverty or struggling to keep their heads above water continues to grow."

Scandalous editor

What is remarkable about the stories, photos and graphics filled with startling statistics is how little attention the long-term unemployed and other recession victims received from Gottlieb's insensitive predecessor as editor, Francis "Frank" Scandale, who was fired last October after 11 years in the job. 

The photographs by Staff Photographer Mitsu Yasukawa are moving.

But some of the charts raise questions about why residents of Alpine, Saddle River and other wealthy communities are receiving food stamps (A-9).

The danger of such comprehensive coverage is that readers may start to wonder why head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, have failed to report all of this before.

Granny power

That's also the case with Mike Kelly's A-1 column on Lynne Hurwitz, the Democratic power broker behind the decades-long reign of the Zisa family in Hackensack.

Kelly tries to make up for the paper's lack of attention by bombarding readers with almost everything they don't really want to know about Hurwitz except how she lost her virginity.

More idiocy

On Sykes Local front, another Road Warrior column on Infuriating Driving Issues of the Day only serves to remind readers the acronym -- IDIOD -- sounds surprisingly close to IDIOT, a reference to the moron who writes this drivel, John Cichowski.

Sykes and Sforza have been sitting on their asses for so many years, they don't know enough to tell Cichowski to write more about Infuriating Mass-Transit Issues of the Day and less about drivers, in a region that is hopelessly choked with traffic.

White flight

The L-1 story on school districts enrolling outsiders reports Englewood school officials were under a state mandate "to diversify" Dwight Morrow High School.

But the truth is the mandate was "to desegregate" a high school that had few white students.

If you doubt Sykes and Sforza can't find any municipal news to report, look at L-3 today -- a stupid political column and three feel-good stories.

Why is a "world issues" literature program at Tenafly High School -- out of all the other schools in North Jersey -- worthy of a long story in the local-news section (L-3)?

Bottom feeder

In his column on the Business front today and in his monthly Marketbasket survey of supermarket prices, Staff Writer Kevin DeMarrais continues to be in denial about the tens of thousands of shopper who buy organic food (B-1).

You won't find The Corner Table column in Better Living today, because Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung is on vacation.

No loss. Readers need a vacation from her shameless promotion of chefs, wine stewards and restaurant owners. 

Here are two of her vacation tweets:

  

14h Elisa Ung ‏@elisaung

Amazing clam chowder at @splashcafe in Pismo Beach, CA. No wonder the line is out the door http://lockerz.com/s/219559367

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• Reply
• Retweet
• Favorite

11:28 PM - 23 Jun 12 via Echofon · Details

14h Elisa Ung ‏@elisaung

Amused to see these on the dining room table at Hearst Castle http://lockerz.com/s/219558581

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Want to read more? Here is the link:  

Elisa Ung on Twitter

More strikes against Governor Christie

Image via Wikipedia
How relevant to the experience of most seniors is the lawsuit reported on Page 1 by Staff Writer Kibret Markos?

In a three-part series, The Record's Harvy Lipman is exposing how shabbily the state treats 40,000 developmentally disabled adults, but I'm not sure whose side he's on.


In the first and second parts Sunday and today, he refers to "expensive state institutions" -- code for programs staffed by the unionized public workers who are in Governor Christie's cross hairs.


Christie already has gutted the state Division of Parks and Forestry in a move to privatize the state park system and potentially limit public access, according to the Sierra Club's New Jersey Chapter (Page O-1 on Sunday).


Taking stock


Maybe it's time for interim Editor Doug Clancy and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes to sum up what Christie has accomplished, now that his first two years in office are nearly up.


Property taxes aren't any lower than when he took office. He's done nothing to improve the environment or mass transit. Local police chiefs are still making ridiculous salaries, many topping Christie's. The list goes on.


Today's paper is another yawner.


The editors virtually ignore issues involving older people, but today, the bottom of Page 1 has a story about a 78-year-old attorney who says he was cheated by a convicted scammer.


However, it's unclear just how many other older people are at risk of falling prey to the same insurance scheme.


Copping out


Sykes leads her Local section with a story about the Englewood schools superintendent, who apparently has run afoul of Christie's limit on salaries, but the editor continues to ignore why police chiefs' pay hasn't been capped (L-1).


Sykes' lazy assignment desk has so much trouble getting routine information on accidents and crime now, she may not want to antagonize police chiefs by exposing their astronomical salaries, sick-day payouts and so forth. 


Today, there really is a big development in Hackensack, Teaneck and other towns that don't make the news that often: All the branches and trees that fell during recent storms will be turned into free mulch for residents (L-1).


I call that mulch ado about nothing.


Dissing old people


Typical of the paper's attitude toward seniors is Staff Writer Mike Kerwick's apparent discomfort with the notion that older people exercise (F-1).


His story is so stiffly written, so phony that you know he's never stepped foot in a gym and seen the many people in their 60s, 70s and 80s exercising their asses off. 


On Sunday, in a story about computer tablets, Kerwick listed "sitcom characters who would buy this."


Where are the Better Living editors when he does such a lousy job on story after story? 

PSE&G ads are an insult to customers

This ad appears on NorthJersey.com

I wonder how many utility customers agree with this ad, which appears on NorthJersey.com, the Web site of North Jersey Media Group?


A similar, self-congratulatory, full-page PSE&G ad appears today on Page F-12 of The Record, in the Better Living section.

Maybe the ads explain why the paper's editors seem to be going out of their way to treat Public Service Electric and Gas Co. gently in the wake of massive outages from last weekend's nor'easter. 

Again today, the anger and frustration of customers still without lights, heat and hot water are buried at the end of the Page 1 story, which focuses on rate-hike requests "months or years"  down the road.

Fall back, take a nap

Interim Editor Doug Clancy's first Sunday paper is a snoozer.

The off lead on the front page is a slow-moving process story on privatization of state services that doesn't even mention the disastrous, private automobile inspections put into place by the last governor named Christie -- Christie Whitman.

Also on A-1 is a story about two women who competed in today's New York City Marathon in memory of their marathon-running father. So what?

A far better choice for Page 1, and a story of wider interest, is coverage of Friday's "Seniors in Suburbia" conference in Paramus that the editors held for a day -- especially in view of how senior citizens in the audience projected a new image.

Negative stories

Staff Writer Colleen Diskin reports on the Local front today that one panelist said the "senior community is often portrayed as being a population in need rather than as a population that has something to offer in a community."

Of course, Diskin doesn't mention that her assignment editor has had her write story after story recently that portrayed seniors in just those negative terms.

The assignment desk under Editor Deirdre Sykes has become so addicted to turning out filler based on reports, surveys and statistics no one batted an eye at Road Warrior John Cichowski's latest, sleep-inducing column on the cost of road fatalities (L-1).

Most of Local today is heavy on election coverage and death notices and light on municipal coverage.

Let's get fat

In Better Living, the photo of a rail-thin Asian woman is really inappropriate for a story urging readers to do at least 15 minutes of exercise a day (F-5).

And the photo is a counterpoint to Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung's pudgy cheeks on F-1, where her Sunday column informs readers she will personally taste every cookie submitted to the paper's annual let's-get-fat contest.

No editorial appears in the Opinion section taking PSE&G to task for its slow response to the massive outages, but a reader who lost power for at least six days had a lot to say (O-3):

"I guess when you're a monopoly you really don't have to worry about what your customers think of you," Richard Dalin of North Haledon says in a letter to the editor.

Indeed, Clancy should ask the paper's non-profit reporter, Harvy Lipman, to get off his ass and explore why a utility that provides an essential service -- but has no competition -- should be profit making. 

PSE&G would have done a far better job restoring power, if it didn't have to worry about paying overtime, hiring extra crews and seeking rate increases to compensate.


More shameless promotion


Travel Editor Jill Schensul is urging fliers to spend more time in airports, with an upbeat, promotional column on "real restaurant dining."


It's weird to see this pet-loving vegetarian recommend steak and barbecue restaurants, but not provide readers with a list of non-meat alternatives (T-1 and T-5).

Related posts

• More hard-luck seniors on parade (eyeontherecord.blogspot.com)
• Editors ensure seniors stay invisible (eyeontherecord.blogspot.com)
• Is PSE&G responsible for two deaths? (eyeontherecord.blogspot.com)

More strikes against home rule

Image by U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Northeast Region via Flickr

The Great Swamp really was swamped by Hurricane Irene.

Today's editorial blames "civilization" -- not all those poorly run North Jersey towns desperate for ratables -- for repeated flooding that crested with the destruction of Hurricane Irene.


The editorial on Page A-20 of The Record of Woodland Park says:


"Environmentalists and state environmental officials have spent years shouting into the void that paving over flood plains, building houses in flood plains and generally ceding common sense to the lure of commercial development is about as wrong a move as civilization can make."


Of course, Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin knows the shouting should have been at all those petty officials who hammer homeowners with high property taxes to run their expensive, inefficient home-rule towns, so why doesn't he say so?


Power plays


And how many businesses and homeowners have to lose power and sustain millions of dollars in damages before building officials insist that any new wires be installed underground, and that utilities begin to take down poles and put wires out of harm's way (A-1)?


Why do readers need an A-1 news story on the reopening of roads and a Road Warrior column on the same subject (Local front)?


In the second story marking the 10th anniversary of 9/11, what's the big deal about the rate of volunteerism falling from 28.8% in 2005 to 26.3% in 2010, and why did Editor Francis Scandale put the story on Page 1?


The only good thing about the piece by Staff Writer Harvy Lipman is the non-profit reporter's byline has been appearing more than once a week lately.


Why does Doblin's A-21 column on President Obama carry a headline with a really unfortunate double entendre: "Can you come later?"


Office-driven coverage


Four days after gawkers invaded some flooded Bergen County neighborhoods to make light of homeowners' misery, a story appears on the front of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section.


Apparently, no reporters or photographers visited those same neighborhoods until Thursday -- cementing the assignment desk's reputation as the laziest in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.


With all the news generated by the hurricane, tropical storm or whatever it was, it's a wonder Sykes found room on L-2 today for a photo and caption updating readers on telephone-pole news.


On L-3, a story and photo caption don't tell readers a police officer rescued the the driver from his smoking tanker truck until the fourth paragraph.


Stale review

In Better Living, the mouth-watering photos on the cover and Pages 16-17 deliver more than Gregory T's, an upscale diner in Emerson, where the "tough" prime rib "bore a grayish pallor," tortilla chips were stale and the crab cakes hid tiny pieces of shell.


Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung delivers the kiss of death with a 2-star rating -- what she gives to a mediocre chain restaurant.


The features copy editor also lost his way in writing the caption for three food photos in the centerfold, describing the photo on the left  as "far left."

Where is the poll on Christie?

Image via Wikipedia

The elephant is the Republican Party symbol, not the
 animal Governor Christie wants to be in his next life.

New Jersey voters are

angry -- at everyone

Today's front-page headline in The Record promises a lot, but for some strange reason the story leaves out Rutgers-Eagleton poll results for Governor Christie, focusing instead on President Obama and Congress.


Hey, Editor Francis Scandale, is it really news most people in the state blame Republicans for the recent debt-limit crisis? That's really stale.


Missing the story


Hey, Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson, why didn't you report this is the first Rutgers-Eagleton poll "to show feelings about Christie more negative than positive"?


That's right from the second paragraph of the press release from the Eagleton Institute of Politics, along with this from the third paragraph (link to full press release):


"Asked if they would vote to re-elect Gov. Christie or prefer someone else, 42 percent say they would vote for Christie while 49 percent say they would vote for someone else."


So Scandale and Jackson, don't you think a poll on Christie is more relevant to readers -- especially just three days after the governor's unpopular support for the Port Authority's toll-and-fare hikes to repair infrastructure? (The poll results were released Aug. 19, the same day the PA OK'd the hikes.)


Or are your heads up your asses, as usual?


Christie told a radio news reporter critics of his support for the hikes are "know-nothings and do-nothings," but I didn't see that in The Record, either.


More poor editing


Liz Houlton's news copy desk is at it again.


Why call a storm "wicked" in a photo overline when a single tree fell and totaled three gas-guzzling vehicles in the driveway of an Upper Saddle River home (A-1 and L-1)? 


That's not wicked; it's the revenge of Mother Nature for global warming.


Also, it's incorrect to say an SUV -- which is an inanimate object --  is "sitting" under a tree, and anyway, readers can see it is under the tree, so why waste space telling them that?


Page A-2 carries an embarrassing correction to fix the misspelling of the name of the acting head of the Hackensack Police Department, Capt. Tomas J. Padilla.


Listen to readers


As on many days, there is more interesting reading in letters to the editor on A-11 than on the front page or anywhere else, especially Local, put together by the laziest assignment desk in all of North and South America.


On L-1 today, non-profit reporter Harvy Lipman, a favorite of Publisher Stephen A. Borg, pens his one story for the week.


A day after The Record published a story on the first New Jersey Wine Festival at Demarest Farms in Hillsdale, where 10 wineries poured samples, Better Living promotes 11 wineries and vineyards in New York State.


That's not equal play from a North Jersey newspaper; that's a disservice to readers who want to support Garden State agriculture.


I can't recall a similar article about wineries in New Jersey.

Let's study this further -- and this, too

Image via Wikipedia

The Lincoln Tunnel helix circa 1955. In the past 20 years, the Port Authority has refused to add a second reverse lane to boost the number of buses into Manhattan and give more drivers faced with high tolls a less expensive way to commute to their jobs.

Two of the three major stories on Page 1 of The Record today are based on studies, and the third is a he said/she said on oil drilling off Delaware and Virginia -- making for another edition that's as dreary as the weather.


The clunky headlines on the lead story -- elevated cancer rates in DuPont-polluted Pompton Lakes -- should have said the higher number is for women.


How many of these matter-of-fact recitations, masquerading as news stories out of Pompton Lakes, does Editor Francis Scandale expect readers to take?


The Passaic County town isn't that far from a community that was polluted by another corporate giant, Ford Motor Co., so why not compare how predominantly white Pompton residents have fared compared to the mixed-race residents of Upper Ringwood.


Oh, there's no study on that? Never mind.


Another big screw-up


After a week when the stock markets went wild and the world economy seemed on the verge of collapse, the paper notes on Page A-2 today that its Money and Markets report was incorrect.


If you doubt the assignment editors working under the burden of Editor Deirdre Sykes are the laziest east of the Rocky Mountains, look at today's Local section, which is devoid of any municipal news from Hackensack, Teaneck and Englewood, as well as many other major towns.


Palookaville


Port Authority reporter Shawn Boburg continues to gloss over the bi-state agency's historic lack of commitment to mass transit (L-2). 


Harvy Lipman, the non-profit reporter hired at the direction of Publisher Stephen A. Borg, appears to be averaging one story a week (L-3).


In Better Living, an Associated Press recipe on Page F-3 suggests ruining a perfectly healthy tomato with sausage meat, butter and "torn stale bread."


Sounds yummy.

It's a holiday from serving readers

Image by eddiecoyote via Flickr

Should any business have a message that begins, "Please listen ..."?

My copy of The Record was in its usual place on the sidewalk a little before 8 this morning.

But the crack circulation department apparently didn't listen to the forecast of rain, and the paper was soaked through three or four sections in its single plastic bag.

When I called the home delivery number, the automated system hadn't been activated, so I heard a message in a male voice that began, "Please listen ...." It told me the hours of the department and thanked me for calling.

You could almost see the employee's clenched teeth. 

Image by OZinOH via Flickr

I called the newsroom in Woodland Park and also got a recorded message that no one was there to take my call. And I couldn't leave a message.

Sure, I know it's Memorial Day. It comes around once a year. Is circulation aware of that?

A few minutes after 8, home delivery's automated system began working, but after following all the prompts to report a wet paper and request the delivery of a dry one, I was informed that because of the holiday the replacement won't be delivered until Tuesday.

I've laid out the sections to dry them. 

Today's paper is all wet

Most of Page 1 and all of the Local front is devoted to the same Memorial Day coverage readers see every year, especially since 9/11.

Of course, Editor Francis Scandale and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes know perfectly well all this recounting of heroics and how young men were blown to smithereens fills the space of local-news stories they don't have.

It also lets Columnist Michael Kelly off the hook. He can just reshuffle the words of a past Memorial Day column, knowing the editors aren't paying any attention (L-1). 

Sure this is news?

The routine shore-outlook story on A-1 today likely will be followed by a mid-summer update and a Labor Day wrap-up.

Also on the front page, Staff Writer Harvy Lipman reports a North Jersey resident went to help out after a natural disaster in another part of the country. Why is this even news?

On A-12, a column by Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin suggests Governor Christie will run for the presidency in 2016.

Doblin is counting on the national electorate ignoring, as he has, how Christie is trying to destroy the middle-class way of life in New Jersey, while selling out to his wealthy supporters and other special interests.

Stale news, stale headline

Image via Wikipedia

Why was Paterson left out of the Page 1 story on growing diversity in North Jersey?

Growing diversity 

The splashy, front-page story in The Record today describes big changes in North Jersey from 2000 through 2009, but the main headline (above) is as stale as they get.

All the statistics and photos reviewing change in the past decade expose a huge flaw in news coverage under Editor Francis Scandale and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes, who prefer chasing big journalism prizes over covering local news.

For the most part, growing diversity that transformed Fairview and other communities was ignored by the reporters on the ground. And any conflict between newer and older immigrant groups -- such as Korean and Japanese residents -- never makes the paper.

The report by Staff Writers Harvy Lipman and Dave Sheingold covers many communities, but mentions Paterson only once in passing. And the writing seems clinical, completely overlooking how the huge influx of new immigrants changed North Jersey's eating habits and world view.

Roaming far afield

You don't have to look past Page 1 to see how far Columnist John Cichowski has roamed from his mission of covering commuter problems or how desperate the editors are for something -- anything -- to put on A-1.

Today, the Road Worrier seizes on a freak highway accident in Montana to deliver the breathtaking news that falling asleep while traveling at high speed in a huge, gas-guzzling SUV can be dangerous. 

Former Managing Editor James Ahearn is the first of three Record writers to identify former New Jersey Supreme Court Justice John E. Wallace as black (A-23).  

Blowhards on stage

Shmuley Boteach, that publicity hungry rabbi from Englewood, suckered the paper into covering him again with a lavish story on the front of Sykes' Local section today. Rosie O'Donnell came along for the ride. Here are comments from readers of northjersey.com:

1. Wednesday December 15, 2010, 7:16 AM - bergenNEWS says:
   "Hundreds" showed up? BergenPAC holds 1,400. Oh, wait: Bad weather, you say. Too cold to go out. Really??? You ever live anywhere outside of Jersey? Funny that you would make excuses for the poor turnout after televising the city council meeting. Common denominator in both: Huttle. Bunch o' bottom lickers you are. If you'd taken the time to research, you'd have found that Boteach is (a) ignored and (b) reviled in the community he presupposes to speak for. The only credibility he's ever had is what YOU have tried to give him. In turn, you damage your own credibility. Then you wonder why no one reads you.
   
   
2. Wednesday December 15, 2010, 7:11 AM - bergenNEWS says:
   This guy is the biggest publicity hound going, and you folks play right into it. She's nobody. He's even less. But by virtue of the fact that they managed to stage a performance, you gave it credibility. No critical thinking. No rational assessment. All knee-jerk. The killer: Neither is particularly popular anymore, so you've no justification. It certainly wasn't what you'd call high-minded. So why did you invest all that time, money and energy into it? Makes us feel you wouldn't know a real story if it kicked you in the nuts.
   
   
3. Tuesday December 14, 2010, 11:45 PM - NJ Dissident says:
   I think the both of them are a waste of time. I did enjoy the Rabbi's radio show on WABC, but this side show is an insult to any thinking person. They should have sold rotten tomatoes for the audience to throw. So much for selling your soul to show business.