Boring front pages two days in a row

Former Editor Francis Scandale put on blackface and played in the New York City subway before landing a job as vice president of print production for Digital First Media.

The Record's front page today isn't much of an improvement over Page 1 on Monday, when a whopper of an error appeared in the first paragraph of the lead story on cold-case murders.

The most dramatic story on A-1 today -- a worker who was rescued from a vat of acid -- is totally oversold by Editor Marty Gottlieb, though readers don't learn that until deep into the continuation page; the diluted acid wouldn't have killed him (A-6).

Recycled news

A rare story on recycling focuses on Fair Lawn and Clifton, but there's no explanation why Hackensack, the most populous Bergen County town, was omitted (A-1).

Although readers have had it up to here with 9/11, the editor of the Editorial Page keeps hammering away at the anticlimactic trial as a follow-up to news stories and columns that no one bothered to read (A-10).

Bridge loan

Readers are wondering why the paper is wasting so much space on 9/11, and devoting so little space to cost overruns at the World Trade Center and the higher tolls and fares we pay to cover them.

Gottlieb must be pulling down so much money as editor, he is laughing off the daily $12 Hudson River toll on the way home from Woodland Park. 

Tru-hack

The ACLU may have blocked the TRU-ID program at the Motor Vehicle Commission, but Road Warrior John Cichowski has vowed to write another 20 columns about licensing standards -- anything to avoid reporting on commuting problems (L-1).

On L-3 today, readers get a fourth straight day of coverage on the arrest of a suspect in the March 2011 murder of a Teaneck man, and another story on the trial of suspended Hackensack  Police Chief Ken Zisa. 

The other big news in Teaneck is the trapping of a coyote (L-3).

Sleeping it off

Newsroom staffers, meanwhile, have been unable to rouse head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes from a deep slumber.

On the Better Living front, a story on how to re-use beer bottles is a nice tie-in to the Page 1 story on lower recycling rates in North Jersey.

Murdering English

On Monday, the first paragraph of the lead A-1 story on two cold-case murders said:

"But two cases -- each involving an woman who was stabbed before her home was set ablaze -- are still a mystery [italics added]."

Also a mystery is how this glaring Page 1 error got through all the editors the newspaper employs to catch reporters' mistakes.

Francis Scandale

According to his LinkedIn page, former Editor Francis "Frank" Scandale -- who left in disgrace after last October's surprise snowstorm -- has gotten a job as vice president of print production at Digital First Media. 

More Linanity

In other employment news, Jeremy Lin's family have refused to release the Knicks player from delivery duties for the family restaurant on East 23rd Street in Manhattan (S-1).

Lin's height makes him ideally suited to delivering Chinese food, allowing him to hand orders through first-floor windows rather than trying to get into the building.

Editor is a day late with full story

When Jeremy Lin delivered a Chinese take-out order of shrimp in black bean sauce to the Knicks' Carmelo Anthony, a light bulb went on in the coach's head.

On Friday, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes threw at least 10 reporters at the arrest of a second man in the firebombing of Bergen County synagogues.

On Saturday, puzzled readers plowed through a long Page 1 news story and a profile inside the paper and searched in vain for any mention of the suspect's religion or ethnic origin.

Today -- a day later than other media -- the lead front-page story fills in all of the missing information about Aakash Dalal, 19, an Asian Indian who hated Muslims, all religions and government.

By contacting others who knew Dalal at Lodi High School, the Woodland Park daily answered a lot of questions raised by its earlier stories.

More holes

Imagine what readers could learn about another suspect, Charles J. Ann, who allegedly killed his girlfriend with his car on Feb. 20 in Fort Lee -- if Sykes had only sent a reporter to Bergen Community College, where Ann was a student.

Christie spin

Also on Page 1 today, Sykes gives readers more masturbatory journalism -- a glowing portrait of Governor Christie's chief crony inside the Port Authority, David Wildstein.

Buried deep in the story, on the continuation page, readers learn Wildstein fast-tracked the enormous Hudson River toll and fare hikes late last year, ramming them down the throats of angry commuters.

Wildstein said "Boo!" and Staff Writer Shawn Boburg scurried away when the over-paid official refused to answer questions about his job.

The story notes Wildstein often arrives at the office at 6:30 a.m., suggesting he is a hard worker, but doesn't say whether he merely is trying to beat traffic. Does he take mass transit? Does he go home at 3, again to beat traffic?

Please. Those questions would be too intrusive and counter to the editors' goal of making Christie and Wildstein look good.

Balance needed

Editor Marty Gottlieb could have balanced this A-1 hose job with a story on Democrats who may try to unseat Christie next year (A-3).

But he couldn't find room for the story outside, because he squandered a good part of Page 1 on the Meadowlands Racetrack and Jeremy Lin, a Chinese take-out deliverer whom the desperate Knicks dragooned into playing basketball.

Tunnel vision

Rear-view cameras have been proven safety devices on tens of thousands cars and minivans for years, so why is Road Warrior John Cichowski just discussing them now and why is he quoting greedy automakers who oppose anything that cuts into their profits (L-1)?

Readers will search in vain for any Hackensack, Englewood or Teaneck news today, presumably because Sykes believes race horses are more important than people (L-1).

Disappointing sections

Local isn't alone in disappointing readers.

Columnist Mike Kelly was one of the journalists who whipped up anti-Muslim hysteria over the mosque near Ground Zero. Today, he's back on the Opinion front to re-assure North Jersey Muslims they have nothing to fear from NYPD spying (O-1).  

Reviewer Elisa Ung apparently has run out of restaurant issues to write about in her Sunday column, so she offers two soup recipes to home cooks, cheered on by Food Editor Susan Leigh Sherrill, the paper's chief cookbook maven (F-1).

Good journalism

In Business, Your Money's Worth Columnist Kevin DeMarrais has an eye-opening column exploring the risks of scanning those innocuous-looking QR discount codes with a smart phone (B-1).

The one-size-fits-all sports phenom

Image via Wikipedia
Some non-sports fans might say a ball is missing in the New York Knicks' basketball team logo.

At the bottom of a strong North Jersey front page in The Record today, Editor Marty Gottlieb falls for a superficial sports story on the Knicks' Chinese-American "sensation," Jeremy Lin.


According to Staff Writer Steve Popper, Lin is "an inspiration for Asian-Americans." Really? Maybe he meant to write "for other Chinese-Americans."


What is Popper popping?


Can you really lump all Asians into the generalization, given well-known tensions between Korean and Japanese residents of North Jersey -- a story the Woodland Park daily has ignored.


And what about Asian Indians? Why is Lin more of an inspiration to Asians than any number of Korean golfers? Isn't Tiger Woods half-Asian?


Finally, would an all-Jewish pro basketball team be called the Knishes?


More on Syria


I don't know how much Gottlieb knows about North Jersey, but his use of a photo of the Syrian uprising on Page 1 is of intense interest to thousands of Syrian-Americans in North Jersey.


But isn't it time for the editors to assign a reporter to interview Syrian-Americans about the slaughter in their country and on which side they stand?


After years of standing by as greedy landlords exploited Passaic city residents, the City Council is getting into the act by proposing to charge 237 disabled residents for once-free parking spaces (A-1). What an outrage.


Change of heart


On the front of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section, readers have to plow through all the cute writing in the Road Warrior column before Staff Writer John Cichowski reveals a change in his position on pedestrians killed by NJ Transit trains (L-1).


In the past, Cichowski essentially has blamed the victims -- in lockstep with the state mass-transit agency.


But now that he has finally interviewed the father of Nick Sabina, 17, one of three teens killed by trains in separate accidents last October, the reporter says the agency isn't doing enough to improve safety along the tracks.


The only Hackensack news in the section today is a non-story on a motion in a series of lawsuits alleging abuse of power in the Police Department (L-3).


Who got rich?


A story on an 8% drop in the prices of North Jersey homes reminds readers not to hold their collective breath for an investigation of who got rich and who lost their shirts as a result of the housing bubble, which burst in 2008 (L-7).


In Better Living, Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung doesn't explain why she is critiquing another Turkish restaurant or why it took her more than five years to find Hunkar in Carlstadt.


She notes prices are higher than at many Turkish restaurants, but says the "value" is "good if you value atmosphere." However, service is slow. 


Let's hope readers who go there don't try to make off with a tablecloth or the silverware.