Hackensack Daily Voice site goes after North Jersey.com

Commuters seeking an alternate route to the George Washington Bridge this morning gridlocked Woodland Street and Palisade Avenue in Englewood.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Jerry DeMarco, onetime breaking news editor at The Record, is working as managing editor of Hackensack Daily Voice, part of a website that covers towns in three states.

Daily Voice.com calls itself a "local news organization."

"Our town-based reporters cover the most important local news, sports and information in each community we serve."

This afternoon, Hackensack Daily Voice sent out an email alert that a lockdown at two Ridgewood schools had been lifted.

Police had determined that a student who reported seeing a man with a gun outside the Travell School was mistaken.

North Jersey.com, The Record's online news site, didn't have the story.

Daily Voice.com also covers towns in Passaic County.

On Cliffview Pilot.com, "About Us" reports the Law & Order news site DeMarco started after he left The Record is "now part of Daily Voice."

Today's paper

Stories on floods in South Carolina and Russia's aggressive moves against Syrian rebels appear on Page 1 today under the masthead and banner:

"North Jersey's Trusted Source"

Left unsaid is that The Record's front page has become a "trusted source" for stale national and international news that readers see the night before on TV.

Also on the front page today, a headline over a brief is a brain teaser that puzzles many readers (A-1):

"Inmates to be freed

once deemed threat" 

Actually, the opposite is true.

The story reports they are being released only after officials determine they no longer are a threat to others (A-7).

Local news?

Don't look for much local news in Local today.

As usual, local Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza load up the section with lots of Law & Order news and photos, as well as news about the police (L-1, L-2, L-3 and L-6). 

On L-1, a story reports the opening of a new five-story, 650-space parking deck near the Bergen County Courthouse "ends an arrangement the county had ... with North Jersey Media Group, which publishes The Record."

Bergen County leased 540 spaces at 150 River St., onetime headquarters of NJMG and its flagship paper, for more than $777,000. 

The two-year lease was supposed to have ended this past July.

Second looks

The Record's veteran columnists -- including Charles Stile and Bob Klapisch -- are such poor writers, and they get so little editing, it's puzzling that Editor Martin Gottlieb puts their work on Page 1 week after week.

On Wednesday, Klapisch began his front-page column on the Yankees' miserable season this way:

"This was only 10 minutes after the Yankees' season had ended ...."

If that sounded familiar, it's because Klapisch began another Page 1 column in the exact same way on Sept. 24:

"This was back in the early 2000s when Yogi Berra ...."

What a joke.

Unsafe busing

On Wednesday's Local front, a photo shows a commuter in a suit standing on an Oradell Avenue median in Paramus, waiting for a bus, and others walking toward the stop.

But nowhere in the Road Warrior column reporting a ticket blitz against jaywalking pedestrians like these does clueless reporter John Cichowski explain why NJ Transit doesn't move the bus stop to a safer place. 

'How disastrous'

Letters to the editors often contain more pointed commentary than The Record's editorials:

Ralph Meyer of Ridgewood notes that in his quest for the presidency, Governor Christie "has vetoed hundreds of bills to appease the Tea Party wing of his party" (Wednesday's A-8).

"We can quickly take a major step toward overriding the irrational vetoes by electing a few more Democrats in the upcoming Nov. 3 Assembly election," Meyer says.

The Record has consistently ignored Christie's vetoes starting in early 2010, when he first took office, and only this year reported they totaled more than 350 -- with not a single override because Republicans who supported the measures fear crossing the GOP bully.

There have been many vetoes since then, but no update in the Woodland Park daily.

In teen's death, editors miss a powerful seat-belt lesson

A three-story building at 76 Main St. in Hackensack, at Bridge Street, was torn down early today after a 3-alarm fire began on Saturday in the kitchen of Choripan Rodizio, an Argentinian-Brazilian restaurant, and spread to 10 upper-floor apartments.

When the restaurant opened in early 2013, it was a welcome sign of renewal in downtown Hackensack. Choripan Rodizio offered great salads and some seafood dishes, in addition to lots of grilled meat, pizza and pasta aimed at Argentinians with Italian ancestry.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Would Stephanie Morgan be alive today and preparing to graduate from Emerson High School, if she was wearing a seat belt on Wednesday night, when her best friend lost control of a speeding SUV, rolling it several times?

A Road Warrior column from staffer John Cichowski on the Local front today and a news story on Saturday's front page don't even discuss the possibility.

Cichowski, along with the rest of the news and editing staff in Woodland Park, again drop the ball, as they have so many times before in reporting fatal crashes and pedestrian fatalities.

Could the local editors' disdain for safety belts be traced to the sad fact that some of them are so fat they wouldn't be able to buckle up, even if they wanted to?

Charges filed

On Friday, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli announced the filing of charges against the unnamed 17-year-old girl who was driving the 2008 Nissan Pathfinder, a large SUV, at what "is believed to be a reckless, high rate of speed."

"The SUV flipped numerous times, leaving the roadway and coming to rest on its driver's side" in a yard, according to the press release.

No mention was made of whether Morgan was wearing a seat belt in The Record's initial Thursday story or Saturday's Page 1 story on the charges.

They are juvenile delinquency with the underlying offense of vehicular homicide and several motor vehicle summonses, including reckless driving, speeding and failure to abide by probationary driver's license requirements.

But from the outset, Jerry DeMarco's Cliffview Pilot.com quoted "authorities" saying Morgan wasn't wearing a seat belt and was ejected through the vehicle's sunroof. 

Finally, today's story on services for Morgan mentions she wasn't buckled in, but that the driver and a third occupant were (L-3).

Brother in car

Morgan was found on the street with severe head injuries, meaning her 15-year-old brother, who was in the back seat and climbed out of vehicle along with the driver, saw his big sister dying.

She was pronounced dead early Thursday at Hackensack University Medical Center.

An unbelted Morgan also is likely to play a big part in any lawsuit her family files against the driver's insurance company for damages, which would be extremely large considering the earning potential of a bright 18-year-old.

But those damages could be reduced based on Morgan's contributory negligence -- not buckling up.

A death notice today notes Morgan "had a real love of cats," and is also survived by "her cherished pets, Mia, Tommy, Joey a/k/a Dio, Sandy and Petey" (L-5).

Page 1

A long story on a "bloody feud" between street gangs in Paterson leads the paper today, reporting that the rivalry has claimed at least two innocent lives, basketball star Armoni Sexton, 15, last weekend and Nazerah Bugg, 14, another basketball standout, last year (A-1 and A-8).  

Reporters quote Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia Valdes and Mayor Joey Torres extensively on the decades-old rivalry.

Where's Speziale?

But no one asked Paterson Police Director Jerry Speziale why his department hasn't confiscated the gang members' guns and gotten the murderers off the street long before the shootings of Nazerah and Armoni.

If you've been on the moon and missed all the TV and front-page coverage of Armoni Sexton's death last weekend, burned-out Mike Kelly has written just the column you're looking for. 

The entire text on the Opinion front is mind-numbing background information, enough to discourage any reader from turning the page and searching for Kelly's opinion about the easy access to guns in Paterson and other cities (O-1 and O-4).

Christie lies

Another story on Page 1 today reports Governor Christie, "who is expected to run for the GOP nomination in 2016," frequently "bends the facts" when he meets with voters in New Hampshire or New Jersey.

Gee. New Jerseyans have known that since he took office in early 2010.

Mercury in tuna

In her The Corner Table column today, Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung shirks her responsibility as a journalist to tell other women of child-bearing age to avoid the fatty underbelly of tuna called toro, because it contains high levels of harmful mercury (BL-4).

The giant blue-fin tuna -- which can weigh 600 pounds or more -- is prized by the Japanese, whose exploitation of this fast-moving predator has led to it being raised on fish farms in Spain and other countries.

The tuna get their revenge on humans with high levels of mercury, which is especially harmful to children and women of child-bearing age.

More lame police reporting

One of the torched cars is said to be a restored 1986 Pontiac Fiero.

From The Record of Woodland Park:

Englewood home, five cars set on fire

Sunday May 27, 2012, 4:38 PM

BY MATTHEW MCGRATH

STAFF WRITER

The Record

ENGLEWOOD – A home and five cars were set on fire early Sunday morning along West Palisades Avenue.

The five cars were parked along the street near Great Lord Ko-Am Church.

“We have had major fire incidents before,” said Councilman Eugene Skurnick, who surveyed the scene Sunday morning. “This one is quite disturbing since it involves innocent people. A Hispanic family lost three autos.”

Three of the cars appeared to be destroyed, Skurnick said. The other two appeared to have exterior damage and a small patch on the side of the house was damaged.

The fires were started at about 3 a.m.

Englewood police did not comment Sunday.

From Cliffview Pilot.com

Englewood arsonist torches 5 cars, house

Sunday, 27 May 2012 12:12 Jerry DeMarco

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Five cars and a house in an Englewood neighborhood were set ablaze overnight, and investigators from the city and the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office's arson unit are trying to determine who's responsible.

A resident flagged down a city patrol officer at 3 a.m., alerting him to the burning cars on West Palisade Avenue near the Soldiers Monument, Detective Lt. Tim Torell told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

"Five of them were purposely set on fire," he said.

Police and firefighters were at the scene moments later when the siding of a house suddenly sprouted flames, the lieutenant said.

"It was probably smoldering for awhile when it went up," Torell told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. "Fortunately, there was little damage.

"Those are all big, older, subdivided homes in that neighborhood. A lot of people live there."

The vehicles were all parked curbside between the monument and Cottage Place. They include a retored 1986 Fiero, a Lexus and two Camrys.

Two were destroyed, two had moderate damage and one had minor damage. A sixth car that was near those set on fire sustained some damage, as well.

The Bergen County Sheriff's Department's Bureau of Criminal Identification collected evidence for the investigation, finishing around noon.

Because they're not impeding the traffic flow, the cars will remain on the street for now, authorities said. The incident won't affect tomorrow's Memorial Day parade, they said.

Storm coverage marks new low for paper

Image via Wikipedia

The Record says it's never too early to plan an outing to Island Beach State Park.

Can you imagine entering your fifth day without lights, heat and hot water, and picking up today's edition of The Record? As you stare at the front page in disbelief, big black letters declare:

New fees

planned for

state parks

What the f___? Is it suddenly spring -- and not several days after one of the worst snowstorms in memory hit North Jersey and knocked out power to, what, 175,000? 

And what's this photo topped with small letters? "PROGRESS SLOW ON POWER LINES." 

Where's the story about the glacial pace of repairing storm damage? Geez. It's on L-2, a page that usually carries the Dean's List.

Editors in LA LA Land

What are interim Editor Doug Clancy and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes thinking? How out of touch can they be with the misery of an estimated 56,000 utility customers who are still without power in Bergen and Passaic counties?

I can just hear Clancy in the news meeting on Wednesday afternoon:

"The people who lost power ... well, it's like they're camping out inside their houses, with no heat or hot water ....Why not run a Page 1 story about state parks, where people camp out? They can really relate to that."

So far, Clancy is a disappointment, even when you compare him to the flawed Francis Scandale, the editor who was shown the door on Monday. 

Borg fires Scandale

Publisher Stephen A. Borg didn't give a reason for firing Scandale after more than a decade. The day before, the paper's first-day storm coverage was pathetically weak, based almost completely on telephone reporting.

The Record's coverage paled when compared to Cliffview Pilot.com, the news site run by Jerry DeMarco, the daily's former breaking news editor. 

Even though Scandale is ultimately responsible for everything that appears in the paper, could Borg have reacted so quickly to the substandard storm coverage and canned the editor?

Also on the front page today is a story about generators that readers really could have used on Tuesday. Today, it's too little, too late.

Readers silenced

In none of the coverage since Sunday has Public Service Electric and Gas Co. been challenged on why repairs are taking so long or why more crews aren't working on the outages.

Readers have just seen excuses, served up by the editors from press statements.

Why put today's wrap-up on L-2, when some understandably angry customers have threatened utility crews? Even Governor Christie is quoted urging residents to remain patient, but all of that is buried near the end of the story.

Where are the editors of this once-great local paper? Why do they seem intent on playing down customers' mounting frustration and anger?

Irrelevant columns

Where were the editors when Mike Kelly submitted his inane column (L-3)? The elitist admits his biggest problem was deciding which of his hotel suite's two flat-screen TVs to watch.

Where were the editors when Road Warrior Columnist John Cichowski submitted an irrelevant column on trees that fall and kill people, followed by a column where he argued against burying power lines underground?

Neither have anything to do with commuting problems, which is what his column is supposed to deal with.

Jersey, not Thailand

On Wednesday, Clancy ran a photo of flooding in Thailand with a Page 1 story on freakish weather, instead of a photo of Saturday's nor'easter in North Jersey. 

Above that, he ran a photo of the fatal crash of a car driven by a 70-year-old man that was linked to a malfunctioning traffic light. But readers may have done double takes when they turned to the story on L-3 and found another photo of the collision, apparently as a space filler.

Also on Wednesday, on L-7, a story on restaurants raising their prices is confined to McDonald's and other chains, with no mention of local restaurants.

Sunday paper

On Sunday's Business front, a story on the low number of women in banking might have readers wondering why stop with that industry and where are the stories on widespread age discrimination in the corporate world?

On Sunday's Better Living front, so few readers responded to a request for restaurant pet peeves, Staff Writer Elisa Ung had to pad her column with several paragraphs of quotes from a William Paterson University communications professor.

That tells us at least two things. The column was ill-conceived. And Ung apparently has almost completely turned off readers of The Corner Table.

Related posts

• No-news front page is editor's specialty (eyeontherecord.blogspot.com)
• Page 1 news is boring us to tears (eyeontherecord.blogspot.com)
• Is northern New Jersey standing still? (eyeontherecord.blogspot.com)
• Bad headlines, lazy editing, more errors (eyeontherecord.blogspot.com)

See previous post: Strange week gets even stranger

Jerry DeMarco breaks a long silence

An undated photo of Jerry DeMarco, who in 2015 became managing editor of Hackensack Daily Voice.com

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Jerry DeMarco, former breaking-news editor of northjersey.com and onetime Law and Order assignment editor at The Record, says he's having a ball beating the Woodland Park daily and its Web site to the news.

DeMarco is editor of Cliffview Pilot.com.

Here he talks about The Record, often addressing staffers he once worked with:

"This one's taken a dog's age. But, as you might have noticed, I've been busy.

"Sitting here on the sweet spot of my porch, scanning my peaceful, tree-lined neighborhood in one of the sweet spots of the PValley, the sweet sounds of kids playing in the nearby park, the sweet hum of distant traffic, the sweet breeze blowing my ever-thinning grays, I cannot possibly produce a singular "best."

"I like the freedom, certainly. The cabbage, the perks, of course. The college gigs -- incl. an adjunct role again this fall -- despite having only a BA and in a bad economy. TWO books in the works.

"I LOVE my sources, literally in the hundreds now, from all walks of life -- Montvale to Lyndhurst, FLawn to UC & all points between. I mean, while your guys are cordoned off down the block -- or sitting w/their heads in their monitors -- I'm on the phone w/the primary or sitting next to someone who is. They even send me photos from the scenes.
And it's 24/7.

"See, after [Record police reporter Justo] Bautista is already home -- and the real shit hits the fan -- I'm ready to rock. I get the story DIRECTLY from the sources, then sack out just as your a.m. folks are punching in. Only trouble is: When they call the local PIO to find out what happened, the shift that handled it is sleeping as soundly as I. When I finally get outta bed, I look to see how the tail-chasing's goin'. Once in a great while, I miss a morning story. Then again, EVERYONE ends up getting it, so what's the point? High time/low value if you didn't read it first on CVP.

"I definitely enjoy the flexibility; Have laptop will travel (and my DROID? Love it). Was in NOrleans for a week this spring and fewer than a half-dozen people knew. Did the same 2x last year. Traffic was great, got scoops, etc. Like I never left.

"A benefit I suspect some will misinterpret: 

"I LIKE being recognized. I like people sending drinks my way when I'm out w/friends. I look up, they point and shout, "You read it here first!" I like pulling into a DWI checkpoint and before I even open my mouth, having a uni say: "Hey, Jerry! Got a minute? I got a good story for you." I like handing people my card ("You're THAT guy?"). I like running into Klap [sports columnist Bob Klapisch, whose middle name is "Salvador," according to Wikipedia], [former Business staffer] Adam Geller, and so many other pros whom I respect and admire, hearing them say they love the site and to keep at it.

"I like when people beep and wave, when the deli guy slices the Genoa thin and the mozzarella thick, w/fresh basil and garlic, some sweet pepper, no oil, w/out my even asking. I like when people call and say, "I want to be on your site. Send me a rate card." Or when I'm out and a kid fresh from the academy introduces himself while trying to call me "Mr. DeMarco." 

"It warms me no end to have an extremely well-known Law Enforcement Officer approach me at a BBQ last month and say: "I haven't met one cop who's had a bad word to say about you." And by journos, she was incl. your people, as well as a former troop member now aboard a sinking ship of his own.

"Yeah, I figured my nat'l awards, my putting people behind bars, changing public policy, getting crooked officials out of office, teaching young reporters who went on to great jobs entitled me to tell people to fuck off. Truth is, I liked reminding the Scandales of the world of that guy who dated the girls in high school who wouldn't even look at him, who was out partying while he was home studying & STILL aced the exam, who gave him the daily wedgie.

"All those joys are juvenile pleasures, of course -- but pleasing nonetheless. But this ... now ... I've been reluctant to say these things, primarily because I've always suspected people who did wouldn't need to say it if it were true.

"But I'm here to testify: Two years of hard work, treating people right, meaning what I say and saying what I mean -- OWNING it -- have brought me riches I could never have imagined when I was coppin' a snooze in the [press] overlook room [off the Hackensack newsroom], lovin' an amazing woman half my age or engaging in a number of pleasurable activities that shall remain undisclosed (all, by the way, while producing undeniably excellent work for my employer. Yes, I saved every perf revue).

"Y'know what? You need a little fuck-you now and then to survive in this world. No better proof than the situation YOU are in as you read this.
The fact that I could tell your bosses to eat me when they came looking for dirt on one of my good friends is a badge of honor. As if I would've breathed a word if I did. Idiots.

"If you still have cause to mock, by all means, do. I'm even game if you want to run down the list of what got me shitcanned -- and exactly what was said in Susan B's office that final day [reference to Susan Beard, vice president of Human Resources].

"Just know that you can't insult any number of independent analytical sources that show CVP's traffic. 

"You also can't touch the meaning that what I do gives me.

"Like when a headstone was donated to the family whose daughter was murdered;

"Or when a state rep made it his business to find lost medals a war hero had been waiting years for, then arranged a special ceremony to present them;
Or when a boy who survived two brain surgeries got the vacation of his dreams.

"Then there was the night a room of 250 officers and their wives gave me a standing O. 

"Or the day that 40 chiefs met privately w/me to offer whatever support they could to CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

"I may not have been able to say it this clearly or with such conviction a year or so ago. But, w/out question, I've found my sweet spot. My "best" is being a member of a large, warm, fiercely loyal community, giving them a product they clearly enjoy while having it make a difference that I was here at all.

"How 'bout you?"

See previous post 
on today's paper

Chris Christie -- warts and all

Image via Wikipedia

Jerry DeMarco calls Governor Christie "Chrispie" and "Bully from the 'Burbs."

Jerry DeMarco has seen Chris Christie as an unabashed Bruce Springsteen fan, as a corruption-busting U.S. attorney and in the Editorial Board room. 

He's been especially keen in noticing how the editors of The Record have reacted to our Republican bully of a governor.

The Woodland Park daily's editors and reporters appeared to speak with one voice in unified praise of  Christie in the first year of his administration, even when he balanced the state budget on the backs of the middle and working classes, and gave a break to millionaires, many of whom support him.

But lately, there has been some push back -- even from Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin -- as the effects of his deep budget cuts on education and other areas become clearer. 

Now, DeMarco, the former Breaking News Editor of northjersey.com, is watching Governor Christie from his perch at Cliffview Pilot.com.

Here are DeMarco's latest comments:

I suspect this is just the beginning of “Chrispie” bashing from the middle floors of the Sixties-era high-rise fast by Route 80 [1 Garret Mountain Plaza in Woodland Park, headquarters of North Jersey Media Group]. And I can’t help but wonder if it’s personal, not business.

One thing I noticed about management at NJMF [stet], and that includes Alfred Dandy, is the belief that touting a horse in a race will secure insider access later on. Hey, it worked with Loretta Weinberg. If not for her, they wouldn’t have been on Joe Ferriero’s tail, or braved a three-year witch hunt of a former lawman more accomplished than they could ever hope to be.

Christie’s a different barrel o’ fish, though [stet 2].

Methinks His Primness Mr. Doblin isn’t taking kindly to standing behind the velvet rope. He folds his arms, taps his wing-tipped foot, purses his lips -- miffed that others are waltzing in while, day after day, he seeks merely a wee bit o’ coffee tawk with the Bully from the ‘Burbs.

No surprise to those who know me that I find most newspaper editors sycophants who care little about the “real people” they promise to serve and more about trying to stroke their own fragile egos.

(Just look at Scandale: Every other week, he “comes up with” another story idea after yet another dinner party chatting up the lawyerly friends of his barrister wife. More than once he responded to my push-back with: “Just find out for me, will ya?”)

Then there are true journalists, with integrity, intelligence -- and stones. If you haven’t heard, Greta Van Susteren blogged this week about promises Christie made -- to her face -- to do an “ON THE RECORD” cable show. Instead, she said, she was given run-around, twice.

“I have gotten that before from politicians and I sure don't take it personally,” Van Susteren wrote.

But she said Christie went out of his way one night to hand her a card with what he said was his personal cellphone number after he stiffed her the first time. Turned out to be his office number.

“It is a bit weird that he tracked me down to give me his number to book him and then avoids me,” she wrote. “Whatever.…”

Read more: http://gretawire.blogs.foxnews..com/whats-up-with-governor-chris-christie-and-behind-the-scenes/#ixzz1AJrbo1Cc

My point: If Christie is going to treat GVS that way, what chance does the man with Dick Cavett’s voice stand?

I used to call Chris my friend. I remember a night he walked into a huge room full of people waiting just for him and made a beeline for me. People were probably looking at me wondering, "Who the hell is THIS guy?" Chris wanted to tell me he thought a review I wrote in The Record about a Springsteen concert was “awesome.”

Besides his flair for flesh-pressing, Chris has a particular genius: He can look at a case file 5 minutes before court opens and get a jury to convict before lunch -- not through expert analysis of the evidence but by chatting up you, and me, like we’re all knockin‘ back Heinees at a barbecue.

I watched the ENTIRE Record editorial board eat from his hand while Chris was still U.S. Attorney for New Jersey. They asked so many times whether he was running for governor -- like rookie reporters thinking they could worm out the big scoop -- it eventually became embarrassing..

By the time we were through, he all but took their wallets, keys and watches. Yet, as he walked from the Hackensack corporate wing with Michele Brown (you remember her: she of the personal loan), the frigs and Frank were thrilled -- almost giggly -- from the experience.

Flash forward to now, as a bully out of his depth shouts down the good people of our state, then posts it on YouTube for God-knows-what-just-reason. Earlier this week, he yelled at photogs as he walked to his car, saying they were only waiting for him to slip and fall. And he wasn‘t kidding around.

Not for anything, but he's looking less the statesman and more the Kingpin every day.

After seeing a 3D-like photo of Chris standing tall, looking straight into the camera from behind what looked like a bay window in a suit jacket, the lone clasped button straining to stay tethered, I wrote a piece about the man‘s size.

I‘m reluctant to pull the trigger: I don't want to offend people with weight trouble. But there’s this: To lecture that we need to better discipline ourselves is difficult to take from someone who can't control his weight -- or ego. Seems the next time he actually listens to someone since he became governor will be the first.

“His ‘inner circle’ is getting larger, and folks are being pushed further and further to arm's length, including staunch supporters,” one of my best inside sources told me this week.  “There's a serious lack of communication, and I'm still not sure if it's due to the man himself shutting everyone out or his Trenton minions being so convinced of their own importance that they're closing ranks and insulating their guy to the point of absurdity.

“Either way, the result is that things are happening, decisions are being made, and folks who should be given a heads' up are actually the last to know.  There have been grumblings about this from others, so I know it's not just an isolated incident here and there.”

If he’s doing this to his own people, where does that leave Francis “Laughing Boy” Scandale, not to mention the sly Charles Stile and the diminutive Skull Cap in Suspenders?

I suspect these initial critical forays will, in the end, prove just the preliminaries. As the swelling tide of public opinion turns on Christie, and The Record finds itself more adrift from its garrulous friend, I’ll bet all kinds of arrows start flying from the building hard by the interstate.
 

See previous post, Money, money, money

Jerry DeMarco takes on critics

Image via Wikipedia

Corey Feldman

Dear Anonymous: 

I'm a reader commenting on a blog here, not a publishing writer. I can swipe Harry Potter whole cloth here & it wouldn't matter. This is a blog, a  unique form of media. Apples & oranges.

The fact that you're not aware of that, or of what Wikipedia is all about, lamentably speaks to my very point. Surrender the pedantry, please, and maybe you'll hear it.

Bemoaning your "loss" is less time spent in the here and now. It turns you into an autoworker instead of the multi-skilled pro that you are. The people who made VCRs didn't fold their tents. Neither did lots of other people in dying industries.

"Change only brings more problems," the councilman played by Kevin Nealon on "Weeds" said. It was his campaign slogan in running for re-election. Funny, too -- only it's not true. Change brings opportunities ESPECIALLY for those with word, image and other communications skills.

The world's not getting dumber but sharper. Problem is: People who run certain newspapers aren't keeping up.

You, for instance, have an ARMY of weekly reporters & photogs who are treated like second-class citizens. Why? Because they didn't go through what you went through. Because they don't have "daily experience."

They're boots on the ground, unlike the clueless eyes-on-the-monitor/phone-in-the-ear drones you have. They KNOW the people in their towns. They're TRUSTED. If anyone in management had half a brain, they'd use these COMPANY-PAID resources to bring readers comprehensive local coverage under one kick-ass umbrella.

NEW SLOGAN: "We're up the ahole of Bergen. Have a look."

Honestly, if The Record is fulfilling Corey Feldman's mission (does look like him, doesn't he?), then he's an even bigger dunce than he acts. I mean: The weekly reporter gets all the detail, the color, and yet Will Lamb or Bautista has to independently produce a separate story -- forbidden from using any of the material ALREADY OWNED BY THE PARENT COMPANY -- when either could be using his particular skills to produce ADDED VALUE.

[Above, Jerry DeMarco apparently is saying Stephen Borg and Corey Feldman resemble each other. -- Eye on The Record.]

Crude, rude, etc.


Yeah, I'm crude, rude, inappropriate, blunt, tactless, you name it. But I'm loyal to the people who are good to me, I defend them to the death, and I don't suffer toxic types easily.

For two years, I've lived out here in the real world, where the answer isn't to lament -- or tear down -- but to find paths to success.

Maybe it's by building a website... and landing an adjunct post at a college that makes ALL of its media classes interdisciplinary... and taking on freelance assignments rebuilding websites, editing newsletters, and more.

I don't know who you are, but if you think you're safe, that newspapers are somehow going to withstand the march of time, that the product produced by your division isn't going to be sold or folded sometime soon... well... then I REALLY don't wanna fight with you.

I mean that, sincerely.

Get over it already. Own your destiny. I'M not your enemy.

Jerry DeMarco
Cliffview Pilot.com

See comments at end of post,  

'Unforeseen problem' delays delivery

'But only fools would save this tree'

The corner property on Cedar Lane in Teaneck with the endangered big tree, which has been the subject of several stories in The Record of Woodland Park, changed hands Monday, according to this editorial from Cliffview Piloit.com:

Don't save that tree

Editorial tunnel vision

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A science center official says the "Jurassic Park"  movie showed "live dinosaurs."

The Record's front page on Friday was dominated by Governor Christie's unilateral decision to stop work on the Hudson rail tunnel and an editorial backed him up. But none of the reporters or the editorial page editor questioned -- or even explained -- his authority to do so. Today, we learn the feds got Christie to agree to a two-week "hiatus," whatever that is.


Since the Republican took office in January, the Woodland Park daily has endorsed virtually every one of his decisions, including his slashing and burning of state programs for the middle and working classes, while giving him a pass on his clear favoritism for millionaires such as the Borgs and his wealthy supporters.

Sadly, the staff -- from Editor Francis Scandale to Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin to Washington, Trenton and transportation reporters -- have become nothing more than media whores catering to the governor's every whim. What a disservice to readers.

Is The Record guilty of cultural insensitivity or worse? Most of A-1 today is covered by another article about Korean-Americans in North Jersey, the latest in a series. This is a worthy subject -- focusing on survivors of Japanese sex enslavement -- but what about other immigrant groups? 


A couple of weeks ago, a former columnist wrote an op-ed piece taking the paper to task for omitting Japanese-Americans from an education story. 

I can't recall anything more than an occasional crime story about the God-fearing, hard-working Jamaican community in Englewood, Teaneck and Hackensack from any reporter in the past two decades -- yet head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes bought and ate her fair share of Jamaican black rum cakes. The Jamaican community has been here far longer than the Koreans.

Does it have to do with Jamaicans being black? We know what a shameful job Scandale and Sykes have done in diversifying the newsroom. Scandale even got rid of the paper's only Hispanic and black columnists.

Did you read that A-3 story from The Star-Ledger about the frozen woolly mammoth on display at the Liberty Science Center? Did you read this quote from a science center official: "You've seen those live dinosaurs in movies like 'Jurassic Park'...." Live? Is he kidding? Do I have to say they weren't "live dinosaurs"? More great news copy editing.

Local is another crappy section from Sykes and her staff of assistant assignment editors and municipal reporters. The first Englewood story by Giovanna Fabiano in nearly two months is about the dredging of a pond. No, that's not the same pond dredging you saw in the section the other day.

Sykes and the staff try to catch up with the sex-assault arrest of a Fox 5 news reporter from Wyckoff, allegedly with a 4-year-old girl -- a story that has been all over Jerry DeMarco's Cliffview Pilot.com. Pages L-6 and L-7 are mostly court, police and fire news.

Tom Troncone throws his own going-away party

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What you'd look like after one of Tom Troncone's nitrate-laden brats.

Tom Troncone, an assistant assignment editor at The Record of Woodland Park, held his own going-away party Saturday at his home in Hillsdale.


Troncone, whose last day was Friday, originally was rumored to be going to Bloomberg News in Manhattan, but may have decided to go with Patch, the online, local news service from AOL (or is it, LOL?).


Troncone once worked as a police reporter under Jerry DeMarco, who at the time was law-and-order editor on the assignment desk in Hackensack. DeMarco sat next to his boss, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes.


The barbecue was extremely well-attended by newsroom staffers, including Sykes and Projects  Editor Tim Nostrand.


With those two attending, let's hope for the sake of others Troncone didn't run out of food.


See previous post: You call this local news, Deirdre?

This one is for wrapping fish

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The Sunday paper leads with a crime story -- a Seton Hall student from Virginia is slain at a party in East Orange. Gripping news for Bergen County readers of The Record of Woodland Park.

The dominant A-1 story is about North Jersey's ridiculous home prices, still artificially high despite the recession, and for that we can thank the greedy real estate industry, whose advertising  helps keep the paper afloat. 

The third front-page story is about a Navy veteran whose slaying hasn't been solved. Why is this cold case on Page 1?


The Local section is another Deirdre Sykes' joke on readers. The big L-1 story has the headline, "Towns weigh change" -- a guaranteed room-clearer -- and the subhead uses the word "service" twice -- a major no-no.

Desk Warrior John "Limp Chick" Cichowski continues to roam far from his mission of writing about commuters, with a story on the driving record of a moron from a reality TV show. You won't find any Hackensack or Englewood news in the section.


Could there be anything more promotional than Elisa Ung's F-6 column on a single pizzeria in Allendale? Does she really expect us to believe the owner is "America's Best Pizza Maker," as an industry magazine proclaims? What a sell-out.

Three letters to the editor in Opinion today objected to the A-1 story Sept. 18 about an obscure Jewish practice of killing chickens for Yom Kippur. Let's hope the editors kill any more story ideas from Staff Writer Deena Yellin, if they involve Orthodox Jews.

Who isn't bored with the full page of photos in Travel showing readers holding up the section while on vacation? This is one page less in a thin, six-page section that the self-styled klutz of a travel editor has to fill with useful information for travelers. 

Take a good look at those photos. All of the people appear to be white or Asian, which largely reflects the racial make-up of The Record newsroom, although Publisher Greedy Stevie Borg long ago gave the heave-ho to most of the older workers.

(Top photo: The Record's local news assignment desk.)

Note to readers

Don't miss the previous post: "Tales from the old Hackensack newsroom," and don't forget to click on "comments" for Jerry DeMarco's recollections of working side-by-side with head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes (aka Mama Crass).

Who is Steven M. Zavidow?

Steven M. Zavidow is at the center of  stories on northjersey.com and Cliffview Pilot.com. Compare them:


Hillsdale_man_accused_of_embezzling_260K
from_Burger_King_employees_retirement_fund




Feds say well-known Bergen businessman pocketed employee retirement fund

Summer news doldrums

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If you doubt the editors of The Record of Woodland Park are stalled in the summer news doldrums, just look at today's dreadful paper -- especially bad for a Sunday. There's nothing special here, not on the front page or on the front of Local, nor will you find any news about such important towns as Hackensack, Teaneck and Englewood.


Page 1 brings us a massive story on infrastructure -- will the decades-old Route 17 bottleneck between Routes 4 and 80 be fixed? The lead is about a parolee from South Orange who stabbed his wife in Florida. Another road trip for readers. Finally, the third story speculates on a higher retirement age.


It's the editors who should retire, along with the tired Sunday columnists -- John Cichowski, Mike Kelly and Bill Ervolino -- they continue to use as filler. Editors Frank "Castrato" Scandale, Deirdre "Mother Hen" Sykes, Jim "McScreamy" McGarvey and others are doing their best to bore readers and deprive them of the news they need.

Does Publisher Stephen A. Borg really know what turkeys he has working for him?

The so-called Sunday special on the front of Local should have been published weeks ago, before the start of the summer camp season. Was it held? The Route 17 story on A-1 belongs here, in the Local section. On L-2 and L-3, minor accidents become major photos -- to take up the space of local news Sykes' reporters didn't bother to cover.

You won't find anything on the proposed Hackensack budget or tax hike or the city's new mayor. That's too basic for Staff Writer Monsy Alvarado, who supposedly is assigned to cover the city, but with Sykes' help, covers her ass. Education news today? Just the dean's list.


In Better Living, food coverage consists of a wire-service story urging readers to eat more vegetables. Really? Vegetables are good for you? Now, that's real news. 

Readers who can't afford an exorbitantly priced second home at the Jersey Shore likely enjoyed the Real Estate front on more affordable lake homes, but the story doesn't discuss whether big boats and personal watercraft are allowed. They would certainly shatter the peaceful, bucolic scene.

Today, CliffviewPilot.com  discusses childhood obesity. Along with past entries on the challenges facing older drivers, Jerry DeMarco's Web site is taking up The Record's slack on public service to local readers.


And here is belated recognition to Cichowski, whose Road Warrior column on Friday finally listed the help available to older motorists, whose pedal confusion often leads to fatal and near-fatal accidents. But isn't this subject bigger than a single article (apparently the first in Cichowski's nearly seven years as a columnist)?


If Sykes and Scandale can chain several reporters to a so-called investigation of former lawman Michael Mordaga for nearly three years -- all for a single story last December that was so weak they had to run it on the front of Local -- then older drivers, their victims and their families deserve far more attention than they have been receiving.
 
The sorry Mordaga vendetta will forever be known as the editors' $500,000 boner (a guesstimate of the staff salaries squandered on the project).