Getting it all wrong on Page 1

Image via Wikipedia

Then-Gov. Christie Whitman frisking a suspect in 2004. The Record's "Political Stile" columnist today actually calls her one of  "Jersey's groundbreaking heroines," right up there with Molly Pitcher, Clara Barton and Althea Gibson.

Parting leader pays up

"Pays up." Doesn't that sound as if Bergen County Executive Dennis McNerney owed a debt or faced a fine, and paid it? 

But that's not the case, as you learn in the drop headline and story on Page 1 of The Record of Woodland Park today -- he gave big raises to non-union employees as one of his parting shots before he leaves office. And what's with the awkward "parting leader"? Do you really need the word "parting"? Just call him what he is: "Dem pol spends big."

Also, if McNerney has the power to give the 3.5 percent raises to about 200 employees, doesn't incoming Republican County Executive Kathleen Donovan have the power to rescind them? Staff Writer Michael Gartland, who has been reporting on all the political cronies being hired by the defeated Democrats, doesn't even ask Donovan that question.

As if the lead head isn't bad enough, the headline on the second A-1 story -- on DWI arrests -- is about as inaccurate as they get. Although the graphic and text show drunken-driving arrests were down 3 percent in 2009, the headline declares:

Penalties aren't reducing DWIs

Well, something is reducing DWI arrests, and the headline should have said that. The story says "drunken-driving arrests last year were the fewest recorded in the past decade."

Breaking ranks?

Columnist Charles Stile appears to be breaking ranks with all the Governor Christie apologists at The Record, but his L-1 "Political Stile" column is so poorly written and so poorly organized today, it's hard to tell just what he is getting at.

His lead paragraph says the woman Christie nominated to replace John E. Wallace on the New Jersey Supreme Court could be a heroine "for the next generation of New Jersey girls if she ever joins" the court, becoming its fourth female member.

What he doesn't do is mention Wallace or criticize Christie for not naming a black man or woman to replace the court's only African-American justice, who was denied lifetime tenure by the governor, in defiance of decades of precedent. Then, Stile lists Christie Whitman, one of the worst governors ever, as among "groundbreaking Jersey heroines."

At this point, Stile veers  off and starts attacking two  female Republican senators -- who back the nomination of Anne Patterson to the court -- for refusing to help overturn Christie's veto of $7.4 million for family planning clinics, which serve poor, uninsured women.

He blasts Christie as "the party's brook-no-dissent leader." C'mon, Charlie, you can do better than that.

Another bad head

On L-3, a story on Hackensack residents finally returning to their Prospect Avenue apartments more than five months after they were evacuated carries a real puzzling headline:

Residents return to scene of garage collapse

It's probably time to acknowledge the news copy desk's sharp decline in quality and accuracy since copy editors from the Herald News replaced veteran Record copy editors, who left when Publisher Stephen A. Borg merged the two news staffs. 
 

We have mandatory insurance now

Image via Wikipedia

The Richard J. Huges Justice Complex in Trenton, seat of the Supreme Court.

What's all the fuss on the front page of The Record today about the constitutionality of mandatory health insurance in 2014? Automobile insurance has been mandatory for decades, though you won't see anything about that in the Associated Press story. Is that unlawful, too?

Another issue not raised in the lead story is whether parents who do not buy health insurance are endangering the welfare of their children.

Another ass-slapper

Even if you don't question Editor Francis Scandale's decision to put a big photo of football fans on the front page, you'll wonder why the news copy editor mentioned Viking or Vikings three times in three sentences.

How many asses did Scandale slap in the news meeting Monday afternoon in Woodland Park after ordering layout editors to put that photo on A-1? 

Here is how Scandale's peculiar male editor-bonding ceremony goes:  "I got the Giants on the front again, Gary." (Smack!) "I got football on the front again, Randy." (Smack!) "I got rabid fans on the front again, Ron." (Smack!) 

The three stories on Page 1 are process stories -- a federal judge's ruling on health-care reform that doesn't change anything, despite the AP's attempt to create a crisis atmosphere; a stalled bill to provide more access to defibrillators and an upcoming state referendum on sports betting that flies in the face of federal law and Christie administration policy. My eyes are glazing over.

On A-2, two embarrassing errors are corrected.

No municipal news

Has head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes ever produced a Local section before today that is so completely devoid of municipal news? Readers get a mix of police and court news, two local obituaries, a sob story and other tripe.

The major L-1 story reports suspended Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa, his ex-girlfriend and two others pleaded not guilty in Superior Court to official misconduct charges. 

Zisa's attorney, Patricia Prezioso, is the law partner of Bruce Rosen, who has represented North Jersey Media Group, which publishes The Record, and Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg.

Wrong-way Stile

The Political Stile column on L-1 has Staff Writer Charles Stile foaming at the mouth over New Jersey Supreme Court Associate Justice Roberto A. Rivera-Soto being paid for not doing his job, but Stile himself is getting paid for not doing his.

He not only calls the justice "Soto-Rivera," an error picked up by the news copy editor who wrote the incorrect last names under the L-1 photo.

But he fails to identify John E. Wallace, the justice bounced by Governor Christie in May, as an African-American or report that the woman the governor tried to replace him with is white or that some observers called Christie's decision racially motivated.

In a Page 1 story on Saturday, Staff Writer John P. McAlpin also failed to report that Wallace is African-American and was the court's only black member.

Ford, DuPont rule New Jersey

Image via Wikipedia

Five years after The Record unleashed a million blanks at Ford Motor Co. pollution of a close-knit community in North Jersey, the Woodland Park daily resumes firing more meaningless Page 1 salvos at the slow pace of the cleanup.

But none of the words and photos in the paper, or videos on northjersey.com, even hint at the real story: How Ford, DuPont and other corporate polluters are far more powerful than government, courts, prosecutors and the media.

That's the clear lesson of Ford's continuing impact on Upper Ringwood residents in Ringwood and DuPont's failure to clean up pollution in Pompton Lakes, another story The Record has been telling in recent months. These companies and others seem to rule the state and nation.

Editor Francis Scandale was aiming for a Pulitzer Prize with the original Ford stories, labeled "Toxic Legacy," but missed by a wide margin. This latest effort will merely reinforce that failure.

Lead reporter Mary Jo Layton and Staff Photographer Thomas E. Franklin, who produced "Toxic Landscape: Ringwood Five Years Later," leave a few angles unexplored.

One big question is why the prominent lawyers who filed suit against Ford didn't hold out and bring the case before a jury -- which, even in the absence of a scientific link between pollution and residents' illness and death -- would likely have returned a verdict ordering the automaker to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.

Instead, according to what I gleaned from northjersey.com video, lawyers feared Ford would declare bankruptcy, so rushed into a settlement of a measly $12.5 million. Residents recently picked up checks ranging from $4,368 to $34,594. 

But Ford was the only Big Three automaker to reject a government bailout and now is earning hundreds of millions in profit.

Isn't it likely the lawyers -- from Robert F. Kennedy's and Johnny Cochran's firms -- were working on a contingency basis, and were eager to cut their losses after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on behalf of the residents? They gave up hope of getting a substantial share of a really big payout.

On the other A-1 story today, check out northjersey.com for the bloodthirsty comments of readers reacting to the suicide of swindler Bernard Madoff's older son. 

Judge who?

I couldn't find a follow-up today, a day after Scandale led the paper with state Supreme Court Associate Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto's protest over a temporary replacement for John E. Wallace, a Democrat who was bounced by Republican Governor Christie. 

The Record's slanted story Saturday blunted his protest by leading with calls for the judge's ouster and failed to quote any legal experts supporting his position or mention that Wallace is African-American. Great job by Staff Writer John P. McAlpin.

What did Christie violate? From a Star-Ledger editorial in April:

"Since the state Constitution was drafted after World War II, governors of both parties have reappointed justices without regard to ideology. The idea is that a justice should feel free to decide cases on the merits, without fear of losing his or her seat on the bench as a result."

John's warts, Elisa's stomach

Determined not to leave the office and report on commuting problems, Road Worrier John Cichowski -- Editor Deirdre Sykes' pet -- delivers another L-1 column on snow or ice on vehicle roofs, ensuring growth of the warts on his ass from all the hours he spends in front of the computer.

Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung was too busy stuffing her face with cookie contest loot to write "The Corner Table," her restaurant column for today's Better Living section.

On the Opinion front, Mike Kelly delivers a forceful column for a change -- slamming the GOP for blocking passage of the federal health care bill for 9/11 workers.

Better research needed

Kevin DeMarrais, the Your Money's Worth columnist on the Business front, often leaves out important information, as he does today on which merchants offer free shipping. He omits one of the biggest, Lands' End. 

In a column he did some time ago on credit cards that impose a foreign-currency transaction fee, he forgot to mention Capital One doesn't charge such a fee, usually 2% to 3% of each purchase.

Asian breakthrough

Travel has an entertaining piece from a Los Angeles Times writer visiting Paris for the first time -- a refreshing break from the usual stories boasting of cheap everything and transcendent experiences or retelling every klutzy move by perpetually jet-lagged Travel Editor Jill Schensul.

And a photo of a family of Asian travelers appears for the first time in many weeks on the all-white Page T-3 -- The Record on the Road photo feature.

Black, white and red all over

Image via Wikipedia

In this 2007 photo of the New Jersey Supreme Court, standing are Associate Justices Roberto Rivera-Soto, left, and John E. Wallace, second from right. Wallace left in May.

I can't imagine a more embarrassing -- and suspect -- omission than The Record not reporting on Page 1 today that the New Jersey Supreme Court justice Governor Christie got rid of in May is African-American, and was the only black on the high court.

In fact, it's not until the next to the last paragraph on the continuation page (A-8) that Staff Writer John P. McAlpin names the associate justice who Christie refused to renominate in May, sparking  charges of racism, especially because a white woman was nominated to replace him. 

McAlpn, who is no novice, violates the basic journalism principle of supplying background in every story, including this one on Associate Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto protesting a temporary replacement for John E. Wallace. 

It's certainly relevant that Wallace, the former associate justice,  is African-American, and that critics think Christie was motivated by racism.

Are we to believe that head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' shrieks of laughter mixed with snores from the news copy desk as this flawed story was processed Friday night in the Woodland Park newsroom, and no one noticed the glaring omission? 

Fie on minorities

Where was Editor Francis Scandale, whose own record on newsroom minorities is so poor? He got rid of the paper's only black columnist, Lawrence Aaron, and its only Hispanic columnist, Miguel Perez. Were they the Wallace and Rivera-Soto of The Record?

The top-of-the-page, A-1 headline blares:

High court in turmoil

Of course, that headline perfectly describes The Record's turmoil under Scandale, Publisher Stephen A. Borg and big sister Jennifer A. Borg, vice president and general pain-in-the-neck counsel of North Jersey Media Group.

The spoiled Borg siblings have put their father, Chairman Malcolm A. Borg, out to pasture as they run the paper into the ground, while dreaming of making a killing by selling the old headquarters and all that land on River Street in Hackensack -- maybe even unloading NJMG itself. But I digress. 

Counterfeit writing

Boy, I'll bet readers didn't expect their 50 cents would buy them a primer on counterfeit money -- the biggest element on A-1 today. The clunky lead paragraph by Staff Writer Deena Yellin says "towns and cities" have "seen" a sharp rise in bogus money "passed across merchants' counters."

In Local, you'll find the non-fatal-accident-of-the-day photo on L-3, but not much municipal news, certainly nothing from Hackensack,  Englewood or lots of other major towns. You will find plenty of police and court news, though.

Bill Pitcher news

Better Living has no food news of any kind, which may be a good thing considering the irresponsible, raw-meat recipe Food Editor Susan Leigh Sherrill gave readers on Wednesday.

Bill Pitcher, her predecessor, is now city editor at The Leader-Herald in Gloversville, N.Y., a small daily newspaper in the Adirondacks where he also reports and writes stories. 

Pitcher, who is about 35, rejoined The Record in June 2006 and left in August. He had been handpicked by Scandale and Features Director Barbara Jaeger from a field of food editor candidates with far more experience. 

Pitcher found Food Editor Patricia Mack a really tough act to follow.