The Record will never be the same again

Hurricane Sandy damage in the Rockaways. (dakine kane)

It's official. The Record today stops questioning the performance of utility companies in restoring power after Hurricane Sandy devastated North Jersey less than two weeks ago.

In the Sunday paper's news stories and columns, the editors are careful to avoid the question all of them should be asking:

Why did Public Service Electric and Gas Co., and other utilities need to call in hundreds of out-of-state workers to remove fallen trees and repair downed lines after the hurricane?

In other words, why do state regulators allow PSE&G to staff its repair crews at such low levels, especially in view of last year's freak snow storm, which hit two days before Halloween and left tens of thousands without electricity for a week or more?

Bigger fish to fry

Editor Marty Gottlieb's front page today reports the Jersey shore won't be "the same for years," and continues to focus on national news, demoting North Jersey power outages and mass-transit restoration to A-11.

Now, readers know The Record will never be the same local paper it was before abandoning Hackensack in 2009.

Lazy local editors

With the same lazy, unimaginative local editors in charge of coverage for a decade or more -- Deirdre Sykes, Dan Sforza and Tim Nostrand -- the hometown paper has given up attempting anything that approaches comprehensive coverage of even the biggest, most diverse towns in its circulation area. 

Since the storm hit on Oct. 29, The Record has reported the damage in broad strokes, largely ignoring Hackensack and many other communities.

That continues today with the Road Warrior reporting on a tiny minority who were able to power appliances with their hybrid cars (L-1), and the Your Money's Worth columnist discussing "how we get -- and lose -- electricity" (B-1).

None of your business

The Business section cover reports on how businesses fared, but ignores all of the Main Street merchants and restaurants (B-1).

Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung reports on only four eating places, presumably because she had to stop for dessert and the resulting sugar high obliterated the assignment from her mind (BL-1). 

Touring the county

Staff Writer Stephanie Akin, who supposedly was assigned to Hackensack before Sandy, was sent on a tour of Bergen County to report on damage in Moonachie, Ridgewood and other communities.

Meanwhile, Hackensack businesses and residents, who lost power for five days or longer, were ignored.

Christie media mania

On the Opion front today, Brigid Callahan Harrison examines the New Jersey gubernatorial contest in 2013, when Governor Christie presumably will run for a second term.

But Harrison neglects to discuss the impact of the state's media, which have embraced a governor who is slowly destroying the middle class in New Jersey.

Backed wrong horse

The Record's fawning coverage of the GOP bully has been clear from the outset, but in the Nov. 6 election, its bias for a local candidate was embarrassing.

The editors lavished a great deal of  attention on Englewood Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, a Republican who challenged Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson, yet Boteach lost in a landslide, despite all the money he spent.

Meanwhile, the editors immediately wrote off the campaign of Teaneck Deputy Mayor Adam Gussen -- even deriding how little money he had raised -- but the Democrat got a strong 43% of the vote in his bid to defeat Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage.  

Kelly's heart attack

The Opinion front today continues to inform readers that Columnist Mike Kelly "is away from the office on a short leave."

Speculation is that Kelly is roaming the world for a photographer who can make him look better than he does in his unflattering column photo with its shit-eating grin. 

Or that he is visiting journalism schools in search of instruction on how to write clearly and more concisely, and how to express the strong opinions readers expect from columnists.

But the truth is Kelly had a heart attack, as an anoymous reader of Eye on The Record informed me recently. 

Coronary bypasses?

The reader didn't say what type of surgery Kelly might have had or whether he had coronary bypasses.

Let's hope he takes the attack as the warning sign it is, and uses his column to inform readers about adopting a healthier lifestyle. 

Mr. and Mrs. Death

The subject of death got Page 1 play today in the unusual piece on Liz Parow and Michael Mittzenwei, spouses who own separate funeral homes in  North Arlington and New Milford. 

It was the only bright spot on an otherwise pedestrian front page.  

More sloppy editing 

Editor Liz Houlton's copy editors screwed up again on an a well-written piece about travel to Spain by Staff Writer Kathleen Lynn (Travel front).

On T-5, the photo caption calls Cordoba's Mezquita "a Muslim mosque now used as a Catholic church."

Putting aside whether the word "Muslim" is needed before "mosque," Lynn's story makes clear a cathedral built in the middle of the mosque is still used for services, not the mosque itself.

And, of course, the writer has to be questioned for reporting so little on Spain's extraordinary cuisine, which for many is a big incentive to travel there.  

See previous post on more

 Road Warrior errors    

Where sloppy reporting is an epidemic

A Ferrari 430 Scuderia at a 2008 auto show. 

Two full days after a motorcyclist was killed in a collision with an out-of-control Ferrari sports car, The Record's clueless assignment editors finally tell readers who the victim was.

Today's story on the Local front reports that Stephen L. Lenge, 56, who owned a popular Cliffside Park record store, was on his way to work as a stagehand at a Meadowlands music festival.

Readers of Cliffview Pilot.com learned about Lenge and were able to see his photo first.

Cliffview Pilot also has mug shots of the two morons charged in Lenge's death.

Another sloppy story

The initial story -- on Page 1 of The Record's Sunday edition --  was poorly reported, written and organized, and carried a headline that assumed readers are as familiar with a "Dream Car Sprint" as they are with the Super Bowl or World Series.

Readers don't learn two Ferraris were involved until they turn to the continuation page, and the story never raises the possibility the irresponsible drivers of the 200-mph super cars might have been speeding or racing. 

The Sunday story is inaccurate, as well, reporting Lenge, a father of two, was 57. It also carried a photo with a caption that identified his motorcycle engine as being the engine from a Ferrari 430.

The Ferrari 430 was produced from 2004 to 2009, and sold for more than $200,000 in the United States. But its powerful V-8 engine is in the rear, not the front of the car. 

Story corrects errors

Today's follow-up -- as do so many second-day stories produced by head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' lazy assignment desk -- serves to correct the initial, inaccurate account.

But there is yet another stupid error in the follow-up, reporting Lenge's "internment" (detention) instead of his "interment" (burial).

The news copy editor who read that story must have been asleep or, maybe, he was playing footsies with his supervisor, Editor Liz Houlton. 

COO wades in

Today, Rob Ferretti, chief operating officer of Gotham Dream Cars of Englewood, is quoted as saying that neither of the drivers who lost control of the Ferraris is among the "professional drivers who participate in the sprint."

So, Ferretti entrusted his inexperience younger brother and another glorified go-fer to drive the powerful super cars, and now a respected community member is dead and his employees face death-by-auto charges.

Is that the kind of judgment we should expect from the executive of a company that charges people $100 or more to drive these exotic cars, but only under supervision? 

Enzo Ferrari, founder of the sports-car company, is turning over in his grave. 

Bimbo outsmarts security

Today's front page is a hoot.

The lead story -- on an illegal immigrant who hid behind an assumed identity for 20 years -- never explains how a man who answers to the name "Bimbo" got the best of the state and federal governments' security apparatuses (A-1).

By all accounts, Bimbo Olumuyiwa Oyewole of Nigeria has an unblemished record as a security supervisor at Newark airport, and should keep his job. 

Old-fashioned legwork

An A-8 editorial on the blight of foreclosed houses reminds readers what a great job Staff Writer Kathy Lynn did on the story, which began on the Sunday front.

I'm sure I wasn't the only reader impressed by the large number of people Lynn interviewed to produce her story -- it's what newspapers call "legwork" -- in contrast to how few sources burned-out Columnist Mike Kelly relied on for his inaccurate account about the state of Hackensack (A-1 on Sunday).

Enough already

Monday's front page and today's Local front both carry stories on the over-reported primary contest between two Democrats in the 9th Congressional District.

But when are Sykes and Editor Marty Gottlieb going to tell readers in Hackensack, Fair Lawn and a large part of Teaneck, among other towns, what's going on in the 5th Congressional District they were thrown into by a redistricting panel? 

Wegmans, Smegmans

On the Business front (L-7), consumer reporter Kevin DeMarrais says Wegmans Food Markets Inc. may finally open a Bergen County store in the wealthy town of Montvale (on the New York State border).

For most Bergen residents, especially those living in Hackensack, Teaneck and Englewood, it might as well be on another planet.

The numbers are all wrong

Reading The Record of Woodland Park today made me realize just how wrong all the numbers are. Not only do at least two stories contain confusing numbers, but it's clear the paper favors older white men as columnists over blacks, Hispanics and women.

It's right there on Page 1 -- three different totals for how much the North Arlington mayor diverted from his campaign fund. The lead paragraph says $28,000, the Fast facts box says $29,900 and the third paragraph says $28,200. Does anybody know which figure is correct?

Is there a deficit or surplus in the state budget? In a story on Page A-8, Governor Christie insists for a second day it's a deficit, which he revises to $1.3 billion. Corzine's treasurer says it's $1.1 billion, but that with budget cuts and other actions, there is actually a surplus of $496 million. Yet, the sub-headline misstates Corzine's stance as $1.2 billion, not $1.1 billion.

How many older male columnists does The Record need? Today, columns by Kevin DeMarrais, Harvy Lipman, Mike Kelley, John Cichowski and Peter Grad appear in the former Hackensack daily, which got rid of its only black and only Hispanic columnists, and one of its early female columnists. A Personal Finance column by veteran reporter Kathy Lynn appears today on the first Business page, making her the paper's third female columnist. Congratulations, Kathy. But when you count unfunny humor columnist Bill Ervolino, there are twice as many older males as females.

Did head Assignment Editor Deirdre "Laughs A Lot" Sykes ask Mike Kelly to go to Westwood and cover the arrival of a fallen Marine? Look at his lead paragraph. Does he get paid by the adjective? What tired prose. Mournful hum of bagpipes, gentle flapping of flags, indelible silence of residents. What is an "indelible silence"? He just pushes around words to create a mood. Westwood reporter Dena Yellin, who has less experience than Kelly, could have done a far better job. This is no laughing matter. Why do they keep him around? Why do they keep Sykes around?

The number of Hackensack and Englewood stories continues to be low (none today), despite the importance of those Bergen County cities. Teaneck reporter Joe Ax covers yet another hearing on that Queen Anne Road synagogue that was opened after an informal agreement with a township official. A brief on a North Bergen official omits any mention of why he quit, but the nature of the probe was laid out Wednesday in Cliffview Pilot.com.


In Better Living, readers are again short-changed on restaurant health inspections. But Food Editor Bill Pitcher gives three stars to a French restaurant in Ridgewood, then puts on his Editor of Fat hat and provides two long recipes so you can make sugar-filled donuts at home.