Editors send wrong message -- again

Maya Angelou via last.fm

What messages are the lazy, incompetent editors at The Record of Woodland Park sending to readers when today's most important story is a sordid, statutory rape case involving a once-great athlete -- a day after the front page highlighted pedophiles in Thailand? Are their minds in the gutter in their desperate bid to sell papers?


The large photo of handcuffed ex-Giant Lawrence Taylor in court only reinforces the impression that to get on Page 1 of The Record, a black man has to be charged with a crime (unless you are President Obama). 

After all, the former Hackensack daily has drastically reduced coverage of the three most diverse communities in Bergen County. Yet, a trio of reporters were assigned to the Taylor story.


Wouldn't the celebration of women staged by renowned poet Maya Angelou at Fairleigh Dickinson University have been a far-better choice for the centerpiece on A-1 today (instead of a mere promotion at the bottom of the page)? Or what about the protest by librarians over huge state aid cuts? 

Are Editor Frank Scandale and Just-Managing Editor Frank Burgos obsessed with sex crimes? This is what the Borgs and their North Jersey Media Group must mean when they proudly proclaim their commitment to "responsible journalism."


Is their anything redeeming in the Local news section? Check out the ridiculous headline at the bottom of L-1:

Light rail line to use electric cars

Of course, NJ Transit's light-rail system uses electricity, so the headline is the equivalent of saying:

Cars will have gasoline engines

Headline writing at the paper has deteriorated to the point where the only object seems to be getting the paper out, no matter what the stories and headlines say -- or don't say.  

The Englewood reporter was assigned to cover Maya Angelou, so you won't find any news from that city, as well as nothing about Hackensack, but Teaneck gets a two-paragraph mention on L-6.