Editors finally acknowledge issues, not politics, matter most

Cartoons from John Cole on Meryl Streep's criticism of President-elect Donald J. Trump , above, and Rick McKee on President Obama's legacy, below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Though many months too late, The Record deserves credit for launching a series on "15 issues important to North Jersey residents" that could be affected by the administration of President-elect Donald J. Trump.

No matter that "Trump Tracker" echoes "Christie Tracker." 

That was the Matt Katz series on our very own GOP bully, Governor Christie, that ran for a couple of years on WNYC-FM, the New York and New Jersey public radio station.

And readers also know that if the Woodland Park daily and all of the other news outlets across the country had been focusing on issues during the campaign, the outcome of the 2016 presidential election would have been far different.

Instead, the news media delighted in repeating every sensational, unsubstantiated charge against Democrat Hillary Clinton, and ignoring her decades-long service to families ad children.

Five-part series

Today's "Trump Tracker" installment focuses on immigration, train transportation and health care (1A, 8A and 9A).

Editor Rick Green doesn't explain why the transportation segment leaves hundreds of thousands of New Jersey bus commuters out in the cold (8A).

The other issues -- including homeland security, education, taxes, the environment, social-safety net and infrastructure -- are scheduled to run through Thursday, the day before the inauguration (8A).

Politics as usual

Sadly, it's politics as usual at the bottom of Page 1 today, with yet another Political Stile column on Christie:

"Christie leans left in N.J., 
but keeps door open on right"

Readers also are keeping their bathroom doors open, in case they get the sudden urge to throw up.

Local news?

On the Local front, Road Warrior Columnist John Cichowski appears to be telling drivers they have two and a half months to "read, eat, drink, groom themselves and use hand-held devices to ... talk, text or find their way" before an April police crackdown (1L).

In Opinion, an editorial notes Paterson remains "among New Jersey's most violent places" despite an overall drop in crime (2O).

"Homicides held steady at 19, the same as in 2015, while the number of rapes increased" to 57 from 42, according to the editorial.  

The editorial is incorrect in saying rapes "increased from 42 to 57 percent." 

A year ago, another editorial on the overall drop in crime credited Police Director Jerry Speziale while letting him off the hook on curbing gun violence and the drug trade. 

Today's editorial doesn't even mention  Speziale or the undercover state police troopers who have been helping Paterson police.

Korean food crawl

The Better Living cover on a Korean food crawl in Palisades Park should have been labeled, "For carnivores only" (1BL and 3BL).

By using Robert Austin Cho, owner of a Korean barbecue restaurant, as her guide, Staff Writer Sophia Gottfried largely omitted all the great non-meat dishes -- heart-healthy seafood, tofu and vegetables -- served in Korean restaurant in Palisades Park and neighboring Fort Lee, which isn't even mentioned.

And with Cho in tow, Gottfried also managed to keep the secret of the vast majority of Korean restaurants -- they serve low-quality beef and pork raised on harmful antibiotics and growth hormones to boost their bottom lines.

Fewer stories?

Since the November redesign of The Record, many readers have complained there are fewer stories in the paper.

There was a good reason for that on Saturday, when an upbeat Page 1 story explained how teenagers are coping with life in crime-ridden Silk City:

"Paterson students
outsmart crime
through use of 
technology"

The story reported these geniuses developed "a cellphone application that would send an alert to school security staff if students diverted from their normal route home from school."

If readers turned to the continuation page (Saturday's 4A) and read the story to the end, they found the entire story was repeated -- all 23 paragraphs.

How's that?

On Saturday's Local front, this headline puzzled many readers:

"Hospital
manager
gets 6 
months"

But the story had nothing to do with the sentencing of a human to jail or prison.

"Manager" referred to a company that manages Bergen Regional Medical Center in Paramus, and the "6 months" is how long its contract has been extended.

This is high-school level journalism, plain and simple.

For that, you can thank the payroll-slashing Gannett Co. -- owner of seven New Jersey dailies -- and the morons employed in a centralized Neptune design center.

News media always delight in exploiting political divisions

The easiest way to ruin a beautiful day is to try to drive through downtown Englewood, where construction and a blocked lane slowed traffic today at Palisade Avenue and Dean Street, above and below.

This afternon around 1, as the temperature reached a comfortable 75, one Englewood police officer directed traffic as two others leaned against a traffic-light repair truck that blocked a through lane, bullshitting. Now, residents know one reason why the city's property tax bills are so high.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

After the nation's first black president took office in 2009, the racially inspired gridlock in Congress was evident to everyone.

And the news media couldn't have been more delighted, replacing any reporting about issues and what's good for the country with story after story about our political divisions.

A year later, Republican Chris Christie was sworn in as New Jersey's governor and faced a state Legislature controlled by Democrats.

Would he compromise? Fuggedaboutit!

The GOP bully unilaterally cancelled expansion of rail service under the Hudson River, and began vetoing every bill in sight -- from a tax surcharge on millionaires to hikes in the minimum wage to using tax money to purchase open space.

Again, the news media were delighted to report all of the conflict, and The Record's Charles Stile wrote column after column explaining Christie's every word, belch and fart in political terms -- even as the vetoes topped 500 and set a record.

Clinton v. Trump

Today, Columnist Mike Kelly repeats a frequent theme of his column -- that allegedly we are no longer united, as we supposedly were after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on America (A-1).

And once again he points to "an increasingly polarized presidential campaign."

But that's nothing new, just as the media's relentless focus on politics in the nation and New Jersey isn't new, and likely won't end in the foreseeable future. 

9/11 ceremonies

Today's front page, Local front and Better Living cover are dominated by stories related to the 15th anniversary of 9/11.

That's eight straight days of coverage, but I didn't seen anything on the hijackers who lived in Paterson, and obtained phony I.D.'s and licenses in the weeks leading up to the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

If Christie drops out of race, no need for friendly columnist

Hudson Street in Hackensack is one of many streets showing the signs of utility work, but the patching is much smoother than on River Street, especially near the old headquarters of The Record.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

A day after The Record declared that many view Governor Christie's White House bid as a "long shot," the paper's political columnist doesn't miss a beat.

Since the GOP bully took office in early 2010, Staff Writer Charles Stile has stuck by Christie in his Political Stile column, never bothering to report on whether the conservative's policies have been good for New Jersey.

Today, he's back on Page 1, analyzing whether Donald Trump's foot-in-mouth disease can help boost Christie's anemic showing in the race for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016.

His column is never labeled "Opinion" or "Analysis," as many papers would with similar partisan reporting.

With Stile in his corner, Christie doesn't even need spin doctors.

The veteran Trenton reporter does a good imitation of a journalist who is angling for a job in what he hopes will be a Christie administration in Washington.

Stile's chief weakness is that he continues to completely ignore all of the New Jersey baggage and failed policies Christie brought to the race -- from Superstorm Sandy recovery to mass transit to "pension reform" to the Bridgegate scandal.

It's a weakness shared with Editor Martin Gottlieb, who puts Stile's boring column on the front page once or twice a week.

Stile's next and last column should be on the sentiment for Christie to drop out of the race, return to New Jersey and finish out his term, fixing the mess he's made as the state's worst governor ever.

Will 2013 bring honesty or more B.S.?

The Record fled Hackensack for the boondocks in 2009, but the Borgs continue to keep residents in the dark on their plans for 20 acres they own along River Street.

Does anybody but all those greedy Republicans  read the boring column by Staff Writer Charles Stile, whose speculation about "a big year ahead for Jersey politics" is on Page 1 of The Record today?

Since Governor Christie took office nearly three years ago, Stile has sounded a lot more like the GOP bully's personal public relations flack and a lot less like the journalist he pretends to be.

Today, he looks into his crystal ball and reports "Christie ... will find himself under the microscope from voters, journalists and political operatives around the country ...."

Wait a minute. Christie took office in January 2010, so why is it just now that he'll find himself "under the microscope" of journalists? What a joke.

Stile says the governor has "star power." 

For whom? His conservative supporters, who are counting on him to preserve tax breaks for millionaires and other regressive policies. 

Reporter leaves office

On the Local front today, Road Warrior John Cichowski's column appears to be based on his own reporting -- not e-mails from readers who want to see their names in print and not all those statistics he obsesses over.

Cichowski actually got in his car and drove to the Fort Lee side of the George Washington Bridge, where commuters get a free ride to the city from drivers seeking a carpool toll of $4.25 for having two passengers in their cars.

Readers in dark

But the so-called commuting columnist fails to tell readers that all of them can register their E-ZPasses once and then pay the same low carpool toll at all hours at Hudson River crossings -- a savings of up to $6.

All they have to do is stop in a cash lane so the toll collector can confirm they have two passengers -- their wives, kids, friends, it doesn't matter. 

A couple of dead bodies or dummies might qualify, if it's dark.

Threepeats

On L-2 today, a story about the cushiest job in local policing reports the retiring Alpine police chief was paid $172,000 this year -- one of the few making less than Christie.

The local staff under head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, appears to be obsessed with the number 3, even though it is Jan. 2.

According to L-1 headlines, "3 violent incidents open 2013" and "Three babies are born in first 3 minutes of 2013."

On L-2, the Alpine police chief is retiring after 30 years -- that's 3 times 10.

On L-3, a headline says the "year begins with only a few [3] DWI arrests" and another reports "3-vehicle Hillsdale accident puts 3 in the hospital."