Editor Alan Finder is lost and found

A construction trailer and other equipment were set up last week in the visitors parking lot at 150 River St., Hackensack, the old headquarters of North Jersey Media Group.

The byline of Alan Finder appears on the front page of The Record today -- two days after Editor Marty Gottlieb folded the section edited by his pal from The New York Times.

Finder -- identified on A-1 as a former Times' City Hall bureau chief who covered the Koch administration in 1986 and 1987 -- writes a long-winded "appreciation" of former Mayor Ed Koch, who died early Friday.

In typical newspaper fashion, the congestive heart failure that killed Koch is mentioned in passing, again squandering an opportunity to educate the public about a leading cause of death in the United States.

Finders keepers

Finder has a sweet deal at The Record, where his talented wife, Elaine Isaacson, has been employed as a graphic artist for many years. 

In late 2011, Finder took a voluntary buyout after 28 years at The Times, according to the New York Observer, which didn't report any of the financial details.

Gottlieb anniversary

Gottlieb, who left The Times to take over the Woodland Park newsroom of The Record a little over a year ago, hired Finder to edit Signature, the feature section that folded last week only five months after it appeared.

Why Signature was created instead of reviving the popular Food section remains a mystery.

Could The Record really afford to hire Finder after a downsizing in 2008, relocation of North Jersey Media Group headquarters in 2009 and a drastic decline in local-news coverage? 

Why is he being kept on?

Makes more than vets?

Salaries at The Record are secret, but can you imagine how much Finder is pulling down, in addition to his generous Times severance and pension?

If veteran newsroom workers at The Record knew exactly what he is being paid -- certainly more than they're making -- I'm sure the howls could be heard as far away as Hackensack. 

What the hell?

The Koch obit dominates Page 1 today, but don't miss the bright from Staff Writer Leslie Brody, who reports on a no-curse pledge by girls at Queen of Peace High School in North Arlington (A-1).

The lead story on A-1 today says Sen. Bob Mendez, the New Jersey Democrat who won another term in November, now finds himself in deep mierda.

Hackensack loses again

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, managed to find only three pages of local news today, none of it from Hackensack, where at least 11 candidates are vying to get on the ballot in the May 14 City Council election. 

Republicans continue to act disgracefully

Governor Christie at the 2011 Time 100 gala. (From Wikipedia)

Is Governor Christie going to raise taxes on Garden State millionaires now that congressional Republicans have finally allowed a modest federal tax increase on the wealthy?

Don't hold your breath and don't expect the fawning New Jersey media, including The Record, to bring up that embarrassing question at one of the GOP bully's press conferences.

Never mind that Christie is sinking the state economy under record joblessness and lagging tax revenue.

Blasts fellow Republicans 

Christie is all over Page 1 today, blasting Republican House Speaker John Boner and other members of his party for delaying a vote on the $60 billion relief package for Superstorm Sandy victims in the Northeast.

As New York Times veteran Marty Gottlieb approaches his one-year anniversary as editor, the Woodland Park newsroom continues to put out its fair share of ho-hum editions, including today's.

More boring politics

Another boring Political Stile column runs on the Local front -- a day after the column was on the front page.

The headline today:

Many may

grab onto

Christie's 

fat ass

The use of the word "may" in the headline stops readers, who wonder when the media are going to abandon predictions of the future and get back to reporting what happened. 

There is almost no reporting of what happened in Hackensack and many other towns in Local today, seemingly the best effort of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza.

Selling soft news

With the debut of Signature, a new features section, readers are getting the feeling the pendelum is swinging away from actually covering the news.

Today, Signature Editor Alan Finder, one of Gottlieb's pals from The Times, has a cover story on the restaurant brunch battle in Ridgewood. 

Isn't that nice.

On the Better Living front, Staff Writer Virginia Rohan refers to the "Jersey Shore" reality show as "our time in the national spotlight of shame."

Why then did the editors of Better Living and Local run so many stories about that moron, Snooki, and her skin-cancerous pals? 

Editors continue to ignore local Democrat

New Jersey Turnpike near Exit 12 in Carteret. (Wikipedia)

It's been two weeks since The Record published a long profile in radicalism of Rep. Scott Garrett, one of the Republicans responsible for the gridlock in Washington.

But equal time must be a foreign concept to Editor Marty Gottlieb and Alan Finder, editor of the Signature section, which still hasn't published a profile of Garrett's challenger in the 5th District, Teaneck Deputy Mayor Adam Gussen.

Gussen, a Democrat, was quoted a few times in the long, flattering story about the Wantage Republican, but Finder ran three photos of the congressman and none of the challenger.

More sports news

Today, the cover of the Signature section is dominated by a long story on a football team at a high school apparently named after the Bosco chocolate drink.

Inside, you'll find a report on the Kosher Nosh, a Glen Rock deli whose "high-quality food" includes preservative- and antibiotic-filled hot dogs and mystery roast beef (SIG-4).

Crash editing

The flaw in the paper's transportation coverage is shown on A-3, where Staff Writer Karen Rouse covered a fatal dump-truck crash that closed the New Jersey Turnpike.

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, ignore such commuting problems as horrendous rush-hour traffic and overcrowded buses and trains to focus exclusively on the dramatic.

Editors don't care

Commuters probably have a lot to say about PATH fares going up 25 cents, and the 400 buses that are being rerouted daily between Hackensack and Teaneck, but The Record could care less.   

Sykes and Sforza produced another Local section dominated by court stories, police news and accident photos. 

Gee-whiz photography

Instead of reporting on the challenges facing older drivers and where they can get help, Sykes and Sforza continue to publish gee-whiz photos of accidents involving drivers in their 60s or above (L-1).

There is no Hackensack, Teaneck or Englewood municipal news today.

Zisa case lives on 

But L-1 carries another story on the trial of two former police officers on charges they protected a suspect with ties to former Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa.

Surely, Staff Writer Kibret Markos could find something else to cover in one of the state's busiest courthouses. 

Same paper, editors?

It's hard to understand how the same editors who turn out a lackluster local-news section day after day can score a bull's-eye with a special section, such as today's tab, Breast Cancer Awareness.

Editors drop minorities from big story

The old New York Times building. Two Times veterans now work in Woodland Park.

Editor Marty Gottlieb signed off today on a Page 1 story with a hole big enough for one of The Record's Mercedes-Benz delivery trucks.

The "ANALYSIS" of Governor Christie's war on affordable housing is fatally flawed in the first paragraph (A-1).

The story claims Christie wants to give "towns more power to decide what gets built within their borders."

Whites v. minorities

Any fool knows the real issue is whether low- and moderate-income people, including minorities, will be allowed to move into predominately white communities.

Christie is only the latest in a long string of conservative white officials who have subverted the state Supreme Court's Mount Laurel rulings, which said towns have a responsibility to accommodate low- and moderate-cost housing.

Today's long, densely written story doesn't even contain the word "minorities."

The story was probably edited on the assignment desk run by Editor Deirdre Sykes, a small-town resident whose distaste for diversity is well-known. 

Getting a grip

The big element on the front page today is about the Iranian president's grip on power.

Of course, a far better story in a North Jersey daily would be Christie's chances for reelection next year after breaking most of his campaign promises and going after the middle class.

Fur flies in newsroom

No animals were harmed in the making of the story and photo about a Ridgewood kitchen fire, but why is this minor drama all over the front of Local?

Sykes and her minions couldn't find any Hackensack or Englewood news today.

How low can you go?

Is there any connection between the enormously expensive Uniqlo ad wrapped around Page 1 today and the lavishly promotional "story" on the Japanese clothing retailer all over the Better Living front?

In the new Signature section, the editors have taken ignoring readers' lives to a new level with "IN MY OWN WORDS." 

The new feature is described as, "An occasional feature in which reporters, editors and critics write about their lives."

In view of a drastic decline in local news, do readers really want an inside look at the poor job The Record's news staff is doing?

Weary food writer

Staff Writer Elisa Ung is the first up with what appears to be a censored version of her restaurant reviewing.

There is nothing here about her obsession with sugary, artery clogging desserts or the orgasms she has over the "funk" of an enormous dry aged prime steak -- a heart attack on a plate.

She also doesn't discuss the tremendous boost to her family's finances from all those meals she enjoys on The Record's expense account, as well as the leftovers she brings home.

Finally, Ung doesn't address her Sunday column's failure to confront restaurant owners on such important issues as the broken tipping system and serving meat with harmful antibiotics and growth hormones. 

Ex-Times pals in N.J.

Gottlieb hired a pal, Alan Finder, to fill the cushy job of editing Signature, which debuted Sept. 6.

Finder, who took a buyout after 28 years at The New York Times, is married to one of The Record's graphic artists, Elaine Isaacson.

Isn't that nice.

Brand-new section, same tired voices

Even without dumpsters, The Record's old building and parking lot at 150 River St. have become eyesores. Three years after the Borgs abandoned Hackensack, neither the wealthy family nor their flagship paper have said what will replace it.

The third edition of the new Signature section fills the house with the awful smell of prolonged flatulence from three of The Record's stale columnists.

Readers are so sick of Columnists John Cichowski, Mike Kelly and Bill Ervolino, they are beginning to regard newsprint as little more than toilet paper.

"Signature" suggests a section filled with stories that are as individual as handwriting, but all readers get today is rubber-stamp journalism.

New voices, please

You'd think a new section would sparkle with fresh voices, especially in The Record, which is blessed with many talented writers.

Cichowski, Kelly and Ervolino aren't among them.

On the cover today, Cichowski, the failed Road Warrior columnist, discusses whether it is safer to drive children to school in towns with school busing.

Of course, he doesn't discuss one of the most populous communities in North Jersey without school busing -- Hackensack.

It's hard to tell what Kelly is writing about today in his rambling column on Cresskill's "idle chatter," also on the cover.

On SIG-2, Ervolino's Then & Now column focuses on Prozys on Main Street in Hackensack -- when readers really want to know what is going to replace The Record's vacant headquarters on River Street.

The building and parking lot have become eyesores. 

GOP fanatic

The main story today is about "conservative icon" Scott Garrett, a fanatical Republican whose House district now includes overwhelmingly Democratic towns like Hackensack and Teaneck.

Garrett's opponent -- Teaneck Deputy Mayor Adam Gussen -- is quoted a few times in the overly long profile.

Still, Gussen has been largely ignored by The Record since he won the Democratic primary in June, so it's no wonder he's the underdog.

Bad headline, reporting

The headline -- "CONGRESSIONAL CULTURE CLASH" -- is awful.

The "clash," if you will, is in North Jersey: 

A rabid, white racist who might soon be serving another term representing some of the most diverse towns in the state.

Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson again disappoints with his gentle handling of the right-winger.

Front-page rehash

Today's front page from Editor Marty Gottlieb rehashes recent stories:

The firing of Jay Alpert, one of Governor Christie's cronies; three women who were murdered before their houses were set on fire, and another political column on Christie and Mitt Romney, the GOP's Laurel and Hardy.

Our worst governor

A story based on a news release from the U.S. Census Bureau shows how badly the state economy was lagging in 2011, the second year of the Christie administration (A-1).

More bad economic news came from the Department of the Treasury -- tax collections are $100 million behind the governor's projections (A-1 and A-3).

How long will it take before The Record christens Christie as our worst governor ever?

A toll on readers

A major error appears in a story on A-6 about Port Authority tolls.

Tolls at the agency's bridges and tunnels were raised a year ago to $12 from $8 during peak travel times -- not to $9.50.

Zisaville dispatch

In Local, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes continues to regard the Ken Zisa legal saga as just about the only Hackensack news worth printing (L-1).

The former police chief was sentenced today to 5 years in prison without parole, but Superior Court Judge Joseph S. Conte allowed Zisa to remain free until his appeal is decided, North Jersey.com reported.

A ruling on his appeal might take a year or more, given the state's famously slow court system.

Improved local news? Fuggedaboutit!

Ex-President Bill Clinton in 2007. At the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night, Clinton rightly blamed the GOP for the mess we're in. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Readers searching for local news found a new section in The Record today -- edited by Alan Finder, a 28-year veteran of The New York Times.

Editor Marty Gottlieb -- himself a Times veteran -- has decided after little more than seven months in the job that what the Woodland Park daily needs most is a new weekly feature section with a puzzling name: Signature.

Gottlieb apparently is not about to tussle with head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes, a 300-pounder who has threatened to sit on him if he tries to improve the Local news section she runs so ineptly.

What does the new section's name mean to you? 

"Defining life in North Jersey" are the words appearing under Signature on the cover of the  section, called "Section SIG."

Two times zero

Gee. What North Jersey readers really need is not a couple of former Times editors trying to define residents' lives, but more -- much more -- reporting on what kind of job the officials of their towns are doing.

In North Jersey -- dominated by parochial home-rule governments -- readers want a lot more information about efforts to eliminate all the waste and duplication supported by some of the highest property taxes in the nation.

Instead, Gottlieb and Finder have given us a feel-good section that largely duplicate columns and news stories that have already appeared in the paper.

Kelly and Ervolino

On the cover, Columnist Mike Kelly shows how a journalist can turn the tragedy of 9/11 into a career -- with his umpteenth tear-jerking column on the destruction of the Twin Towers.

On SIG-2, Bill Ervolino -- the unfunniest man in journalism -- wallows in nostalgia with a Then & Now column -- this on the Paramus Drive-In Theater, now a parking lot. Wow.

Another sugar high

On SIG-4, Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung wrote a special column on a German bakery in Ridgewood, sure to be lapped up by all the diabetics and weight watchers in her audience.

In the first paragraph, Ung recalls her two months in Germany, stuffing her face with baked goods, and afternoon coffee and cake. Inspirational.

Local are yokels

Readers hungry for local news find little solace today.

In Local's 6 pages, readers find an astounding 16 Law & Order stories from Sykes and Deputy Assignment Editor Dan Sforza.

Only two stories in the section can be called municipal news -- both from Passaic County. 

A third story is about a new after-school choir in Englewood.

The choir members, children 9 to 14, are expected to praise the Lord for their overwhelmingly minority schools and all of the minority employees laid off by the largely white school board.

In Business, a new hotel expected to be ready for fans attending the 2014 Super Bowl in the Meadowlands will have extra-large toilets to accommodate those notorious over-eaters and drinkers.

On today's front page, Gottlieb gave more space to the inept Giants than to former President Bill Clinton's speech at the Democratic National Convention.

Now, it's readers who are throwing up over Gottlieb's predictable Page 1 treatment of sports.