Does 'reform' get any more confusing?

Image via Wikipedia

Coat of Arms of Jamaica.

The assignment editors at The Record have Staff Writer Juliet Fletcher tackling another Page 1 process story about changes in health-care coverage for public workers, leaving readers more confused than ever.

This is her fourth story this month on changes in health or pension benefits, which Editor Francis Scandale calls "reform," as he's been asked to do by Governor Christie's spin doctors.


Fletcher reports that next year's savings are projected to reach nearly $100 million, thanks to changes in federal law. Until now, she has cited this year's savings from changes in state law, putting them at $10 million.


More on Turkey


For the second day in a row, Scandale devotes most of the front page to the earthquake in Turkey, but today's local reaction story and map are far out of proportion to the death toll (A-1 and A-4).


Coverage of local Turks just reminds readers of how Scandale and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes have routinely ignored North Jersey's Jamaican-American community, which is far larger than the newer immigrant group.


The Record and NorthJersey.com even failed to report an historic change of government on the island, according to an Associated Press story on Salon.com:

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Youthful lawmaker Andrew Holness was sworn in Sunday as Jamaica’s new prime minister, ushering in a government he said would heal political divisions, root out corruption, reduce debt and bureaucracy, and attract foreign investment to reduce poverty. 

Scandale, Sykes and their clueless minions can't get more out of touch with local residents than that. 


Page 1 typo


And Liz Houlton's crack news copy desk can't get any sloppier than missing a typo in the first word of the third front-page story today: "A environmental group...."


Why isn't the Obama administration's latest effort to curb home foreclosures on Page 1 today? Check L-7.


Locals yokels


The contempt for local readers continues in Sykes' Local section, which is missing municipal news from Hackensack, Teaneck and many other towns for yet another day.


For some reason, Teaneck reporter Andrea Alexander covered a Monday night meeting on city finances in Englewood. A house-fire photo was needed as filler on the same page, L-3.


For high rollers


In Better Living, free-lancer Bob Probert showers superlatives on Sear -- a new steakhouse in Closter with dinner entrees costing up to $60 -- but there's not a word on whether this pricey beef  is raised on harmful antibiotics and  growth hormones, and feed containing bits of dead animals (Starters, F-1).


Has Probert been told to confine his coverage to restaurants favored by multimillionaire Publisher Stephen A. "Beefeater" Borg? Where are stories about new restaurants with prices more suited to today's challenging economic climate?


Related articles

• Christie laughs off fat jokes (eyeontherecord.blogspot.com)
• Guess how much Christie weighs (eyeontherecord.blogspot.com)
• Andrew Holness sworn in as Jamaica's prime minister (guardian.co.uk)

Page 1 news is boring us to tears

Image via Wikipedia

Hackensack in the 1890s.

It doesn't get any duller than Page 1 in The Record today.


I saw all I wanted to see about the earthquake in Turkey on TV last night.


More prostitution arrests in North Jersey? The off-lead A-1 story has no statistics to back that up. And what man is so hard up he'd go with one of the hags pictured on A-6?


The story on witness intimidation at the bottom of the front page is another one of those court stories that sound important, but really don't affect many readers.


Sunday night blues


It's the kind of story that runs on Monday's front pages, because the pitiful editors who get stuck working Sunday nights really have nothing else from Editor Francis Scandale and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes.


In Sykes' Local section, there is municipal news from Englewood -- actually, a story about police salaries (L-2) -- but there's no news from Hackensack, Teaneck and many other towns.


A graphics package on L-1 tells readers 2011 may become the wettest year in New Jersey since 1931, when data collection started.


The Woodland Park daily also appears to be on its way to setting a record for publishing the least local news since the paper was founded in 1895 in Hackensack.


In Better Living, a rumpled Bill Ervolino completely misses readers' funny bones with a story on his pedicure (F-1). Too bad, the shop couldn't manage to do something for his odd sense of humor.


Free lunch


On Sunday, Ervolino's Better Living colleague, Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung, used her Sunday column to list her "top 10 nicest things that some restaurants do for their customers" (F-8).


How strange. She has to roam as far as San Francisco and recall a service experience "several years ago" in Manhattan to complete the list. 


What does that say about North Jersey restaurants -- where she can indulge her dessert obsession on The Record's expense account -- that she couldn't find her "top 10 nicest things" here?


Of course, the nicest thing a restaurant can do is cut its prices in this difficult economy -- in the form of a multi-course meal that delivers great value. She doesn't list any of those.


'Eye on The Record' 


Sunday marked the 2nd anniversary of Eye on The Record.


I recommend the most popular posts, listed on the right.


Eye on The Record could not have lasted this long without the uninspired newsroom leadership of Scandale, Sykes, Tim Nostrand, Liz Houlton, Dan Sforza and all the other editors who have been there "forever."


The infamous Barbara Jaeger -- who ran the features department so badly and for so long -- is gone. 


She shared a contempt for older workers with Scandale and Sykes, but some of the young staffers she championed simply fall flat on their faces more times than not.


Absentee Publisher Stephen A. Borg's greed seems to have blinded him to how far this once-great daily has fallen.