Travel Editor Jill Schensul: 'We don't take free trips'

Customers of Starbucks Coffee, Cosi and other businesses at this medical building on Essex Street in Hackensack found themselves fighting over parking spaces last week after half of the lot was closed for repairs, above.

A security guard had to direct cars entering from Prospect Avenue; the Summit Avenue entrance and exit were closed. The lot seems to require repairs every couple of years. At another Sanzari medical building across Summit, the garage was closed for repairs that seemed to drag on forever before it was reopened. Nearby residents complained valet parkers were using spaces on a side street for the cars of building visitors.

The repairs appeared to have been completed by Thursday, but the lot can't be open until parking-space stripes are painted on the surface. The lot was still closed today, and the entrance to the building was blockaded.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Travel Editor Jill Schensul says The Record's policy has always been to pay for the trips she writes about in stories and columns.

"Ever since I've been doing travel at The Record, the policy here is we don't take free trips," Schensul said in response to a question -- "What about junkets?" --from JimRomenesko.com, a media blog.

On Sept. 30, the blog published an e-mail from Schensul, who has been "on The Record's travel beat for 20 years," to explain "how the paper covers travel with a limited budget."

"How The Record's travel section wins awards" is the post title.

Shrinking section

"We used to have 16 pages for our Sunday Travel section. Now, it's four," Schensul wrote, without explaining the drastic reduction in space.

"If we get 'invited' on a trip and it sounds interesting and would be a good fit for our readership, we'll negotiate a press rate. It's standard operating procedure.

"A few papers -- The New York Times and the Washington Post, I think -- pay for everything, and require freelancers to do the same," she said.

Special rates

"We negotiate a rate with the trip's organizers that makes it possible for us to get out and test drive new places," she continued.

"It's the way we have come up with to keep providing Record-generated stories, photos and insights rather than wire copy for our readers."

Schensul added:

"This isn't to say we only travel when someone offers us a ready made press trip. We decide on at least a few big projects at the beginning of the year, and then I go about researching the best way to go. 

"We may get a press rate at a hotel, or a guide through the tourist office, but almost everything else is full price. (I don't eat gourmet meals very often ... well, ever.) Still, we are always weighing the bang for the buck."

German trip

Schensul's e-mail to JimRomenesko.com appeared after a Sept. 13 Eye on The Record post said she had betrayed readers by taking a free press trip to a German shipyard, where two mega cruise ships are being built for Royal Caribbean.

(At least one Eye on The Record reader pointed out the post was accurate since the trip was "free" to Schensul herself.)

It's unclear why The Record's Travel section doesn't have a standing box telling readers the paper pays for Schensul's trips, similar to the statement that appears with every restaurant review.

More questions

And her e-mail raises a couple of unresolved questions:

When Schensul negotiates a "press rate" -- a preferential rate that isn't available to readers -- shouldn't she say so?

Do the hotels, cruise lines and so forth expect something in return for giving The Record a break on the price?

Also, even though the Times is far bigger than The Record, it seems to have more financial problems, announcing this week a reduction of 100 newsroom staffers.

Why can't The Record pay the full price for trips and require freelancers to do so as well?

'Good fit'?

And I am puzzled why Schensul regards a lavishly promotional story on two new Royal Caribbean cruise ships -- each of which can hold 4,180 passengers -- as "a good fit" for readers, the vast majority of whom are older and wouldn't be caught dead trapped on a vessel with hundreds of noisy kids.

For another story, she left her "Berlin: 25th Anniversary of the Fall of the Wall" press group to go on a tour that allowed her to drive one of the world's unsafest cars in East Berlin.

Her story described the Trabants as "adorably boxy little polluters."

Was that story "a good fit" for readers?

A good editor

When I worked at The Record, Schensul edited my freelance Travel cover story, "Many Faces of Cuba," which appeared on March 26, 2000.

The story was the first full-length account of traveling in Cuba by a newsroom staffer, but took more than a year to get into the paper, because of opposition by the chief editor.

I found Schensul to be a good editor.

But the question remains: Why hasn't she visited and written about Cuba since then?

Today's paper

The front page today is dominated by a Mike Kelly column rehashing a 1996 suicide bombing in Israel -- all to promote a book he wrote on the incident.

The man has no shame.

Today's column is no different than every other piece he has written about 9/11, the downing of Pan Am 103 and so forth and so on (A-1).

Another columnist, Charles Stiles, looks ahead three years to the next gubernatorial election in 2017, helping the paper keep the focus off of the miserable job Governor Christie is doing now (A-1).

Editor Martin Gottlieb even commissioned a rare Page 1 profile of a federal judge, Esther Salas, who tickled his fancy by sentencing Teresa and Joe Giudice -- aka Mr. and Mrs. Bimbo -- to federal prison for fraud (A-1).

Local yokels

No Hackensack, Teaneck or Englewood news appears in today's Local section.

A story on L-1 says a dump truck fell "several feet into the pavement," but the accompanying photo shows more than half the truck below the surface of the parking lot.

Sweet spot

From the title, The Corner Table column in Better Living sounds like it should be dealing with local restaurant issues (BL-1).

But Staff Writer Elisa Ung's sweet tooth continues to lead her far astray, as today's column headline shows:

"Modern doughnuts reach North Jersey" 

On BL-2, the section promotes " a toasted marshmallow ice cream dessert," which I'm sure will be a big hit with diabetics and readers watching their weight and cholesterol.

Selective editing

Saturday's front page was dominated by high school football, falling unemployment and yet another story about Joe Giudice, who isn't a U.S. citizen.

The selective editing the paper employs on just about every Christie story appears to be affecting other issues.

Saturday's Page 1 story on The Valley Hospital suing the Ridgewood Planning Board fails to mention the hospital wants to expand within the existing borders of its campus.

As such, the omission appears to be slanting the story in favor of nearby residents who oppose the expansion.

Road Warrior Columnist John Cichowski's byline appears over a news story on the NJ Transit payroll (Saturday's A-3).

Garrett ducks debate

On Saturday's Local front, a story by Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson refers to Roy Cho, who is challenging Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, in the 5th District, as a "Hackensack Democrat."

Later, on Saturday's A-6, Cho's full name appears in connection with word Garrett refused to attend the only major debate scheduled in Bergen County.

The Tea Party icon pulled out of the Ridgewood debate after "the coalition of sponsors had been widened to include African-American groups and the League of Women Voters," according to the story.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, The Star-Ledger published an editorial, "Scott Garrett -- a champion of fiction, not disaster control," in reference to the Republican's initial opposition to $50 billion in federal Sandy relief aid.

The Record didn't even mention Garrett's opposition in a Page 1 column last Monday, and no editorial has condemned the six-term congressman for a mailer that claimed he "worked to bring immediate relief to Sandy victims."

Slain black Paterson teen gets the back of Marty's hand

The Oritani Field Club on East Camden and River streets in Hackensack will close at the end of 2015, and face the wrecking ball to make way for apartments or another type of development. On Thursday morning, four elderly men used the clay tennis courts, below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Far be it for me to second-guess you, oh great Martin Gottlieb, whose cub-reporting years at The Record launched a stellar journalism career at The New York Times.

But, Marty, now that you've traded Paris for Paramus as editor of The Record for close to three years, what's going on with your cockamamie news judgment?

Do worthless white trash -- Joe Giudice isn't even a U.S. citizen -- really have more news value than the hundreds of people and 14 police motorcycle officers who turned out for the funeral of an innocent 14-year-old girl who was gunned down on Paterson's violent streets?

Greed party

On Page 1, Marty, you show the cheating and lying Giudices in a large photo after they were sentenced to federal prison, and a column by Virginia Rohan speculates on the future of "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" (A-1).

You've allowed Rohan and her assignment editors to make the couple a huge spectacle in numerous stories in recent years, many of which appeared in the Local news section in place of legitimate news.

Rohan even refers to the woman as "Teresa," a newspaper style no-no. First names are reserved for teenagers and children.

Why not just call Teresa Giudice "bimba" and her husband "bimbo"? In the news story and column, I can't even find the name of the town where they live in a $3.9 million McMansion.

Nor is much made of the bimba being allowed to remain free until January.

No respect

Then, Marty, you make us question your highfalutin journalism credentials with photos showing the incredible turnout outside St. Luke Baptist Church in Paterson, and the grief shown by the family of Nazareh Bugg, 14, who was shot dead two weeks ago.

Why are these photos on the Local front and L-6, and not on the front page? 

Who could help but be moved to tears by the stricken look on the face, presumably, of Nazareh's mother as she is being helped out of the church?

For some reason, none of the relatives are identified in the photo captions. 

And you've got to love the Paterson police, the mayor and the white police director for pulling out all the stops for the girl's funeral, but doing little to prevent her death or the shooting death of another girl who had so much promise, Genesis Rincon, 12, on July 5.

Christie and pigs

Governor Christie's travels as head of the Republican Governors Association merit front-page play today, but his mistreatment of pigs is buried in a brief on A-3.

Last year, the GOP bully wallowed in manure as he vetoed the first attempt to regulate the size of crates for housing pregnant pigs on New Jersey farms "after political groups from Iowa ... applied pressure on the governor," the story reports.

Now, an Assembly committee has passed a second bill to address the cruelty of crates that are too small to allow pregnant pigs to turn around (A-3).

Three more embarrassing corrections appear on A-2 today.

Can she write?

Another story on A-3 raises a question about whether Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno can sign or veto bills as acting governor now that she has broken her elbow and wrist in a bicycle accident.

And if her injuries prevent her from signing bills into law, who can? The story doesn't address any of those issues.

Wouldn't it be great if her broken elbow and wrist meant that Senate President Stephen Sweeney or whomever is second in line as acting governor swiftly enacted a hike in the gasoline tax, a tax surcharge on millionaires and other measures to restore the state's economic health?

Ung strikes back

Well, there is plenty of room for Staff Writer Elisa Ung to turn around in her Woodland Park newsroom cubicle and in all of those restaurants she reviews.

But if you keep her waiting for a slice of pie, look out, as the owner and chef of Brigantine Seafood Eatery & Market found out today, when he got a lukewarm 2-star rating (BL-18).

Ung was upset, because on a busy Friday night, the service was slow, and she didn't get her Key lime pie until "almost two hours" after she and her companion sat down.

She sampled two appetizers and three entrees at that meal, but one of the prices is missing, more evidence of sloppy editing and proofing. 

On her first visit, she was upset her peach pie wasn't served warm.

You have to pity the woman, don't you?

The restaurant is "no frills," "bare bones" and "plain," and horrors, doesn't even use tablecloths, Ung reports, so she doesn't think the prices are justified by the fresh, wild-caught seafood served or the generous portions.

She describes "scallops" for $26.95, yet doesn't say how many she was served or whether they were those wonderful, large sea scallops landed in New Jersey.

From her description of the seafood and high level of preparation by Chef Alfred Ianniello, Brigantine Seafood Eatery is a must-visit for people who love fish.

Sadly, her obsession for artery clogging desserts blinds her to that simple truth.

Hackensack news

Hackensack Chronicle reports the City Council and Board of Education have agreed on having two police officers, one to patrol the high school and the other the middle school, until the 2018-19 school year.

The district has agreed to pay about $170,000 a year, and $60,000 to purchase and equip two patrol cars, the weekly newspaper says.

In today's edition, News Editor Jennifer Vazquez reports the agreement was approved at a Sept. 16 meeting, but I don't recall seeing the story in The Record.

Previously, the school district refused to pay $1 million for a school resource officer who was assigned to the high school starting in 2006, because city bureaucrats never sent out the bills.

Christie's big mass-transit screw-up is back in the news

Crowding in the NJ Transit waiting room at Penn Station in New York, above; delays and the stampede to get a seat on the train, below, are likely to get worse now that Amtrak will be closing two tunnels longer than before to repair damage from Superstorm Sandy nearly two years after corrosive saltwater flooded them.

Even if rail commuters could take an NJ Transit bus back to North Jersey, the antiquated Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan couldn't accommodate them. That terminal is hopelessly gridlocked weekday afternoons, when home-bound commuters face huge delays, with little relief in sight.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

In the four years since Governor Christie scrapped two new Hudson River rail tunnels, crowding on trains and buses, and traffic congestion have only gotten worse.

But until recently, The Record has largely ignored problems with the region's mass-transit system, following an agenda set by Christie himself.

Now, The Record reports, Amtrak says it will have to close two existing tunnels longer than before to repair damage from Superstorm Sandy, aggravating delays faced by thousands of NJ Transit riders at Penn Station in Manhattan (A-1).

Today's story reviews the October 2010 decision, noting the GOP bully exaggerated the potential cost overruns he cited when he killed the tunnel project, according to the non-partisan Government Accountability Office (A-6).

The new tunnels would have accommodated more trains, and provided more seats for commuters.

The story by transportation reporter Christopher Maag doesn't explain why it took Amtrak nearly two years to determine Sandy damage is far worse than initially thought.

Maag reports closing the tunnels for "additional hours every week ... will mean fewer trains and longer waits for [rail] commuters," but he doesn't mention existing delays or standing room only on rush-hour trains.

Tunnel vision

Even though Christie diverted hundreds of millions from the cancelled tunnels to road projects, Democrats are still having trouble getting behind a hike in the gasoline tax to revitalize the state's Transportation Trust Fund (A-3).

In an interview with The Record, Senate President Stephen Sweeney wouldn't commit himself to a method for raising the $2 billion he wants to spend on transportation annually, including extending light rail service to Englewood.

And it doesn't sound like Staff Writer John Reitmeyer asked Sweeney point blank whether he supported a gas-tax hike, which, basically, means drivers would pay to repair the roads and bridges they use every day.

The Record's editorial writers also haven't backed an increase in what is the nation's second-lowest levy, one that hasn't been raised "in more than two decades" (A-3).

News judgment?

When irate customers complained Ramsey luxury car dealer Afzal "Bobby" Kahn sold their cars on consignment and didn't pay them or that they didn't get title to the cars they bought from him, the story was buried inside Local.

Now that the son of Pakistani immigrants has hired a lawyer to "help sort through the complaints and make things right," the story is played on Page 1 today.

Shouldn't the front page be reserved for successful resolution of Kahn's alleged cons? 

Other car dealers

Don't hold your breath for The Record to expose unscrupulous practices at the full-line car dealers in North Jersey, a major source of North Jersey Media Group's ad revenue.

The Woodland Park daily apparently has no plans to replace long-time consumer columnist Kevin DeMarrais, who retired in March.

Hackensack news

A story on the Local front today reports the Upper Main Alliance is "a group of 153 property owners representing 375 businesses along Main Street" (L-1).

But Staff Reporter Todd South doesn't point out the property owners hope to profit tremendously from the downtown Hackensack redevelopment they have been pushing for a decade.

Now, the group says it is ready to spend $20,000 or more for a consultant "to kick start the creation of a local arts team."

That contrasts with the group's recent refusal to contribute to the creation of open space on Atlantic Street, replacing city owned parking lots with a park and amphitheater.

Animal editors ignore humans in our 'suburban jungle'

Spotted on Cortland Place, near Newcomb Road, in Tenafly after 8 on Sunday morning.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's editors seem obsessed with animals, the original inhabitants of our "suburban jungle," if you accept the phrase used in a clever Page 1 headline on Monday.

But the sad truth is readers can't bear all of this hype about critters displaced by development in North Jersey -- a story the paper seems to cover ever few years, starting way back in the 1980s (A-1 today and Monday).

Editors go wild 

"Suburbia is growing more wild," Staff Writer James M. O'Neill claimed in Monday's takeout.

But that's contradicted by the A-1 photo caption and sub-headline, both of which report some species are disappearing or are "virtually extinct."

Today's front page holds little interest for the human residents of North Jersey.

And the humans who work at the Woodland Park daily still struggle with preventing error from getting into the paper, especially in the Road Warrior column.

Two more embarrassing corrections appear on A-2 today.

Insulting women

Then, you turn to the Local front today, and wonder why a bloc of female lawmakers calling for financial penalties against the National Football League was deemed less important than another bear running loose in Ridgewood (L-1).

Indeed, some professional athletes have been treating girlfriends, spouses and children like so many footballs.

But sports-loving Editor Marty Gottlieb doesn't seem to notice or care.

Dissing commuters

What is the point or relevance to North Jersey commuters of the Road Warrior column on comedian Tracy Morgan not wearing his seat belt before a truck slammed into his limo van on the New Jersey Turnpike in June (L-1)?

Was Morgan's friend, James McNair, wearing his seat belt? If so, it didn't prevent his death.

The local assignment editors again rely on Law & Order news to flesh out their thin section today (L-1, L-2, L-3 and L-6).

Second look

Staff Writer John Cichowski's Sunday column was filled with numerous errors as he attempted to report on a poll about unsafe driving behavior, according to the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

"The Road Warrior reported that a Rutgers-Eagleton poll indicated that 81% of drivers over 64 considered driving while eating, drinking and cellphone yakking to be very unsafe -- a much higher rate than drivers 18 to 29 (45%), drivers 30 to 49 (50%), and drivers 50 to 64 (58%).

"Road Warrior's cited survey statistics were only for talking on a hand-held cell phone. There was different statistics for talking on hands-free cell phones, as well as for eating or drinking."

Cichowski also was wrong on whether driving fatalities are rising: 

"The Road Warrior indicated that the perceptions of New Jersey residents that road safety is improving is wrong because Garden State driving fatalities are rising.

"Residents’ perceptions are correct since fatalities have decreased over the previous four years and the past decade. While fatalities are higher in 2014 than 2013, it is because road fatalities reached a record low in 2013."

For the blow-by-blow on a reporter who is setting a record for inaccuracy, see:

Readers Poll: Get rid of error-prone Road Warrior

Restaurant expose?

I agree that Claire Insalata Poulos, founder and president of the 15-year-old Table to Table, is doing important work by collecting fresh restaurant leftovers to feed the hungry, but why does this Better Living cover story go on and on (BL-1)?

If you bother plowing through all the testimonials, Poulos sounds like she is ready for sainthood (BL-1 and BL-6).

Poulos is a natural for the work; her name "Insalata" means "salad" in Italian.

But in general, shouldn't Food Editor Esther Davidowitz be writing more about restaurants and consumers?

Instead, she makes multimillionaire celebrity chefs and restaurant owners like Mario Batali, Drew Nierporent and Emeril Lagasse seem like such swell guys for donating food they had been throwing away for decades.

Garrett blinders

On Monday, The Record published a Page 1 column on Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, and his opponent in the Nov. 4 election, but failed to report the arch-conservative initially opposed spending $50 billion for Superstorm Sandy aid.

On Tuesday's A-6, Columnist Herb Jackson was outed by the campaign of challenger Roy Cho, a Hackensack attorney.

The six-term Republican's reelection campaign, it turns out, sent out a postcard claiming "Scott Garret worked to bring immediate relief to Sandy victims."