View from The Record's news copy desk

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Editor's note: Former Record staffer Aaron Elson posted these comments on the Editor & Publisher blog that reported the existence of  "Eye on The Record."

I always look forward to Victor's "Eye on The Record" blog. As a former copy editor with 20 years at The Record, who was arguably one of their best headline writers, I was "restructured" out of a job in 2008. The Record long ago abandoned its core readership, as Victor rightly often points out.

For the last decade, the copy desk was treated as a second-class department by editors who coddle reporters. I can recall the first newsroom meeting held to introduce Editor Frank Scandale. He emphasized his sense of humor. After that until the day I left, the Record newsroom was the most humorless place I ever worked, including the New York Post during the exodus after it was bought by Rupert Murdoch. 

Come to think of it, in retrospect, that was a pretty humorous time. Does anybody remember the famous front page headline "Baby born without mother!"?

I've told Victor he should break a story now and then, as Jerry [DeMarco] often does, to illustrate The Record's blind eye to its three premier towns of Hackensack, Englewood and Teaneck. It would be easy enough to do. He prefers to critique the paper instead. That's okay with me.