Image via WikipediaEight reporters, a columnist and two wire services. Those are the resources The Record of Woodland Park threw at the ridiculous story of Russian "spies" living in Montclair. Who the F cares? Was anyone compromised?
Then, to justify the effort, Editor Frank "Castrato" Scandale demanded half of the front page and more space inside to display the results.
So, for the second day in a row, the former Hackensack daily downplayed the impact of the new state budget, which affects just about every reader, especially if they're not as wealthy as the Borgs. Losers include homeowners, schools, towns, low-income workers and others. And where is news about the Gulf oil spill today?
The paper is famous for chasing stories -- and throwing resources at them -- without regard to reader interest, while ignoring essential local news from Hackensack, Teaneck, Englewood and other towns.
The most spectacular example is the vendetta head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes conducted against Michael Mordaga, former chief of detectives in the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office. "Mother Hen" Sykes ordered several reporters to devote nearly three years to the so-called investigation, but they couldn't come up with a story sound enough for Page 1. An estimated $500,000 in staff salaries were squandered to produce a single story on L-1 last Dec. 16.
On A-4 today, Staff Writer Lindy Washburn reports New Jersey has the second-highest rate of obesity among low-income 2- to 5-year-olds. That's not front-page news for the overwhelmingly white editors, who often turn their backs on minority communities in North Jersey.
Look at the pathetic Local section today. Road Warrior John Cichowski continues to be boring and repetitive with yet another column on decals for teen drivers. Also on the front is another detailed story about Ridgewood's downtown -- at least the third in the past year.
No such stories about Hackensack's downtown have appeared in that time, despite Main Street losing the business of hundreds of North Jersey Media Group employees scattered to the winds by Publisher Stephen A. Borg.
You won't find any Hackensack news in the paper today, but L-3 carries stories from Butler and West Milford. The proposed Hackensack budget and tax hike? Your guess is as good as mine.
Sykes has ordered Staff Writer Monsy Alvarado on a starvation diet of news for readers in the county seat, where the paper was founded in 1895 and where it prospered for more than 110 years.
If the black-dirt onions Food Editor Bill Pitcher praises in Better Living are indeed some of the best in the world, how about telling Bergen County readers where they can buy them closer to home than the West Milford farmers' market? And just how much do they cost?
Not everyone gets reimbursed for eating as you do, Bill, nor do they receive your inflated salary.
How about the A1 tease about the Cresskill Chief of Police who nursed a deer overnight (three weeks ago) after it was hit by a car. On A1?
ReplyDeleteAnd did you see how much space on the Local front that story was given? The editors are forced in their desperation to run stuff like this -- and run it big -- because the assignment desk is simply unable to inspire reporters to cover their towns. Productivity has plummeted since Publisher Stephen A. Borg OK'd Editor Frank Scandale's mobile journalist initiative, which gave reporters laptops and cell phones so they could stay out in the field covering stories. But some of those reporters spent hours at diners doing nothing or worked from home. I don't know whether the so-called mojos are still operating. Leaving the newsroom in Hackensack has also deprived the staff of a shared purpose.
ReplyDeleteBut. It is CHEAPER.
ReplyDeleteDo you see cutbacks in the personal lives of the Borgs or are the top editors taking a salary cut to preserve jobs?
ReplyDeleteActually, I think most of them were out hunting for a good slice of Neapolitan pizza.
ReplyDeletePersonal cutbacks? You must be kidding.
ReplyDelete