Image by birdphone via FlickrI am searching the Page 1 story on hospitals seeking new sites for expansion, and wondering which genius among the editors at The Record of Woodland Park came up with this lame story idea. Anything to avoid running legitimate news.
Is the former Hackensack daily trying to broker a deal between protesters and The Valley Hospital (photo), which wants to expand on its Ridgewood site? Or to be cynical, are the Borgs trying to unload their nearly 20 acres along the Hackensack River to get the hospital out of residents' hair? After all, Publisher Stephen A. Borg is on the hospital's council.
Does anyone recall a similar story when Hackensack Medical Center expansion plans ran into stiff community opposition?
What relevance to densely populated Bergen County is there in the experiences of hospitals in the Voorhees, Hopewell and Princeton areas? Or is this another example of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes neglecting basic coverage of Hackensack, Teaneck and Englewood, so one of her pals, Staff Writer Mary Jo Layton, can spend a week or more on a flawed story? How about better coverage of the BP catastrophe?
Another A-1 story, on whether Governor Christie is packing town hall meetings with supporters, made me laugh, because he doesn't have to do so in North Jersey, where he has fawning Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin in his corner on nearly every issue.
Isn't Doblin in a sticky situation writing favorable opinion columns about Christie budget cuts, then approving, and possibly writing, editorials that review the governor's policies? Has any other editorial page editor before Alfie done both? Shame on you.
Are readers more interested in the ending of oyster cultivation in the polluted Hackensack River (A-1), or in what growers in cleaner, southern New Jersey waters are doing to replace Louisiana oysters devastated by the BP disaster in the Gulf?
Does Columnist Mike Kelly (L-1) expect us to feel sorry for all those greedy investors who fell for Bernie Madoff's scam, then paid taxes to the state on profits that never existed? How about writing about real victims for a change?
In Sunday's Local section, an L-3 story on Harrington Park kids was written by Mark J. Bonamo, identified as "staff writer." In The Hackensack Chronicle on Friday, Bonamo wrote the front-page story and was identified as "managing editor." Which is it? Surely, the answer lies with Mother Hen Deirdre, who likely favored covering this story about her hometown.
Hey, it makes a lot of sense for the old Record building to become a part of Valley Hospital. The place used to be a trauma center every time annual reviews were given, and there were plenty of head cases in the executive suite.
ReplyDeleteHow true!
ReplyDeleteMisspelling Hackensack in the last paragraph really does a disservice to the people you're attempting to stick up for.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the dailies don't give a shit about the weeklies, even though the two have become slightly-uncomfortable bed buddies with the consolidation. So Mr. Bonamo's weekly title doesn't been bupkis.
My blog has fewer typos than the paper or the comments I receive.
ReplyDeleteAw, kwitcher bellyachin' about typos, all of ya's. The discovery and correction of typographical errors is a highly paid craft. Almost as highly paid as drawing draw lines, er, excuse me, pagination. Nobody's paying Victor to do this blog, so as far as I'm concerned,they're his typos and he can do with 'em as he pleases.
ReplyDeletehey anonymous, get off his case about the typos. big deal. this isn't the New Yorker.
ReplyDeleteVictor goes on and on with the same points...sometimes valid, sometimes like beating a horse to death. But if he's gonna shit on others for mistakes big or small, he's gotta hear it too when he goofs. I could personally care less that he misspelled Hackensack, but found it quite funny given his continual points on the city in this blog. Lighten up, Francis.
ReplyDeleteMy blog is attracting a lot of new readers, so my repeating stuff has a purpose. It's called back-grounding. As for typos, they are inevitable with only one set of tired eyes reading the posts.
ReplyDeleteFrancis?
ReplyDeleteYeah. Stumps me, too. Could be a JerryD comment or not.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - it's "couldn't care less", not "could care less". Sheesh.
ReplyDeletePeriods and commas go inside quotation marks. And that should be an em dash. Sheesh.
ReplyDeleteOK. Let's settle down, everyone.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't care less/could care less. Omigosh! Corny is reading this blog. He must want to have his cake and eat it too.
ReplyDeleteThere you pompous Americans go again, presuming that everyone must live by your rules. Here in England, the periods and commas are placed logically, not conventionally. You took our language, ruined it, and now expect everyone to conform to your rules! I couldn't care less about your opinion. Cheers.
ReplyDeleteEye on the Record has a global readership? Who woulda thunk it?
ReplyDeleteOh no! Now Tony Heyward is reading it too.
ReplyDelete