Executives at German auto giant Volkswagen and Brazilian oil giant Petrobras undoubtedly are partying today to celebrate the priceless advertising their companies are getting on the front page of The Record of Woodland Park.
The companies' logo or name are shown in a big, color air-race photo with the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. What's next, an editorial urging President Obama to sell naming rights, transforming it into the Statue of Liberty Mutual? The motto: "Give me your poor, your tired, your uninsured masses...."
It's bad enough the photo gives the impression The Record's editors are for sale. But it raises another issue: Why do they entrust play of the most important stories of the day to a graphic artist whose news judgment is questionable?
For well over a decade, all of the paper's section fronts have been "designed" by graphic artists, who assign headline size and type, placement of stories on Page 1 and other fronts, and that all-important color photo, which must appear every day. If an important story doesn't have a great photo, it's shoved down to the bottom of the page or inside the paper.
You can see that today with the A-1 story on Governor Chistie's proposals to cut programs that help Hispanics who are unemployed, disabled and destitute -- in other words, more of the same kind of assault on the middle and working classes -- while preserving the wealth of the Borgs and other rich, white folks.
Another air-race photo appears on the front of Local, too. Again, that's because an artist has deemed that the front of every section has to have color photos. Look at the over-size photo with the column above that on the Court Street Bridge. Shouldn't editors be making these decisions?
Why is Road Warrior Columnist John Cichowski writing about restoration of the bridge? It's not a major commuter route to Hackensack, but when the bridge reopens in 2012, it will add immeasurably to the value of the Borgs' adjacent parcel -- nearly 20 acres along the Hackensack River -- former home of The Record and North Jersey Media Group.
I got a hoot out of Cichowski's line that "broadband allows journalists to roam freely." This from a columnist who spends hour after hour tethered to his Woodland Park newsroom computer, reading drivers' e-mails, and who leaves the office only to go home. When's the last time he rode the buses or trains that many of his readers rely on to get to work?
Besides design, the big color photos you see in today's paper serve another important function. They take up all the space the lazy editors and staff are simply unable to fill. There are what, 15 bylines of Record staffers in the entire paper today (not counting Sports)? What were the other reporters doing? What were the assignment editors doing? What were highly paid editors such as Frank Scandale and Deirdre "Mother Hen" Sykes doing? Laying eggs?
Where is news of Hackensack, Teaneck, Englewood and so many other towns among the 90 or so in the paper's circulation area?
Pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but John works out of Rockaway, and I have seen him leave and come back to the office at various times throughout the day and sometimes into the evening.
ReplyDeleteFor a paper whose former publisher is a recovering alcoholic, you'd think "buzz" references would be banned from headlines. And the overline on the air race, what did it say, "Red Bull air race gives viewers a buzz" was a gratuitous plug for Red Bull. Oh, I get it, Red Bull. Buzz. I hope whoever thought of that didn't pat himself on the back so hard that he fell forward and broke his nose.
ReplyDeleteSo the Road Warrior goes out to lunch, picks up his cleaning and does other errands near the office. I doubt he is checking out the quality of the mass transit his readers use, because his columns are so repetitive and devote themselves only to drivers' arcane questions, motor vehicle regulations, potholes and so forth.
ReplyDeleteI guess I overlooked the commercialism of Sunday's photo over line on the air race, but you are right, it's inappropriate imagery. The former publisher being a recovering alcoholic didn't stop his spoiled kids from investing in a wine bar in Englewood, but I guess they are trying to show how sophisticated and cultured they are. After all, Jennifer Borg was a student at the Sorbonne in Paris, and Stephen Borg now lives in a house far bigger than his Dad's. His company mortgage probably cost a lot of people their jobs at the paper, but what the hey.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't John Cichowski live in Morris County, possibly near the Rocakaway office where he works? He probably goes home for lunch and a long nap -- anything to avoid writing about mass transit. He may be the Road Warrior, but his readers are fighting boredom.
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