This paper is filled with hot air

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 Saturday, July 24, 2010

The over line for the pretty color photo that anchors Page 1 of The Record of Woodland Park today -- HOT AIR EVERYWHERE, NOT JUST INSIDE BALLOONS -- must be an inside joke from the news copy editors on Editor Frank "Castrato" Scandale. It's a clear reference to such blowhard columnists as Mike Kelly, John Cichowski, Bill Ervolino and Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin.


There's a lot of political corruption news on A-1 and inside today. If ex-Democratic boss Joseph Ferriero's conviction is set aside and he is tried again, you can be sure he will continue to pay exorbitant legal fees, raising an issue that is rarely addressed by the newspaper -- access to the courts.


An editorial on A-11 today bemoans Governor Christie's budget cuts, which will deny legal services to thousands of low-income state residents. The editorial makes no mention of how much pro bono, or free, work is done by New Jersey lawyers, but it is probably not worth mentioning. Still, reporters assigned to courthouses seem intent on hiding legal fees, which can bar access to the courts for middle-class residents, too. Their stories on multimillion dollar jury awards or settlements routinely ignore how the lawyers involved can collect up to a third of that money, in addition to any fees.

In Local, a story on L-2 reports Englewood teachers have a new contract -- after two years of negotiations and protests. Staff Writer Giovanna Fabiano doesn't mention if teachers will get extra pay for working in a segregated system. 


There is no Teaneck news, but L-1 carries a story by Nick Clunn on rent concessions and other arrangements for those evicted from the Prospect Avenue high-rise in Hackensack, where the parking garage collapsed. Apparently, Hackensack reporter Monsy Alvarado must have been exhausted from having to work on the story for a solid week -- in contrast to how little she has written in the last few years -- and is getting much needed rest, probably under orders from head Assignment Editor Deirdre "Mother Hen" Sykes.


It's a good thing the photographers were busy Friday to provide filler for the space left empty by loafing assignment editors and reporters. Staff Photographer Tariq Zehawi has not one, not two, but three traffic-accident photos with text (L-2, L-3 and L-6) -- two of them overturned vehicles, his specialty.

(Photo: Woodland Park, Colorado.)