We get only half the story

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Could the front page get any more boring? "Recession took its toll on paychecks." That's not news, especially to the poor schmucks who reported, wrote, laid out and edited the story. "EnCap ... shows Trenton's ugly side." Is Columnist Charles Stile's spin on the latest corruption indictment really news?

The third story on Page 1 of The Record of Woodland Park today appears to be another chapter in the escalating war of words between Governor Christie and the teachers union over evaluation and tenure. But when you read it closely, you realize crucial information was left out of the story to  make the governor look good.

Of course, Staff Writer Leslie Brody includes the background that every good newspaper story contains, and introduces it this way: "The governor's announcement came as education reform has [been] catapulted into the national conversation." Sounds a little exaggerated to me.


But where is mention of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's own proposal just a couple of days ago for revising tenure rules for city teachers -- a plan that was endorsed by their union? That's just across the river. Where is mention of how Christie and his education aides blew $400 million in federal aid?


And when is the media going to acknowledge the "elephant in the room," as illustrated by the A-12 photo of Christie with his jacket off. When is The Record going to acknowledge that Editors Francis Scandale, Deirdre Sykes and others have deliberately ignored the obesity epidemic, to the detriment of readers?


On the front of Local, Staff Writer Merry Firschein reports that Fort Lee voters rejected an $81 million expansion plan for the schools. Let's hope she does a follow on whether the proposal was the victim of the recession or whether the negative votes of seniors were enough to overcome support by Korean and Japanese residents, who traditionally support education.


There is no municipal news from Hackensack or Englewood for yet another day, but Hackensack reporter Monsy Alvarado tells us the Middle School is raising $10,000 needed to send back to Africa the body of a 12-year-old boy killed by a train.

Alvarado, who wasn't involved in the initial coverage Sept. 22 and 23, is the first reporter to mention the district doesn't provide busing to students, including Caesar Muloki, who was walking along the unfenced tracks on Railroad Avenue when the NJ Transit train brushed him. 

But the paper has never taken the governor to task for his deep cuts in aid to NJ Transit -- money that could have been used to provide security guards at train stations and fences along Railroad Avenue in Hackensack and in other densely populated neighborhoods divided by tracks. 


In fact, Desk Warrior John "Limp Chick" Cichowski took glee in writing a column blaming pedestrians for getting killed and not the agency for its lack of safety measures. What a great journalist.


What is a Local section without breathless news about Harrington Park, the burg where head Assignment Editor Sykes lives? Check out the six-inch story on L-2 telling North Jersey readers that renovation of athletic fields will be finished by November. It'll be a great Thanksgiving for all.


The Record has struggled for years to get votes from night meetings into the next day's paper, as apparently it did today with the Teaneck Council's historic decision to merge the Police and Fire Departments -- a move that could work in two neighboring communities, Hackensack and Englewood, and save hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars. 

The story is on L-3, but it should be Page 1 news.

(Photo: Mayor Bloomberg of New York. His business news service employs former Record staffers.)