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| Delays common to many criminal proceedings have become major news in The Record's blanket coverage of suspended Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa's trial. |
The Good Friday edition of The Record isn't very good for readers.
Editor Marty Gottlieb and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes appear to have scrambled for legitimate news and struck out -- again.
Many readers will simply pass over the dull stories on Page 1. But they won't find much else to read elsewhere in today's edition.
Just look at the A-1 headlines:
"Inflated SAT scores," "Soaring sales of pain pills," "Latest airport breach forces evacuation" and "Two more gift card providers will stop selling in N.J."
The front-page photo is a real yawner: Opening Day for the Mets.
This is niche journalism, pitched at small segments of the readership.
The vast majority of readers simply don't give a shit about these minor -- very minor -- slices of life or the Woodland Park daily's doomsday predictions.
In the front-page column of briefs, a photo of Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg was inadvertently substituted for Charles Manson.
Zisaville trial
The headlines on the front of Sykes' Local news section today hint at what readers are going through:
The coverage of the Ken Zisa criminal trial in Hackensack has turned "into a test of patience" for readers, who were hit with stories nine days before testimony began this week (L-1).
The latest delay is due to the illness of defense attorney Patricia Prezioso. A photo of her with Zisa, the suspended Hackensack police chief, shows teased Jersey Girl hair (L-6).
Despite the dated headline on jury selection, coverage of the Zisa official misconduct trial in today's Hackensack Chronicle fills in a lot of the holes in The Record's stories.
Prezioso, for example, is quoted in The Chronicle as saying she is not being paid by the city to defend Zisa -- unlike the $700,000-plus going to the lawyer defending the errant chief from civil suits.
And The Chronicle reports Zisa and onetime girlfriend Kathleen Tiernan turned down two plea offers from the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office.
Another dead end
Road Warrior John Cichowski has yet another column about drivers 16 to 34 (L-1).
Cichowski's survey rewrites -- which he has done for years to avoid doing original reporting -- are "getting old" -- very old.
Sykes and her lazy, incompetent flunkies on the assignment desk came up with so little local news she had to run three weather photos (L-2, L-3 and L-7).
Gut check
In Better Living, Staff Writer Elisa Ung serves another tepid restaurant review, this time for M & E Caruso's Ristorante in Totowa.
She recommends only four dishes at the 2-star BYO with "gut-busting portions," and two of them are desserts.
Whose "gut" is she referring to? Certainly not hers. Her stomach has been stretched and stretched by all the artery clogging dessert she consumes every week.
Blinded by the sun
Travel Editor Jill Schensul's April 1 cover story on the new Revel Resort and Casino in Atlantic City was an April Fool's joke on readers who might want to stay there.
She goes on and on, but never divulges room rates.
Ramapo, one of the area's most important colleges and one that many Record readers send their kids to inflates its SAT average, and you don't think that's a story????
ReplyDeleteAs I said in the post, not for Page 1, which should have the widest appeal possible.
ReplyDeleteIt's clear the editors didn't have any real news for the front page on Friday.
Patrica Prezioso works for the lawfirm M.A.R.C that also defends NJMG....
ReplyDeletePlease tell everyone what MARC stands for.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, her firm's relationship with North Jersey Media Group isn't the only connection between the Ken Zisa trial and NJMG.
Superior Court Judge Joseph Conte is personally acquainted with Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg, and when Mac was in Conte's courtroom in April 2010, they reminisced about a ceremony on the courthouse steps both had attended.
Conte also suggested Mac go see Assignment Judge Peter Doyne, saying Borg knew that judge's father.
Mr.Sasson,whats the relationship between Borgs and Doyne? Is there any documented proof of this? If so where? Thank You Victor.
DeleteWhile on holidays you need to maintain some safety measures as you can fall ill due to some unhygienic food or surroundings.
ReplyDelete_______________________
Shigella Food Poisoning Claim
All I know about Mac Borg and the elder Judge Doyne is what I wrote above.
ReplyDeleteI was reporting what I heard Judge Conte tell Mac.
Many years ago, in his private dining room at 150 River St. in Hackensack, Mac hosted such prominent officials as Stephen Berger, the new executive director of the Port Authority, who held that job from 1985 to 1990. I attended that lunch as the reporter covering the agency.
Did Mac invite judges to have lunch with him? Did he encounter them at courthouse ceremonies? I do not know.