A titanic error in editorial judgment

An iceberg gashed the hull of the Titanic below the waterline.

I'm trying to imagine the conversation at the meeting where Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin approved the cartoon that appeared in The Record on Sunday (O-2).

For the 100th anniversary of the tragic sinking of the Titanic, Margulies the cartoonist shows a faceless, older couple looking at a large painting of the passenger ship as it was going down in the Atlantic.

In one of those bubbles, these words appear (woman to husband):

"Did they ever figure out exactly what the captain was texting at the time?"

Texting? What the F is the cartoonist thinking?  What bubble does he live in?

Is the death of more than 1,500 such a light topic that Margulies can bring up a total non-sequitur in a pathetic attempt at humor? 

Putz Prize

Keep in mind, this man won a number of prizes before and after he came to The Record in 1990, and his cartoons are syndicated all the over the United States. 

What does this ridiculous cartoon say about the  committees that give out the nation's most-coveted journalism prizes?

What does it say about Doblin?

This is a really lame attempt at making the sinking relevant to a nation of mostly young people who are walking and staring down at their smart phones, and texting so much that they have lost the ability to speak to each other.

Today's paper 

Except for the off-lead story on Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan, the rest of A-1 is pretty ho-hum.

Editor Marty Gottlieb gives readers another story on Marcantonio "Marc" Macri, the lawyer and municipal prosecutor who is charged with money laundering in connection with a marijuana-buying ring (A-1). 

The Record should be putting lawyers on Page 1 every day for charging ridiculously high hourly rates, which deny most people access to the courts.

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section offers readers even less than the front page.

Screwing Zisaville

Hackensack readers get another blow-by-blow account of testimony in the criminal trial of suspended Police Chief Ken Zisa (L-3).

Police Officer John Hermann testified that Zisa came to the rescue of the chief's drunk girlfriend after she drove his car into a pole in 2008.

The lead paragraph is incorrect in saying "former girlfriend." At the time of the accident, Kathleen Tiernan was reportedly living with Zisa.

The next day, according to Staff Writer Stephanie Akin, Zisa made it clear to Hermann that he should keep what he saw to himself.

"He said," Hermann testified, referring to Zisa, 'I just wanted to make you aware, I don't want anybody to know about this. There are only three people aware of this. And if it were ever to come back to me, I would know who to come see.'" 

Fill in the blanks

"When you cross Ken Zisa ... ," Hermann continued, before he was cut off by an objection from defense attorney Patricia Prezioso.

Of course, anyone who lives in Zisaville can complete that sentence.

Sykes and Akin have been so busy covering the Zisa trial, they didn't find time to report and write a story on the six candidates in today's school board election.

Were you planning to vote? Just close your eyes and punch a couple of buttons.