Editors reflect North Jersey's ingrained racism

A multi-car collision in the center lane, above, slowed northbound Garden State Parkway traffic to a crawl on Friday evening. Traffic was unusually light, so speeding, tailgating or aggressive driving might have triggered the crashes. Once past the wreckage, many drivers accelerated to 20 mph or more over the 55 mph speed limit or resumed racing and cutting off each other.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor


The Record today provides North Jersey reaction to  President Obama's personal remarks about racism and violence -- his first extensive statement since a Florida jury cleared George Zimmerman in the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager (A-1).

But the Woodland Park daily has always kept readers in the dark about the diversity of its own newsroom.

It wasn't very diverse when I left in May 2008, and I doubt Publisher Stephen A. Borg has bothered to recruit many minority editors or reporters since then.

Newsroom massacre

Who could forget how then-Editor Francis "Frank" Scandale fired the paper's only black and Hispanic columnists, and demoted its only female news columnist, when the paper was still in Hackensack.

They were never replaced. A Hispanic reporter also left when Scandale was editor.

For many years, Miguel Perez, the Hispanic columnist, was derided as "El Excremente" by veteran news copy editor Ed Reiter, who is now retired.

Cuba no!

At one time, The Record had so few reporters who were fluent in Spanish, it was forced into making the bad choice of assigning Perez and another rabidly anti-Castro reporter to cover stories about Cuba and their impact on North Jersey's exile community.

I'm sure The Record's policy of requiring letter writers to provide their names and phone numbers is the only reason we haven't seen some readers expressing their joy over the verdict in the slaying of Trayvon Martin.

This blog received one anonymous comment -- "GREAT VERDICT" -- which I am publishing just now.

I've routinely received anonymous e-mails from a wealthy Saddle River resident, dumping on Paterson, Hackensack and other communities with minority populations.

Suicide coverage

The Record doesn't routinely cover suicides, so it's no surprise the editors are having a hard time explaining the death of former Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy, who shot himself in the head on Wednesday (today's Local front and Friday's Page 1).

Today's story names Fahy's wife and mother, and reports he has 9 siblings, but apparently no reporter has attempted to interview any of them.

In fact, none of the stories has explored whether Fahy was having marital, financial or serious health problems.

Friday's A-1 story about Fahy was especially bad -- from the "Death out of the blue" headline to several bewildering paragraphs contrasting his beautiful home to the littered underpass where his body was found (A-8).

Who edited this story? Was it head Assignment Guru Deirdre Sykes? And what drone on the copy desk handled it?

The lead parapgrah says, "Jay Fahy left his home Wednesday afternoon, carrying a piece of paper and a gun."

The "piece of paper" is never mentioned again, even though the story goes on and on. The underpass where his body was found is called a "bridge" in the A-8 photo caption.

Other news

Also on Page 1 today, a federal jury had the good sense to convict a sexual abuser who blamed the victim. Bawar Aksal of North Bergen was found guilty of molesting a New Jersey woman as she slept in the airplane seat next to him.

The photo caption on A-4 today leaves readers guessing about why commuters are using paper fans in the Secaucus Junction waiting room.

Friday's paper

As usual, the Road Warrior column on Friday was filled with e-mails from clueless readers, most of whom sound delusional (L-1).

A state police ticket blitz on major highways? Silver Alerts that produce traffic backups? They are pure fiction.

Hackensack news

Also on Friday's L-1, Staff Writer Hannan Adely reports for the first time on Hackensack Police Director Mike Mordaga's quality of life initiative.

During the heat wave, a trio of officers are out, ensuring the safety and hydration of the many homeless who gravitate to the county homeless shelter on South River Street, where they can get three free meals a day. 

Mordaga took over in February, accelerating the number of arrests and moving violations; pairing county sheriff's officers and city cops on crime patrols; and calling on Hackensack University Medical Center to staff the homeless shelter.

But The Record's editors have tried to ignore the initiatives.

The reason might be the hundreds of thousands of dollars the editors spent financing two fruitless investigations of Mordaga, who was a decorated Hackensack cop and onetime chief of detectives at the county Prosecutor's Office.

Movie mania 

Better Living's Friday entertainment tabloid continues to devote a huge amount of space to movies the majority of readers won't ever leave the house to see.

The detailed coverage of all of the crap being churned out by Hollywood comes at the expensive of restaurant reviews, which get much less space than before.

In Friday's Eating Out on $50 review, freelancer Jeff Page reports the owner of Riviera Lebanese Cafe believes that "Syrian and Lebanese cuisines are pretty much identical."

Gee, Jeff. Could that be because the two countries were once part of the same French mandate?

Hackensack Chronicle

Friday's Hackensack Chronical reported the ousting of school trustee Kevon Larkins -- without exploring the ulterior motives of the Zisa family allies who rule the Board of Education.

The sub-headline on Page 1 says, "Board seeks new replacement" [italics added].

Second look

On July 9, The Record ran a front-page Road Warrior column that appeared to describe the mayhem caused by the no-cash policy on the GWB's  lower level after 11 p.m.

But in lashing back at a reader on July 17, Staff Writer John Cichowski called the confused drivers a "distinct minority," contradicting his sky-is-falling scenario.

See the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers for a concerned reader's e-mail to the editors, detailing Cichowski's hype and exaggeration, and his  insults to those who challenge him: 

John Cichowski: Never mind