Letting readers eat journalism cake

Curbs along Euclid Avenue, near Prospect Avenue, in Hackensack are being repaired in anticipation of what longtime residents say is the first complete repaving of the  Fairmount section street since 1979.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

In a single story on the front page of The Record today, Staff Writer Karen Rouse has managed to say more about the English sport of cricket than she has in the past few years about the rush-hour ordeal of using mass transit -- her beat.

Maybe, Editor Marty Gottlieb and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes are trying to make amends for portraying Jamaicans and other minority Paterson residents as little more than drug dealers, prostitutes and greedy public officials.

The feature story -- complete with photos and a large graphic that tries to explain cricket rules (A-1 and A-6) -- undercuts my argument that if you're a minority, the only way to get on Page 1 of The Record is to break the law.

A story about cricket appears in The Record once every 5 years or so. Most readers would be content if that was once every 50 years.

GOP failures

Also on Page 1 today is a political column about two Republicans seeking their party's nomination to run against Newark Mayor Cory Booker for the U.S. Senate.

Both Alieta Eck, a physician from Somerset, and Steve Lonegan, the conservative crackpot from tiny Bogota, oppose the federal health-care overhaul, dooming their candidacies to failure (A-1).

Meanwhile, Booker is unveiling a plan to curb childhood poverty nationally (A-3) -- countering Republicans like Lonegan and Governor Christie who cater to the elite.

The Record's editors continue to promote their love and support for Christie, leaving it to readers to cut through all of the political B.S. and expose what a miserable failure he is as governor.

Telling it like it is

In "YOUR VIEWS" on A-11, Dianne Douthat of Wayne notes "business subsidies have skyrocketed" under Christie, but "New Jersey's unemployment rate is still the sixth-highest in the nation, and we rank 47th in economic growth."

In other words, New Jersey may be "Stronger Than The Storm," but good luck finding a job here.

In another letter to the editor on A-11, Paul White of Ridgewood comments on a column by Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin:

"The column continues Doblin's willingness to overlook the governor's poor behavior and his politics favoring the elite," White says.

Crumbling reporter

Readers get a break today from Roads Scholar John Cichowski, whose Sunday column was the 84th containing reporting problems since Sept. 12, 2012, according to a concerned reader:

"In his July 7 column, the Road Warrior endangers vehicle drivers and N.J. residents with his mistaken analysis about efforts to fix road infrastructure based on the Reason Foundation report on performance of U.S. state highway systems.

"Road Warrior has become a dangerous menace to everyone with his legendary incompetence and ability to misinform readers about results and conclusions of valid studies based on his own made-up information and invalid assessments.

"Unfortunately, the overwhelming consensus of road infrastructure and safety experts is that restraint in spending is not innovative and is irresponsible governance, threatens the state economy and our safety, and will greatly exacerbate more congestion, deterioration of our roads and bridges, and damages to our vehicles."

See the full e-mail to unresponsive management and editors on the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

Look out for that bumbling reporter