Media's focus on political conflict turns off voters

The clubhouse at Liberty National Golf Course in Jersey City.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

The shockingly low voter turnout in Wednesday's special U.S. Senate election -- less than 25 percent -- tells you one thing:

When The Record and other media devote big chunks of Page 1 to the rantings of radical U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and Tea Party crackpot Steve Lonegan, voters are turned off and don't even show up at the polls.

How many times during the government shutdown did Cruz claim "millions of Americans are being hurt" by the Affordable Care Act, and not a single reporter challenged the Canadian-born senator?

Booker victory

Today's front-page coverage of the election of Newark Mayor Cory Booker over Lonegan, 55 percent to 44 percent, was another close call for Democrats (A-1).

Readers who wonder how Lonegan got elected mayor of Bogota should meet a Teaneck woman who says she always finds the book she wants at the Bogota library, because no one in the town knows how to read.

But The Record has forgotten or ignores the $24 million Governor Christie squandered to keep Booker off of the Nov. 5 gubernatorial ballot, fearing the popular Democrat would help boost challenger Barbara Buono to victory.

Parents' plea

The Local front today is dominated by the campaign of  Emil and Manal Sous to get passage of a bill in the state Legislature dubbed "Michelle's Law" that would require drivers involved in fatal accidents to undergo blood and urine screenings for drugs and alcohol (L-1).

The driver of a car that struck and killed their daughter Michelle in front of her North Haledon home on March 17 was never charged with a crime or even issued a summons.

The parents' campaign seems reasonable, but The Record has for years reported pedestrian fatalities without ever asking whether criminal laws should be revised to make a driver pay for killing someone.

On too many occasions, drivers tell police they "didn't see" the pedestrian, and survivors have only civil lawsuits as recourse.

Bikes, not equality

On L-2 today, a story reports that Englewood is asking the state for money to install bicycle lanes city officials hope will lure cyclists to its struggling downtown for coffee or lunch.

It's hard to believe the wealthy city can't find $120,000 to create the lanes without state help, or that it even costs that much to paint parallel lines.

Maybe Mayor Frank Huttle III, who is married to a state assemblywoman, should be asking the state for help in desegregating its elementary and middle schools, not screwing around with bike lanes. 

News for the 1%

Staff Writer Kibret Markos continues to ignore everything else going on at the Bergen County Courthouse, one of the state's busiest, to cover the Hudson News inheritance battle (L-3).

In major Hackensack news, a man was arrested "on suspicion of setting fire to an apartment door" (L-3).

In a pitch to readers who have high cholesterol and are proud of it, Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung obsesses over a "maple bacon doughnut" (BL-1).

Second look

In his Sunday column, Road Warrior John Cichowski provided eight "misleading or false answers" to 17 of his own questions about New Jersey roads -- that's nearly 50 percent.

In an e-mail to management, the editors and the clueless reporter himself, a concerned reader even pointed out Cichowski forgot his own extensive reporting on ways to cross the Hudson River without paying a toll or fare.

See the full e-mail on the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

Is John Cichowski really that stupid?