Readers greet GWB headline with healthy skepticism

Solari's on River Street is one of the Hackensack businesses that suffered greatly after The Record and North Jersey Media Group abandoned the city in 2009. I remember an April 2010 lunch there in a nearly empty dining room. Marco Solari, whose grandfather opened the restaurant in 1934, sold the business about two years ago, but retained ownership of the building and land.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Another edition, another bad headline.

The lead, banner headline on the front page of The Record today -- "GWB probe finds no link to Christie" -- has many readers questioning the editors' objectivity.

The text of the story by Staff Writer Shawn Boburg is far more equivocal:

"The report states there is 'no conclusive evidence' as to whether the governor 'was or was not' aware of the lane closures or involved in directing them" (A-1).

That sounds like the state legislative panel probing Bridgegate was unable to answer the question of Christie's role definitively.

Not only does the headline go too far, but a couple of paragraphs later Boburg quotes Christie's million-dollar defense lawyer, who claims "there is not a shred of evidence Governor Christie knew anything" about the Sept. 2013 lane closures in Fort Lee.

You'd expect attorney Randy Mastro to say that, but you'd also expect The Record's reporter to leave such a self-serving statement to the continuation page, and to point out it also goes beyond what the investigative panel said.

Bad reporting

The Record should recall Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson, if he continues to write about Rep. Scott Garrett's campaign fundraising and to ignore the arch-conservative's policies (L-1).

In a Page 1 story before the Nov. 4 election, Jackson boosted the Wantage Republican's reelection effort by omitting any mention of how Garrett initially opposed federal Sandy relief.

Then, the reporter sat on his hands instead of telling readers whether ads attacking challenger Roy Cho of Hackensack had a shred of truth in them.

My beef with Ung

After reading Elisa Ung complain about Roots Steakhouse in Ridgewood, I get the feeling she would gladly eat a turd as long as it was dry aged (BL-18).

To the clueless restaurant reviewer, the ultimate steak "is prime and dry aged," and she complains Roots wet ages its New York strip, "a far less expensive method."

But prime only means the beef is fattier than lower USDA grades; it doesn't have anything to do with how the animal was raised.

So, a restaurant can serve low-quality steaks from animals confined to feeding pens and raised on grain, animal antibiotics and growth hormones to get them to market faster, and Ung would praise the meat as long as it was prime and dry aged. 

Are Roots' steaks organic or grass fed? Readers don't have a clue.