Showing posts with label Closter murder-suicide. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Closter murder-suicide. Show all posts

Monday, February 9, 2015

Editors are covering crime news by watching Twitter

In Hackensack, first-quarter property taxes are due on Tuesday, and the city provides a drop box under a window in police headquarters.



By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Page 1 and just about every other page of The Record screams, "No news today."

The Closter murder-suicide is back on the front page, even though the only new element is that autopsies determined who killed whom on Friday night (A-1).

And Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli shared the information on Twitter, according to the second paragraph.

Five staffers worked on the story of Michael A. Tabacchi, 27, who strangled and stabbed his wife, Iran Pars Tabacchi, 41, before fatally stabbing himself in the chest.

The Sunday staff couldn't do much better than repeating information from the story on Sunday's front page, and interviewing neighbors, reporting this gem from a man who lived across the street:

"They always walked their dog up and down the street and would say hi" (A-7).

The reporters were so desperate for something new, one contributed this:

"On Sunday, the area around the ... home was sleepy and quiet, with no evidence of the violence that had occurred just two days before" (A-7).

What did this reporter expect, blood staining the snow or one of the toys belonging to the 15-month-old boy the couple adored and who was found unharmed?

Road litter

Also on Page 1 today is another Road Warrior column about people who live feet away from the roar of traffic on Route 17 in Waldwick.

The first paragraph noted Allyson Cobin "hung a sign on her lawn warning speeders to "Slow Down, Drive Safe, Value Life."

Then, Staff Writer John Cichowski has breaking news for readers:  A car "skidded off the highway, broke through the sign and smashed through her picket fence" late last month (A-1).

Nowhere does Cichowski explain why anyone in their right mind would buy a house next to the noisy highway or continue to live there year after year.