Error-prone, police-loving local news section limps along

The City Council meeting scheduled for tonight was held on Monday night, according to the city's Web site. On Friday, an appeals court overturned former Police Chief Ken Zisa's 2012 official-misconduct conviction, and freed him from house arrest and a pending 5-year prison sentence.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Three more corrections appear on Page A-2 of The Record today, further evidence of the breakdown of editing and fact checking at the Woodland Park daily.

On Monday's Page 1, a local reporter assigned to cover the Haskell Invitational misstated the amount of money won by American Pharoah.

He was off by $600,000.

Another local reporter misstated how Oradell's Fire Department will spend a $160,000 federal grant.

And a sports reporter committed the biggest sin of all, misspelling the last name of Wallington-Carlstadt Little League softball pitcher Abigail Tabaka.

Local news?

Meanwhile, local assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza used seven Law & Order stories as filler in today's section (L-2, L-3 and L-6).

Sykes and Sforza endeavor to stay on good terms with all of the police departments in North Jersey to ensure the flow of the Law & Order copy they rely on every day.

On L-1, Road Warrior John Cichowski focuses on a single railroad crossing the vast majority of readers will never use -- rather than report on the overall health of mass transit or the condition of local roads.

Carbon emissions

Congratulations to environmental reporter James M. O'Neill for his front-page story on President Obama's proposal to dramatically cut carbon emissions, including a strong New Jersey focus (A-1).

The day before, Editor Martin Gottlieb ran an Associated Press story on Page 1 that politicized the issue by pitting Democrats against Republicans.

In his second paragraph, O'Neill reports:

"The plan is the first large-scale attempt by the United States to try and slow the release of greenhouse gases tied to climate change ...." (A-1).

Governor Christie's opposition to the plan appears on the continuation page, as well as quotes from New Jersey environmental official on how well the state is doing on cutting emissions from power plants.

And PSEG, whose subsidiary runs large power plants in New Jersey, backs the Obama administration's goals.

This is the kind of balance reporting that has been missing from The Record, especially when it comes to Christie and the terrible job he has done since he took office in early 2010.

The whole point of cops: Prevent crime, not just solve it

Bergen Town Center in Paramus uses a fully electric vehicle for its litter patrol, seen here in the parking lot of 24 Hour Fitness on Route 4 east. Unfortunately, the gym's interior and temporary lockers often aren't as clean as the parking lot.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Today's upbeat Page 1 story on the arrest of a suspect in the shooting death of Genesis Rincon, 12, ignores just how ineffective Paterson police are in preventing such crimes.

Isn't that the whole point? 

Even before 125 officers were laid off in 2011, Silk City was known for drive-by-shootings, drug sales to Bergen suburbanites and prostitution -- as described in numerous stories in The Record and at least two heavily slanted investigative series.

A clear conflict

But the Woodland Park daily has long had a conflict of interest.

For decades, the paper has irresponsibly ignored its mission to question police on how well they protect residents from crime -- whether it is a string of house burglaries in Englewood and Tenafly or a drive-by shooting in Paterson.

Simply put, the lazy, incompetent local editors fear that if they are critical, their police reporters would be denied the Law & Order information the paper desperately needs to fill news columns.

Shaky editing

Today's front page story is unclear on whether it was police work, tips from residents or a combination of both that led to the arrest of a 19-year-old in the girl's death (A-1 and A-8).

Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes is quoted as saying Genesis wasn't the intended target, but she withheld a good deal of information on that and other shootings (A-8).

The Record swallowed hook, line and sinker the splashy news conference held by Valdes, acting Police Chief William Fraher and Paterson Mayor Joey Torres, who inspires little public confidence after his checkered first term in that office.

Four reporters and two photographers were assigned to cover it.

Prosecutor gets pass

The prosecutor made a puzzling statement, but none of the reporters challenged her on it.

"Every time my phone goes off with notification about a shooting, I could almost guess where that shooting took place," Valdes said, referring to the city's 4th Ward, which, the story says, has had the highest number of shootings in the city.

Then, wouldn't it be an easy matter to assign more officers to the 4th Ward to prevent such tragedies as Genesis' death, assuming police care anything about protecting residents of the impoverished neighborhood?

Missing the bus

Hackensack reporter Christopher Maag was sent to cover the NJ Transit meeting in Newark, and he dutifully reported top legislators are demanding improvements to the antiquated midtown Manhattan bus terminal used by tens of thousands of New Jersey commuters (A-3).

But Maag apparently missed action by the board of the state's mass-transit agency to hold the line on fares for the fifth straight year, a story that affects every bus and rail user.

Maag's story notes the Port Authority Bus Terminal "has been plagued for years by complaints of long lines, leaky ceilings, inadequate heat and air conditioning and safety concerns."

But The Record doesn't explain why it ignored worsening conditions at the terminal until late last year, when angry commuters starting sending in letters to the editor.

More police news

The paper's reliance on police and court news is clear in today's thin Local section from head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her minion, Dan Sforza, who run Law & Order stories on every page without death notices.

Frank R. Lautenberg puts Christie, the Borgs to shame

U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg was a vocal advocate of building new Hudson River tunnels to expand NJ Transit rail service. Contrast that with Governor Christie, an enemy of mass transit who killed the project, citing his overweight wife's complaint she would have to walk too far to connect to Manhattan subways.

One thing the editors of The Record carefully avoid in today's comprehensive coverage of U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg is any comparison to Chris Christie, the worst New Jersey governor ever.

Nor do you see any mention of how Lautenberg, who died on Monday, used his wealth to serve the public, as opposed to the Borgs, who have put personal gain ahead of their flagship newspaper's service to local readers.

More politics

Of course, Editor Marty Gottlieb devotes most of Page 1 today to politics -- a sure turnoff for readers -- and took a couple of coded potshots at Lautenberg.

In Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson's appraisal, the senator's career "epitomized liberal politics" (A-1).

"Lautenberg was a reliable -- some might say predictable -- Democrat," Jackson reports, casting a partisan shadow over the senator's work to better the lives of the middle class (A-7).

The real Christie

Christie's many failures are exposed in a letter to the editor from Paul White, a Ridgewood resident who takes issue with a column praising the GOP governor from Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin, the mouse that roars (A-8).

White says Christie "has made his image by insulting and bullying," and has accomplished little that is positive while waging war against women, the working poor and the middle class.

Lautenberg's death also is the occasion for a cartoon  from Jimmy Margulies, whose work has been appearing only on Sundays since Publisher Stephen A. Borg let him go to cut costs (A-8).

This is certainly not among Margulies' best work.

More appropriate would have been a Jersey Mount Rushmore with Christie cast in the role of dynamiting Lautenberg's image.

More gimmicks

Meanwhile, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, produce a low-quality Local section that relies on the same gimmicks they've been using for years to mask their laziness.

Five of the six elements on the Local front are Law & Order coverage, and the central photo is an overly dramatized auto collision (L-1).

L-3 also is mostly Law & Order stories, and a second accident photo -- a pedestrian hit by a car -- is used as filler at the bottom of that page.

The caption describes a late-model Subaru as "a station wagon," a term that hasn't been used by the automotive industry in decades.

Sykes and Sforza also reprint a story about Hackensack bonding to pave streets and improve pedestrian safety from the weekly Hackensack Chronicle (L-2).

Christie's gorging partner is revealed

Superstorm Sandy damage in Union Beach on Jan. 19, above and below.

In the photo on Page 1 of The Record today, can that be the friend who has been enabling Governor Christie's binge eating and continued denial of how his morbid obesity is endangering his health?

There, in the bottom left corner of the photo from Sea Bright, the unidentified bearded man in a red T-shirt and suit jacket appears to be even bigger than Christie, who weighs 400 pounds or close to it.

The photo is a rare glimpse of the GOP bully actually walking -- as opposed to being driven even short distances in a massive state police SUV or Ford Crown Victoria.

'Fat Thursday'

Is it a coincidence that at the bottom of the front page readers find a blurb about a Polish holiday called "Fat Thursday," which could very well serve as the overline for the photo of Christie and his eating partner? 

On A-4 today, a story from The Star-Ledger -- not from Deirdre Sykes, The Record's obese head assignment editor -- quotes experts who see rising health risks for Christie, who ate a jelly doughnut on the David Letterman TV show even as he declared himself "the healthiest fat man" on Earth.

Secret records

"The governor declined Thursday to release his medical records and does not discuss what he eats and drinks or how often he exercises," The Star-Ledger reports, contradicting media reports dating to 2010.

Two of Christie's favorites are beer and pizza, according to those reports. 

And on "60 Minutes," he claimed to be working out with a personal trainer, but refused to reveal his weight or say how much he had lost. 

Editors as enablers

Another enabler is Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin, a trim, fastidious man who describes himself as "short" and "husky" growing up (A-18).

Doblin and other media members who emphasize how hard it is to lose weight only encourage the obese, whose eating is out of control.

"Losing a lot of weight can appear to be an impossible task," Doblin says, but he should have added it is very possible with a little discipline or, if you don't have will power, with life-saving surgery.

Weight loss is easy

Of course, Doblin may think it's "impossible," because he rubs shoulders with Food Editor Susan Leigh Sherrill, who delights in promoting cookbook recipes filled with butter, sugar and heavy cream, and chief Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung, who is addicted to desserts.  

At the gym on Thursday, I met an obese man who said he had lost 96 pounds after Lap-Band surgery at Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck. 

"An inflatable band is placed around the upper part of the stomach [that] divides it into two unequal parts. The upper part acts as the new stomach, restricting food intake and promoting weight loss," according to NJBariatrics.com. 

Hire a personal cook 

The Christies' net worth has been put at $3 million, so it would be easy for the state's overweight first family to hire a personal cook.

He or she could prepare weight-losing meals for the entire family, and snacks for when the governor is traveling around the country collecting campaign money from special interests. 

Talking about special interests: Is The Record going to identify all of Christie's donors and free flights, as it does today for embattled Sen. Bob Menendez, a Democrat (A-1)?


Another bad headline

Also on A-1 today, the headline on the Silver Alerts story improperly puts quote marks around the words "be on the lookout" that don't appear on the highway signs.

On the front of Sykes' Local section, the first line from Road Warrior John Cichowski -- "Ka-boom!" -- signals another column that lands like a bomb and has absolutely nothing to do with North Jersey's many commuting problems (L-1).

Gee-whiz fillers

Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, found little local news and had to fill out their pages with two gee-whiz photos of non-fatal accidents (L-2 and L-3).

Mother Nature struck a blow for the environment by using a tree to destroy a gas-guzzling, polluting SUV that had a single occupant, a woman (L-3).

As in the past, both photo captions lack even basic information on the cause of the accidents or the identity of the drivers.

Having a heart

Also on L-3 today, The Record corrects a previous story on less-invasive heart surgery by including the names of two hospitals the paper had omitted on Sunday -- Englewood Hospital and Medical Center and St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson. 
 

Section is on diet


In another sign of cutbacks, the restaurant review in Better Living today fills only one page, instead of two (BL-18).

The Balcony in Carlstadt gets a lukewarm "Good" rating from Bob Probert, who doesn't say whether any of the meat or poultry is naturally raised or whether the salmon is wild or farmed. 

Second look

On Thursday's L-3, The Record reported the Teaneck Township Council unanimously approved a resolution expressing support for state and federal measures to address gun voilence.

The paper didn't report that Hackensack's City Council deferred action on the same resolution Tuesday night.


Related articles

• Chris Christie to ex-White House doc: 'Shut up'
• NJ Gov. Christie puts weight issue on the table
• Gov. Christie Expands on Weight Struggle

Taking a holiday from The Record

Terminal B at Newark Liberty International Airport.

Eye on The Record is taking a holiday from three straight days this week of Page 1 coverage of the Rutgers University football team.

I'm taking a holiday from the editors' notion that living successfully or colorfully usually isn't enough:

As today's A-1 demonstrates: You have to save a life to make Page 1.

I'm taking a holiday from the intensely car-centric coverage by the Road Warrior and other reporters that appears to be a payback for all the automobile advertising in the paper.

I'm taking a break from coverage of mass transit that only appears when something goes wrong, such as Hurricane Sandy damage to NJ Transit rolling stock (A-1 on Wednesday).

I'm going on a diet today, swearing off Food Editor Susan Leigh Sherrill, who believes readers aren't getting enough artery-clogging cholesterol or meat and poultry raised on harmful animal antibiotics (Better Living on Wednesday). 

In her Wednesday column on BL-1, Sherrill advises readers with a straight face: "Generously slather the turkey with softened butter."

None of the hot lines she lists include cardiac-surgery units at local hospitals.

Finally, I'm taking a holiday from Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza, local-news editors who have substituted Law & Order news for municipal news, including the total neglect of Hackensack and other communities (See today's Local section).

See previous post 

on Road Warrior errors

 
  

Columnist jumps back into bed with Christie

With the help of a compliant and adoring media, a truly ugly Governor Christie is trying to sell himself as a champion of the middle class he has been screwing all along.

Charles Stile, The Record's chief political columnist,  must really have contempt for readers today as he regurgitates the latest royal B.S. from Governor Christie.

Long after most people labeled "The Jersey Comeback" a big lie, Christie has adopted a new slogan to deceive voters: "Christie Middle-Class Reform Agenda" (A-1).

Of course, it's the Democrats who are fighting for the middle class, as the party's national convention demonstrated time and again  last week.

And it's Christie, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan who are out to destroy the middle-class way of life by trying to loot Social Security and Medicare, assaulting the unions at every turn, and defending huge tax cuts for their wealthy supporters.

Paper does P.R.

Stile has had his head up his ass for so long he won't even acknowledge any of that in today's Page 1 column nor does he mention all the anti-middle class moves from Christie since he took office in January 2010:

Christie's attacks on state employee and state teachers unions are well-known. The GOP bully also killed the biggest expansion of mass transit in decades.

And our rotund governor stood by as the Port Authority and the New Jersey Turnpike Authority held up commuters with drastically higher tolls.

Christie also cut funding for women's health programs and school nutrition programs for students from low-income families.

The governor should start worrying about his spreading middle, not the middle class.

Meanwhile, the media -- and Editor Marty Gottlieb of The Record -- would shock all of us if they started reporting on Christie's health problems and his failure to address the state's child obesity epidemic.

Now that Stile has jumped back into bed with Christie and his spin doctors let's hope the obese governor rolls over on the clueless reporter.

More corrections?

The Record's editors have repositioned "Corrections" on A-2 to make them more visible to readers. 

Let's hope they'll start acknowledging all the errors that appear in the paper, instead of ignoring them. 

Little local news

Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza present another disappointing Local section today, with two Hackensack stories that are merely follow-ups on former Police Chief Ken Zisa and the city's school board (L-1 and L-2).

Road Warrior John Cichowski again relies on reader e-mails to turn out his 678th column on the MVC (L-1).

Even with coverage of 9/11 ceremonies in North Jersey, Sykes needed to fill space with a photo of a minor, three-vehicle accident (L-2).

Whole paper?

I'm still digesting Monday's editorial, which urges readers to "keep eating organic" to avoid pesticides, animal antibiotics and growth hormones, and to help the environment.

So, what's the explanation for how little attention the paper's food editor and restaurant reviewer pay  to naturally raised food? 

Today's weekly recipe from Food Editor Susan Leigh Sherrill calls for ground turkey and beef, but she doesn't even recommend that readers try to find antibiotic-free meat for themselves or their children (BL-1-2).

And Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung rarely tells readers anything about the origin of food she samples and recommends or say whether restaurants serve organic salad greens and other dishes.

Related articles

• Jerry Brown to Christie: Bring it on
• Christie's 'Jersey Comeback' goes belly up
• An ugly speech from a truly ugly man
• Business editors blow Christie -- again

The Jets that matter played the Sharks

The only Jets who really interest readers of The Record of Woodland Park once roamed the West Side of Manhattan and rumbled with the Sharks.

Hey, Editor Marty Gottlieb, readers of The Record don't care much for the Jets, another football team from New York that offends us by refusing to adopt New Jersey in its name.


In fact, the Jets we love sang a West Side story:


When you're a Jet, 
You're a Jet all the way 
From your first cigarette 
To your last dyin' day. 

When you're a Jet, 
If the spit hits the fan, 
You got brothers around, 
You're a family man! 

You're never alone, 
You're never disconnected! 
You're home with your own: 
When company's expected, 
You're well protected! 

Then you are set 
With a capital J, 
Which you'll never forget 
Till they cart you away. 
When you're a Jet, 
You stay a Jet! 


Most of the front page is taken up today with another silly column by Staff Writer Tara Sullivan. Who can -- or cares to -- follow this tortured sports tale?


Exploiting the media


Meanwhile, the lead A-1 story continues to promote the rehabilitation of Dharun Ravi after he was found guilty of invasion of privacy and bias intimidation when he used a Web cam to spy on a tryst involving his gay Rutgers roommate, Tyler Clementi of Ridgewood.


This is the 12th story since the Ravi verdict and the second on Page 1 in two days. On Wednesday, The Record discussed Ravi's "strategy" for appealing his conviction.


Boy, Ravi's defense attorney, Steve Altman, is having such an easy time manipulating The Record and other media, but he fell flat on his face with the jurors who convicted his client.


Time to deport Ravi 

What a joke. The main headline is a quote from Ravi: "I didn't act out of hate." Does anybody but Gottlieb believe that?

What about poor Clementi, who jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge, and his grief-stricken parents? Can you imagine their rage at all this attention Ravi is getting? Ravi can't get deported fast enough.



Maybe Ravi can try to make up for his crimes by doing community service in India, a turd-world country mired in poverty.

Lazy assignment desk

Don't bother turning to head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section, if you're interested in municipal news, whether from Hackensack, Teaneck or many other towns.


Today's 8-page Business section is unusual. Business pages usually appear inside Local, except on Sunday, when a standalone section is published.


Want a good laugh? Check out the B-2 photo of an ancient Datsun 210. Nissan is reviving the brand, so where is a photo of the new car?


The Business section also contains legal notices with local school budgets, as did pages in Wednesday's paper. Take a good look. You'll never see that kind of detail in the news columns from Sykes and her lazy, incompetent minions.