 Image by derek7272 via Flickr |
| Ground Zero at an earlier stage of reconstruction in April 2008. |
When the powerful Port Authority of New York and New Jersey calls, reporters jump at the opportunity to get up close and personal at the agency's latest dog and pony show. That's what Staff Writer Tom Davis did to produce today's breathless Page 1 account of construction at Ground Zero, and the reporter made sure he passed along a dig at backers of a nearby mosque.
The upbeat account, with six photos by Staff Photographer Chris Pedota, appears orchestrated to silence critics who complain none of the buildings will be finished by Sept. 11, 2011 -- the 10-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks. The reporter played right into the hands of the bistate agency.
A clueless news copy editor -- looking for a quote to place above the big, A-1 photo of the site -- finds the dullest one in the story: "More than a construction site." But why ignore this quote? "A passion and a mission."
The reporter tells us, "Workers scurried around, " and notes some wore stickers on their hard hats opposing the mosque. A Port Authority official is quoted saying, "These guys work around the clock." Wow. What dedication. And great public relations, too.
The anti-mosque reference is in keeping with the paper's smear tactics this past Sunday against the imam backing the proposal. And Editors Francis "Frank The Castrato" Scandale and Deirdre "Mother Hen" Sykes apparently oppose assigning stories on mosques in Paterson, Teaneck and Hackensack, which co-exist peacefully in their communities.
'Liar, liar, pants on fire'
The Governor Christie-Bret Schundler privileged white male pissing match is back on A-1 today, and each man pretty much says the other lied about who did what to whom in the state's failed application for a $400 million federal education grant.
No matter who you side with, you as taxpayers and your kids are the ones who really got screwed -- but since Christie took office, you have gotten used to that -- while the Borgs and other millionaires count all the money they don't have to send to the tax office in Trenton.
No matter who you side with, you as taxpayers and your kids are the ones who really got screwed -- but since Christie took office, you have gotten used to that -- while the Borgs and other millionaires count all the money they don't have to send to the tax office in Trenton.
Playing catch-up
On the front of Local, the paper catches up with a story it missed -- the lawsuit to stop the expansion of The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood -- a controversy readers both inside and outside of the village are thoroughly sick of reading about, especially in the absence of news from Hackensack, Englewood, Teaneck and other important towns.
Road Worrier
Road Warrior John Cichowski, who routinely turns his back on the commuting problems of bus and rail riders, has an L-1 column about highway rest stops. Boring. He's the one who really needs a rest. Why not take Christie to task for refusing to raise the low gasoline tax to help repair infrastructure and boost mass transit?
Cichowski's boss is Sykes, the head assignment editor, who spends hours in the office looking busy, micromanaging, laughing loudly and sipping delicately on her water bottle, but accomplishes nothing in the way of improving local news coverage.
There's not a word in Local today about a plan to remake Main Street in Hackensack -- two weeks after a public meeting in the Johnson Public Library. Hackensack reporter Monsy Alvarado is missing in inaction.
New food editor on board
Food Editor Susan Sherrill's name appears on Page F-2 of Better Living for the first time today, but the section's food coverage remains as lackluster as ever.
