NJMG ordered to identify writer of post

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The Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack.

North Jersey Media Group has been ordered to identify a northjersey.com reader who assumed a pseudonym to comment on a political column.

The motion -- to compel the newspaper publishing company to comply with a subpoena seeking the identity of "Kittykiernan" -- was brought by Alan Marcus. 

Marcus is a prominent public relations man and Republican Party bigwig who filed a defamation suit against "Jane Doe (aka 'Kittykiernan')." NJMG is not a defendant in the case.

Republican Kathleen Donovan, the new Bergen County executive, was sworn in on Saturday at Marcus' Saddle River home. The Record of Woodland Park, a NJMG newspaper, didn't explain why the official swearing in took place at a private home. 

The motion was unopposed by NJMG, according to the Aug. 6 order signed by Superior Court Judge Rachelle L. Harz  in Hackensack. 

 

If NJMG has identified the northjersey.com reader, it could have a chilling effect on all readers of online news sites and blogs who feel safe commenting under pseudonyms or the ubiquitous "Anonymous."

Marcus filed suit in May, alleging statements made by defendant Kittykiernan on the NJMG Web site were "false and defamatory."

He further alleges the "false statements directly impugned Plaintiff's honesty and integrity, were injurious to his reputation, subjected him to contempt, caused others to lose good will or confidence in him, and placed him in a false light highly offensive to Plaintiff and any reasonable person." 

He is seeking the defendant's name, address, ISP and IP address, as well as unspecified damages.

The suit says Kittykiernan posted a comment online referring to "Alan Marcus" in reaction to a "Political Stile" column by Staff Writer Charles Stile published Feb. 2, 2010, in The Record. It also appeared online at northjersey.com. 

Although the column is still available online, Kittykiernan's comment has been removed. Here is the link to the Stile column.

Democrats can't call GOP leader a 'boss'

Oh, say, can you see Margulies?

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This is an insightful comment from Aaron Elson, a former news copy editor at The Record:

"It's amazing, but not surprising, that Margulies is nowhere to be found on the Record Web site; a search produced a cartoon from March 4. Two friends of mine have been longtime fans of Margulies and have often told me what a shame it is that he's been ordered -- for well over two years now -- to limit his cartoons to New Jersey subjects. Before that, they pointed out, his cartoons on national subjects often appeared in the Sunday New York Times collection of the week's best editorial cartoons. It has to be frustrating for an excellent editorial cartoonist like Margulies to have to put up with such a short-signed edict such as that. He is, after all, one of the more talented, and indeed hard-working, members of the staff. 

"Eye on The Record" says:

If memory serves, apparently it was Publisher Stephen A. Borg who ordered Jimmy Margulies to confine himself to New Jersey issues. Before that, Margulies' work was syndicated, and the newsroom mail box often was piled high with his cartoons in envelopes -- each one addressed in the cartoonist's beautiful script -- that were headed near and far, including one to his father in Teaneck.

 After all these years, the North Jersey Media Group Web site remains truly pathetic. Some of the best content of the newspaper never makes it to northjersey.com or is simply too hard to find. This despite specialized staff members (the digital news group) who were blessed with ergonomic furniture and new, flat-panel computers while the news copy editors struggled with old monitors and desks left over from the typewriter era.

Bill Ervolino is a disgrace

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One of the unfunniest people at The Record of Woodland Park is humor columnist Bill Ervolino, who has been trying our patience for years.

If you need any further evidence of his perverted sense of humor, click on the link to his so-called blog below. Under "Pressing question of the night," you'll find a photo of the White House dog and the following question:

"Who would you rather see nude: Barack, Michelle, Malia or Bo?"

I guess Ervolino includes Malia Obama, who is 12, in an appeal to all the child pornographers out there.

Thumb sucker Bill Ervolino -- unplugged