Editors always ask, 'When will the jury reach a verdict?'

Working for The Record on Sept. 11, 2001, Photographer Thomas E. Franklin captured this iconic image of three firefighters raising an American flag above the rubble of the Twin Towers. But the photo didn't appear on the Sept. 12, 2001, front page of The Record, then headquartered in Hackensack. However, Franklin's photo did show up on the cover of the New York Post on Sept. 13, 2001, missing any credit to him or The Record.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

If you're a reporter covering state or federal courts, you soon get used to stupid questions from the editors directing coverage in the newsroom.

"When is the jury coming back?" is an especially annoying question courthouse reporters hear -- in view of the jurors' secret deliberations.

You can bet editors asking stupid questions led to Page 1 stories today and Tuesday trying to predict what will happen at the federal trial of two former allies of Governor Christie in the George Washington Bridge lane closures three years ago.

On Tuesday, Staff Writer Paul Berger, who covers the Port Authority, weighed the chances of Bridget Anne Kelly and Bill Baroni, the former aides and confidants, being convicted -- like the 190 other men and women facing "federal charges in New Jersey in the past six years."

Today, Berger and Peter J. Sampson, who covers federal court in Newark for The Record, provide readers with another tutorial -- Jury Selection 101 (A-1).

The headlines are especially ridiculous, because the jurors are the triers of facts, and will decide the guilt or innocence of the defendants:

"Bridgegate
trial could 
hinge on
jury picks

"Judge's first challenge
is finding unbiased panel"

And on the continuation page:

"JURY: May swing GWB trial"

No. They definitely will "swing" the trial.

Bridgegate whitewash

A Bridgegate editorial appears on A-8, noting Christie once joked he moved the traffic cones himself to close access lanes to the bridge, triggering five mornings of gridlock in Fort Lee.

"Little would surprise New Jersey residents ... even if Christie's jest turned out to have been the truth."

And for the first time, The Record is calling the publicly funded $8 million report from a law firm that exonerated Christie "a whitewash."

New York skyline

The star of today's front page is the story on the renewal of the Manhattan skyline, part of The Record's coverage of the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on America (A-1).

Don't miss the centerfold by Staff Writer James M. O'Neill -- "REACHING NEW HEIGHTS" -- which amounts to a love letter from North Jersey residents who have watched the transformation of the skyline since the Twin Towers were leveled (A-4 and A-5). 

9/11 flag recovered

The story on recovery of the flag raised over the rubble of the World Trade Center recalls one of the darkest days in The Record's Hackensack newsroom, which was in use until 2009 (L-1).

The events had nothing to do with the terrorist attack itself or the column of black smoke rising from the rubble -- clearly visible through the big windows of the fourth-floor newsroom, where the staff had just put out an extra and were working on the morning edition of Sept. 12, 2001.

When the flag-raising photo captured by Staff Photographer Thomas E. Franklin was transmitted to the newsroom, the front page had already been made up with a photo showing pretty much what every other paper had -- an image of the smoking towers or a plane flying into one of them.

Photo Director Rich Gigli couldn't persuade Editor Frank Scandale and the woman he succeeded, Vivian Waixel, to put Franklin's photo on Page 1, because bean counters decided remaking the front page would be too expensive.

Franklin's photo ended up on a back page in the paper of Sept. 12, 2001, and that likely destroyed his chances of winning a Pulitzer Prize for Photography.

That same business mentality was used when The Record reprinted thousands of copies of the Sept. 11, 2001, extra without correcting a front-page photo caption that misidentified the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center.

Franklin's photo

In the years that followed, Jennifer A. Borg, then vice president and general counsel of The Record, jealously guarded the copyright of Franklin's iconic photo.

But that didn't stop the advertising department from inserting a glossy 8-inch-by-11-inch copy of the 9/11 flag-raising image into the paper one day.

On the flip side was an ad for All American Ford in Hackensack.

Christie's indecision, waffling shouldn't be front-page news

Hackensack's open-air venue, which also has been called a downtown park, is taking shape along Atlantic Street, near Main Street.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Editor Martin Gottlieb of The Record continues to ignore the close relationship of real estate mogul Jon F. Hanson to both Governor Christie and the Borg family, publisher of the Woodland Park daily.

Today, as on too many days in the past, a Page 1 news story by Melissa Hayes and a Charles Stile column on Christie's on-again, off-again presidential aspirations opens the editor to charges that the fix is in (A-1).

Hanson, founder and chairman of the Morristown-based Hampshire Real Estate Cos., is a top Christie fundraiser as well as his adviser on state gambling and entertainment policy.

He also co-owns a business jet with Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg, chairman of North Jersey Media Group.

Local news?

In Local today, the sixth-grader who won the 78th annual North Jersey Spelling Bee gets far more space than Lesley Renee Adams, the first black woman to serve as a municipal judge in Bergen County (L-1 and L-2).

What is the lead local-news story today?

A dispute between Korean restaurant owners in Palisades Park who have liquor licenses and those who allow patrons to bring their own beer and soju (L-1).

A better place for that story would be the thin Better Living section, where the editors pretend to cover the North Jersey food scene.

Editing lapses 

Staff Writer Kibret Markos is filling in on his old beat, the Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack, while Peter Sampson covers the Joseph Ferriero trial in Newark federal court.

Today, the headline and Markos' first paragraph both report two men were indicted on vehicular homicide charges in separate crashes (L-1).

But the second case isn't discussed until the continuation page (L-2). 

Another editing lapse is saying the men "face trials," far from a certainty. They could take a plea deal.

Editors keep on selling home-rule savings

Image via Wikipedia

Readers want John Cichowski and Elisa Ung to follow this sign to Newark airport, get on a plane, relocate and never write another column for The Record of Woodland Park.

Editor Francis Scandale and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes are such big fans of the wasteful form of government known as home rule, any merger of services earns big headlines, large photos and upbeat copy -- with the tantalizing possibility that property taxes finally will go down for once.

Readers of The Record were treated to more of that B.S. this past Thursday, when most of Sykes' Local front was devoted to Montvale and two other towns beginning a joint municipal court, with a potential savings of $260,000 year, Staff Writer Matthew McGrath reported.

But Sykes, McGrath, and his assignment editor were pulling a fast one on readers -- taking pains to mention nothing about the millions of dollars in debt hanging over Montvale taxpayers since purchase of a commercial building for a new municipal complex, where the joint court is held. 

Here is the real story from Montvale resident Kurt F. Kron:

"The observation in Eye on The Record that the “newspaper” is filled with triviality is painfully accurate, and the inclusion of the Pascack Valley shared court in the triviality would be accurate, too, if it weren't for the fact that the story behind the placement of the shared court is a colossal insult to Montvale property taxpayers.

"The municipal building that houses the court was headquarters for the Wella cosmetics firm in its most recent prior life, after Wella moved from Englewood. Then, Wella was acquired by a German firm, and in fairly short order the building became the “Wella White Elephant.” Nobody wanted to buy it. But elected Montvale empire builders snapped it up, taking it off the tax roles and converting it to a use for which it was never intended, at great expense.

"The value of all Montvale debt at original issue was $13,560,000, “$7,885,000 attributable to the municipal complex,” according to an April 12, 2011 budget presentation, at which the council president thanked a former mayor for his foresight in buying the elephant so others could come to his court. A lot of the expense of converting the Wella building is attributable to construction of an escape-proof, bomb-proof, earthquake-proof holding pen for accused perps.

"At Dec. 31, 2010, $12,098,000 in Montvale debt was still outstanding. In the fiscal year beginning on July 1, Montvale debt service will be $1,855,175. Montvale taxpayers may not know the value of the Wella building, but they do know it's had an expensive face-lift."

Today's paper

The two main stories on the front page of the Woodland Park daily today are so far from being news as to be a laughable waste of space.  Is this the best Scandale can do for a Sunday paper?

The straightforward headlines sound idiotic, because they state what readers already know:

N.J. a hub for drug trade

Mothers who kill kids not so rare

In the story about mothers who kill, The Associated Press (not Staff Writer Jean Rimbach, as I said originally) takes a casual approach, making no attempt to tell readers why on Page 1.

In the drug story, Staff Writer Peter Sampson pored over records to document Newark airport as a major smuggling hub, but the headlines let him and readers down. 

The moral of the third A-1 story -- about how little corruption or waste was found at the North Jersey District Water Supply Commission -- is: If you mess with The Bull (Governor Christie), you get the horns.

Hook, line and stinker

The major news on the front of Local today is Road Warrior John Cichowski's 400th column on long lines at Motor Vehicle Commission offices.

Why is this such a big deal, if the average driver only has to go to the MVC every two to three years? 

From hunger

Six weeks after a food blog called Off The Broiler published a long post with photos of El Caney -- a tiny Cuban takeout place in Bergenfield -- Staff Writer Elisa Ung gushes about her "find" in her Sunday column (F-4).

Then, she quotes blog author Jason Perlow on how good El Caney's food is, without giving him any credit for finding the place. 

The bottom line is El Caney is more appropriate for the Marketplace feature, but Ung has long run out of ideas for her restaurant column and desperately cribs from others.