Editors tell Obama, local-news readers to go to hell

One of the free Bergen County shuttles that brings attorneys and visitors to the courthouse from The Record's old headquarters on River Street in Hackensack. Some intrepid lawyers don't wait and lug their briefcases across a heavily trafficked street with few crosswalks. I expect to read soon about an attorney who gets mowed down by a lead-footed driver rushing home with a huge slab of ribs from Costco Wholesale.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

Thirty or so members of the wacko Tea Party have brought the nation to its knees.

But The Record still legitimizes their demand that President Obama "negotiate" the Affordable Care Act, the far-reaching law that is the answer to the prayers of tens of millions of Americans.

What's next? Negotiating Brown v. Board of Education and a woman's right to an abortion?

Let's hope Sen. Ted Cruz and fellow radicals end up destroying the Republican Party, and take Governor Christie and other conservatives with them.

More divisive politics

Meanwhile, The Record can't break the habit of reporting everything in terms of politics, as Herb Jackson's Page 1 column shows.

OK. Editor Marty Gottlieb did send Mike Kelly, the columnist with the shit-eating grin, to talk to poor people in Paterson (A-1).

Healthy interest

But Gottlieb and Kelly keep on missing the big story:

Millions of Americans, who have at least three months to sign up for health insurance that goes into effect Jan. 1, are so desperate for protection they are crashing the online health-care exchanges in many states.

The success of Obama's Affordable Care Act has become evident in just two days.

And if the law can deliver lower prices and savings, it will be a godsend to millions of working poor and employees of greedy companies like North Jersey Media Group, publisher of The Record.

Cost of policies

Since I left The Record in 2008, I have been buying health insurance for my wife and son from North Jersey Media Group.

This year, I am paying $1,004 a month to cover them -- more than my monthly pension payment.

I also buy insurance from Horizon for my mother-in-law, who lives with us, that costs about $521 a month.

I hope to save a lot of money by buying those policies on the health-care exchange in New Jersey -- once the dust settles.

I didn't plow through all the boring copy from Kelly today, so don't know if he actually found anyone who was able to buy an affordable policy and saved money.

Sforza can't keep up

As usual, today's paper is front heavy, with little to interest local-news readers, thanks to a lame job by Deputy Assignment Editor Dan Sforza, who is panicking in the absence of his boss, Deirdre Sykes.

Sykes has been out of the Woodland Park newsroom for more than five weeks with a mysterious ailment.

The front of Local today is dominated by a road-rage incident between motorcyclists and the driver of a Range Rover in Manhattan, not North Jersey.

The only story out of the busy Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack is the ongoing saga of the Hudson News inheritance battle (L-1).

Teaneck and Hackensack news have gone missing.

Rice is univeral

On the Better Living cover, a story about rice omits any mention of how the staple is prepared by people from the Middle East, including Syrians, Egyptians and the Sephardic Jews who originated in that part of the world (BL-1).

Do readers have all the time in the world?

A week after a fatal crash, The Record presents the full story.

The Sunday edition of The Record is perfect -- if you have nothing better to to do than read long, winding stories in excruciating detail.

It took the editors nearly a full week to determine the relationship of a passenger to the driver in a road-rage accident on the Garden State Parkway last Sunday.

And you'll need almost that much time to digest the front-page story, which goes on and on under the big, black headline: 

LIVES COLLIDE

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes or her deputy, Dan Sforza, assigned Staff Writer Shawn Boburg to churn out the pathos, forcing him to neglect his Port Authority beat.

At the bottom of Page 1, readers learn about a major rock slide on the Palisades that occurred on May 12 -- nearly 2 months ago -- then have to plow through a geology lesson.

The lead A-1 story on flood insurance affects about 800 homeowners. Now, that's relevant news for the hundreds of thousands of readers.

Go shopping

Publisher Stephen A. Borg and the Advertising Department thought so much of Editor Marty Gottlieb's front page, it wrapped a Can Can Sale ad from ShopRite around part of A-1.

How many readers threw the paper aside and raced to their nearest ShopRite to take advantage of the first day of the sale?

One man was heard shouting, "It's time to stock up on Adirondack Seltzer!"  

Road worrier

Road Warrior John Cichowski continues to neglect his commuting column to bore readers with the hard-luck story of a 63-year-old Hackensack widow who never received her registration renewal in the mail (L-1).

OK. We're appalled. But what does this have to do with inadequate bus and train service, massive rush-hour traffic jams and exorbitant tolls? 

If you're looking for Hackensack news today, Cichowski's column is as close as you'll get.

Loving young people

Most of Sykes' Local front is dominated by another glowing story about a young person with autism. 

Where are the upbeat stories about old people who accomplish great things despite age and infirmity? Now, we read about them only after they die.

Another story on L-1 quotes Teaneck Deputy Mayor Adam Gussen without noting he is the Democratic candidate in the 5th Congressional District race.

Hating old people

On Friday, the Road Warrior column revisited the issue of older drivers and blind spots -- again without mentioning many new cars come with blind-spot warning systems (L-1).

Cichowski seems to have contempt for older drivers, referring to "arthritic groaning and neck cracking,"  and suggesting a driver who can't glance out "the passenger side window from time to time" consider taking a cab or a bus.

When is the last time he did his job by riding a local bus and reporting on the quality of service?

Take this job and shove it

Image via Wikipedia

Road rage and air rage on the same front page. What a neat package The Record of Woodland Park presents today. 

But I'll bet there are subliminal messages here from the sub-editors who have to work under the suffocating leadership of Frank "Castrato" Scandale and micromanaging head Assignment Editor Deirdre "Mother Hen" Sykes. Take this job and shove it.

How many times did I hear an editor in the Hackensack newsroom muttering under his breath that he'd like to run down Sykes in the parking lot, as barely 10 feet or 15 feet away, she shrieked with laughter, oblivious that she might be disturbing others. Her computer carried a name tag, "Deirdre 'Laughs A Lot' Sykes," as if anyone working there needed an explanation.


Scandale lords over the front page, running sports and the so-called business of sports in place of real news. He also loved to tell the news copy desk how to write headlines, though his own column writing was pedestrian and full of cliches. He'd even ban certain words from A-1 captions or headlines.

Scandale also liked to stifle challenges to story content, accuracy or completeness from the copy desk. At one point, he even forbid copy editors from calling reporters at home with questions. Coincidentally, four corrections and a clarification appear on A-2 today.


There's real North Jersey news below the fold today as the impact of Governor Christie's education budget cuts become more apparent. Staff Writer Leslie Brody reports 80% of school districts will have fewer teachers.


The Local news section is a disappointment for another day. The Englewood and Hackensack reporters both have stories about the police on L-1 and L-3, respectively. There are no stories about Teaneck. For Giovanna Fabiano, this is her first Englewood story since July 24. I hope she had a restful vacation.

For Monsy Alvarado, this is her fourth story on Hackensack cops in five days. On Aug. 5, she wrote nearly a full column to say a lieutenant's hearing may be delayed, because of legal maneuvering, and today, her story reports that, indeed, the hearing has been put off. 

It could have been a brief, but Sykes and Alvarado love to give the finger to Hackensack readers. Next, they'll be mooning residents of the city where the paper was founded and prospered for more than 110 years, before Publisher Stephen A. Borg precipitated an identity crisis by abandoning 150 River St. headquarters.


Staff Writer Shawn Boburg's byline has started appearing again, meaning he is back covering his towns, after months of being banished to investigative hell by Sykes, along with Alvarado and Staff Writer Jean Rimbach, who averages one byline a year.