Sensationalism drowning out questions from local taxpayers

The Hackensack City Council and city manager are reviewing proposals to privatize sanitation pickup for a projected savings of $850,000 a year. Officials also may hire a public relations firm, Vision Media of Secaucus, to promote downtown redevelopment at an undisclosed cost. The Record hasn't covered those issues or asked why Board of Education President Jason Nunnermacker, below in hoodie, falsely claimed the school budget cut local property taxes. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Today, the desperate editors of The Record exploit the anguish of a mother -- who suspected her son committed anti-Semitic acts -- to sell newspapers and distract readers searching in vain for local news.

Large photos of a tearful Denise Rivas, mother of Lodi defendant Anthony Graziano, are splashed all over Page 1 and the continuation page in the kind of sensational trial coverage you'd expect to see in a trashy tabloid (A-1 and A-8).

Local news?

On the Local news front today, Editor Deirdre Sykes continues to scramble, grabbing at crime news, a college graduation, animal-rights activists and the expansion of the Islamic Center of Passaic County (L-1).

In fact, there is so little local news from Hackensack and many other towns, Sykes had to plug a huge hole (half of a newspaper page) with a Dean's List (L-6) -- a crutch she has used for many years.

Meanwhile, the business editors couldn't find enough news in Bergen and Passaic counties, so they ran with the closing of the Saks Fifth Avenue store at the Short Hills mall -- far out of the circulation area (L-7).

Wednesday's paper

On Wednesday's front page, transportation writer Christopher Maag tried to whip readers into a frenzy over "waste" and "lapses in security" at Newark Liberty International Airport.

And Port Authority reporter Paul Berger threw crumbs to long-suffering commuters who ride buses to and from Manhattan on the completion of a new midtown terminal (2023 to 2026).

Berger is another in a long line of Record reporters who decline to question officials running the massive bi-state agency on their refusal to add exclusive bus lanes at the Lincoln Tunnel or expand PATH service to Bergen County.

On the Local front, Road Warrior John Cichowski dredged up a 2008 incident, but the introduction was so long and boring, readers fell asleep before he made the point that "driving drowsy" is as dangerous as drunk driving.

Editors ignore how Christie's vetoes are hurting N.J.

Waiting for an NJ Transit commuter train to pass the crossing on Main Street in Hackensack, near Fairmount Eats, which would be a better bet than a $2.99 sub at QuickChek.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Here comes Staff Writer Charles Stile with another boring political column on what Governor Christie's latest veto means for his White House aspirations.

Stile and the rest of The Record's Trenton staff seem to be continually ignoring the damage Christie's conservative policies are causing in the Garden State.

New Jersey struggles financially and unlike other states, has repeatedly failed to recover jobs lost to the recession nearly five years after Christie took office.

Mr. Veto

Has any one counted the vetoes the GOP bully uses to neutralize the Democratic majority in the state Legislature?

Surely, he has set a record for New Jersey governors, giving a lie to Stile's oft-mentioned image of Christie as a "conservative who isn't afraid to compromise with Democrats and their allies" (A-1).

Why is that the first paragraph of today's repetitive Political Stile column? The reporter gives the impression he's doing P.R. for the mean-spirited governor.

Piggish behavior

Commenting on Tuesday's lead Page 1 story, an editorial today notes Christie "has larded the Port Authority with more than 50 patronage appointments" (A-10).

Tuesday's expose by Staff Writer Shawn Boburg showed how Christie pressured the bi-state agency to hire a law firm where he once was a partner, funneling $6.3 million in fees to his former colleagues.

Silk City uprising

Meanwhile, the editors are bouncing the story of the Genesis Rincon slaying from Page 1 to the Local front and back to the front page today.

Alexis Rincon, father of the 12-year-old girl, is shown in an A-1 photo in front of City Hall surrounded by hundreds of supporters as he calls on residents "to take our Paterson back."

Story censorship

Of course, as in past stories, there is no mention of Christie's link to the layoffs of Paterson police officers and rising gun violence in Silk City.

The story notes the police force is down 150 officers from its peak five years ago, but an editorial today uses a different figure:

"It is well known, by both criminals and residents, that the city was forced to cut 125 police officers ... a few years ago because of budgetary constraints" (A-10).

"Budgetary constraints"? Isn't that rich? 

Those "constraints" and the police layoffs are directly tied to Christie's cuts in state aid to Paterson, Newark and other poor cities.

Why do the editors continue to censor this story?

Productive staffer

In Local today, three expanded local obituaries by the same reporter appear on L-1, L-2 and L-6.

Compare that to some veteran staffers whose work appears every few weeks or months.

Those unproductive staffers, who are protected by the local editors, force the Woodland Park daily to run filler photos of accidents, many by Staff Photographer Tariq Zehawi, who also answers to "Crash" and "Rollover."

A photo caption on L-1 reports an unnamed pedestrian was injured while crossing Route 46 in Totowa, but inside the section, readers find a pedestrian suicide on Route 3 in East Rutherford (L-3).

Oh, poor Saks

For some reason, the unannounced closing of Saks Fifth Avenue at The Shops at Riverside in Hackensack "for maintenance" merits a story on L-9 today.

That's in contrast to complete silence on retail openings and closings on Hackensack's Main Street, many of them in the wake of North Jersey Media Group's decision to leave the city in 2009.

Does the temporary closing of Saks mean none of its full-age ads are running in The Record?

Is the purpose of the story to pressure Saks to reopen as soon as possible and resume its ads, which help keep NJMG afloat?