Editors equating Trump sexual assaults with Clinton emails

These cartoons appear on Cagel.com. This one is from Alen Lauzan, a cartoonist who lives in Chile.

This one is from Adam Zyglis of The Buffalo News.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Associated Press -- a cooperative news and information service owned by 1,400 U.S. daily newspapers -- has always been known for one thing: Speed.

Accuracy, perspective, knowledge of issues -- not so much. 

So it's no surprise The AP story leading The Record today equates the scandal over GOP wacko Donald J. Trump's sex assaults with Democrat Hillary Clinton's emails (A-1).

What is a surprise is that the Gannett-owned daily continues to rely on The AP -- also known as The Associated Mess --for coverage of the presidential race instead of using stories from The Washington Post or its own USA Today.

"With Election Day four weeks away," today's AP story begins, "both presidential candidates [on Tuesday] dealt with their own troublesome issues:

"Donald Trump in a pitched battle with his own party as his candidacy nears collapse, and Hillary Clinton grappling with leaks about her long-criticized private email server."

"Troublesome issue" hardly comes close to describing the disgust over Trump's predatory attitude toward every woman who comes within reach.

And "troublesome issue" doesn't do justice to Trump's endless lies -- and lies about his lies -- in the first two debates.

Today's AP story shows the danger of the generalized lead loved by all wire service reporters.

Governor Christie

Get a load of the photo of Governor Christie leaving his state police helicopter on Tuesday, when he attended a Trump fundraiser in Ridgewood (A-7).

Christie, who is sticking by the GOP presidential predator, looks rumpled, overweight and stressed out over always having to defend Trump.

Breaking four days of silence, the GOP thug said he is "embarrassed" by Trump's "vile language," but won't withdraw his support from his fellow racist, State House Bureau reporter Dustin Racioppi says.

Christie also has been beaten up by continuing revelations in the Bridgegate trial (A-1), including testimony he knew about the retaliatory George Washington Bridge lane closures as they were happening in September 2013.

"I'm the fucking Governor of this state," he told a Monmouth County freeholder who described Christie as a "fat fuck," according to other testimony.

Hilarious.

Wrong-way Cichowski

Today's Road Warrior column speculates on whether gas selling for $2.25 a gallon will discourage people from driving and cut traffic deaths (L-1).

That's ridiculous. 

Staff Writer John Cichowski doesn't even mention drivers may switch to more efficient cars to negate the 23-cents-a-gallon hike, which he says will take effect on Nov. 1.

For example, most minivans have more cargo space than 7-passenger SUVs, and get better gas mileage.

Trump's lies, bigotry and hatred are no longer Page 1 news

Nude photos of Melania Trump -- "a potential First Lady" -- weren't out of bounds for editors of the New York Post, above and below. The Oval Office becomes "the Ogle Office," as in "stare at in a lecherous manner."

The photos were from the early years of her modeling career, according to The Post.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

"Another staff shake-up" in the Republican presidential campaign of wacko racist Donald J. Trump isn't front page news.

Of course, that didn't stop Editor Deirdre Sykes of The Record from running a Page 1 story about Trump from her new masters at USA Today.

Trump's lies, bigotry and hatred have been getting a big boost from editors like Sykes, CNN and Fox News.

Is there no end to their mindless promotion of the New York businessman's insanity?

Illegal housing?

Five staffers from The Record was so busy crediting firefighters and police officers for saving residents from a Little Ferry fire no one asked whether the three-family home is legal (A-1).

A 5-year-old girl and her grandmother died Wednesday from injuries suffered in explosions and a fast-spreading fire late Tuesday night. 

Conventions are over, but not mindless political coverage

On a sweltering Thursday, we boarded NJ Transit's No. 165 Express in Hackensack and arrived in midtown Manhattan in about 30 minutes. The regular round-trip fare in $9, but seniors pay only $4.10.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Just when you thought all the shouting at the political conventions was over, The Record continues to waste the front page on boring politics.

If Charles Stile's column on Hillary Clinton's New Jersey supporters doesn't have your eyes rolling, a USA Today story on Donald J. Trump should really put you to sleep (A-1).

The news media keep on trying to make the wacko racist New York businessman sound intelligent, but try as they might, he keeps shooting himself in the foot.

Trump -- who has never served in the military, but wants to ban all Muslims from the U.S. -- complained about the speech at the Democratic National Convention made by the father of a Muslim-American soldier killed in Iraq.

Khizr Khan said Trump has "sacrificed nothing for his country" (A-1).

Trump's rebuttal is that he's "made a lot of sacrifices" by building "great structures" and creating construction jobs.

None of the reporters interviewing Trump asked how putting up buildings is a "sacrifice."

Local news

Editor Deirdre Sykes' front page does have two local stories today.

The main element is a plan to remove a traffic bottleneck on Kinderkamack Road in Emerson, but there are so many other traffic nightmares in Bergen County the paper's so-called Road Warrior columnist has ignored for more than a decade.

The second local story is the obituary for a Clifton woman who was such a big fan of Amelia Earhart that she moved to Atchison, Kan., the aviator's birthplace.

Bergen County readers find five major stories from Passaic and Morris counties in today's Local section, and a column about a "momentous" event in Paterson on the Opinion front.

Hackensack readers looking for news about their city should take a look at what the Hackensack reporter was doing on Saturday -- covering police news in Butler (L-1).

Lying down on job

Readers who wonder whether there is a dress code in the Woodland Park newsroom find the answer today on BL-3, where a photo shows Staff Writer Jim Beckerman lying down or at least semi-reclining on the job.

I guess the veteran feature writer was just taking a load off as he gathered information on "Bergen County's long-awaited dine-in multiplex" in Fort Lee (BL-1).

The Better Living cover is The Record's third and most elaborate plug for iPic, which hasn't even opened yet, so it's no wonder the owner has got a big, fat smile on his face, as readers can see from another photo on BL-3.

Aircraft noise

Saturday's front-page story -- "Flight-path test sputters" -- is the latest in what has to be one of the most bungled and biased reporting jobs in recent memory.

Residents of Hackensack, Teaneck and Englewood have been complaining about noise from Teterboro Airport for years, but that was rarely, if ever, reported in The Record.

Then, the Federal Aviation Administration proposed a new flight path for business jets that would prevent them from flying over Hackensack high-rises and the nearby medical center to land, starting in April.

The shift of the flight path over Route 17 communities had them howling, and The Record quoted their officials extensively on the front page and elsewhere in the paper.

Now, media must focus on issues -- not polls and popularity

Hillary Clinton making history on Thursday night in Philadelphia, where she accepted the Democratic nomination for president after pledging to work to improve the lives of women and everyone else. (Photo credit: UPI)

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

With just over three months until the Nov. 8 presidential election, readers can only hope the hysterical news media will focus on the issues that affect our lives.

When will The Record and other news outlets start a serious discussion of the candidates' positions on gun control, immigration, climate change, the minimum wage, taxing the wealthy and so many other compelling issues -- and then take a stand?

In the case of the Woodland Park daily and Editor Deirdre Sykes, readers shouldn't hold their breath.

Partisan politics in New Jersey and the nation have been shoved down their throats by Columnists Charles Stile and Herb Jackson for far too many years.

And Columnist Mike Kelly has taken so many pot shots at President Obama readers have to wonder whether the veteran reporter has been infected by the racial animus apparent in the Republicans who gridlock Congress.

Seeing history made 

At least one of The Record's editorial writers -- commenting on Hillary Clinton making history -- had the good sense to admit:

"We are missing an extraordinary moment. We are so caught up in the pettiness of politics and personalities that we are not seeing the history made in Philadelphia, the city where our history began" (A-18).

"...Before Wednesday is another forgotten moment, savor it not as a partisan, but as an American."

Endless politics

On the front page of The Record today, the lead USA Today story on Clinton's speech to the Democratic National Convention is filled with partisan politics, and actually includes a rebuttal from wacko racist Donald J. Trump, the Republican nominee (A-1 and A-6).

The stark differences between the candidates have been glossed over.

For example, Trump wants to a tax break that would put an extra $1.3 million in his pocket and in the pocket of every other member of the 1%, but backs an increase in the minimum wage to only $10.

Clinton calls on the wealthy to pay higher taxes to help finance social programs for families and to bolster Social Security. 

Holes in coverage

The Record's story is missing most of Clinton's attacks on Trump as a potential leader, but the New York Port reported she "savaged" the businessman:

"He loses his cool at the slightest provocation. A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man you can trust with a nuclear weapon," she said of Trump, "mocking her ... rival's claim that he knows more about ISIS than American's military leaders."

The Post also reported that Clinton:

• "Accused Trump of 'being in the pocket of the gun lobby,' while saying she had no intention of repealing the Second Amendment.
• "Slammed her opponent for having his clothing line and furnishings for his hotels made in other countries while he talks about bringing jobs back to America.
• "Said large corporations should pay their 'fair share' of taxes, and not accept tax breaks with one hand while handing out pink slips with the other.
• "Vowed to support police officers while at the same time reforming the criminal-justice system to rebuild trust between cops and the communities."

A horse race

What will likely happen now that the conventions are over, The Record and other news media will go back to publishing polls that purportedly show the closeness of the White House race.

But you won't see the media reflecting on how their endless coverage of partisan politics and conflict has produced one of the world's most apathetic electorates.

Christie is returning to familiar role of screwing New Jersey

A view of the Navesink River from the Oyster Point Hotel in Red Bank.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Editor Deirdre Sykes' obsession with partisan politics continues to dominate The Record's front page even as Governor Christie is back at his old job of screwing New Jersey.

A major story about the GOP bully led Saturday's paper, reporting he opposes the latest plan to resolve the crisis over funding statewide road, bridge and rail improvements.

Insider deals

On Monday, another front-page story on politics reported Christie's "national prospects" have improved once again with rumors he could become Donald J. Trump's attorney general, if the wacko racist is elected to the White House.

Christie might be hoping to get the same kind of lucrative contract he steered to John Ashcroft in 2007, when the governor was the U.S. attorney for New Jersey and Ashcroft was his former boss in the U.S. Justice Department.

As the Star-Ledger reported, the former attorney general's D.C. law firm was poised to collect $52 million in 18 months to monitor a $311 million settlement Christie won to end a probe into kickbacks by leading manufacturers of hip and knee replacements.

Christie also handed lucrative contracts to other lawyers who served as monitors:

David Samson, his mentor and "father figure," whom Christie later appointed chairman of the Port Authority; and Debra Yang, one of the lawyers who led the "internal investigation" into the George Washington Bridge lane closures.

That whitewash of his role in the September 2013 lane closures in Fort Lee cost New Jersey taxpayers more than $10 million.

More conflict

Today's lead story emphasizes dissension and protests at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia that USA Today compares to last week's meeting of Republicans (A-1).

But Sykes must have gone home early, because readers can't find a word of first lady Michelle Obama's inspiring speech to get out the vote for Hillary Clinton, who will be formally nominated  for president tonight.

Sure, a photo of the first lady appears on Page 1 (where the caption misspells her first name), but the speech must have been given too late for The Record's early deadlines.

The decision over a decade ago to move printing of the paper to Rockaway Township -- more than 30 miles from the heart of the circulation area in Hackensack -- means The Record often misses such late-breaking news while generating clouds of pollution from diesel-powered delivery trucks tearing up Route 80.

Back to Camden

Instead of the first lady's speech, the front page carries two inconsequential columns from Staff Writers John Cichowski and Mike Kelly.

The big news on the first Business page is the expected Aug. 5 opening of a "luxury" movie theater in Fort Lee where tickets will go for $19 to $24 (L-7).

The Better Living section also promoted the theater and its restaurant on Sunday.

I guess the Woodland Park daily is hoping to land big advertising contracts from both.

Another Sunday edition bores readers with politics on A-1

Inside Mr. 4 Hand Car Wash on Route 4 west in Englewood. At The Sheffield across the highway, below, new luxury apartments are being built in response to complaints from prospective tenants that the existing buildings are too far away from traffic noise and fumes.

The construction of hundreds of luxury apartments on both sides of Route 4 in Englewood hasn't had much of an impact on the fortunes of downtown restaurant owners and other merchants. Empty storefronts are common, though you are unlikely to read about that in The Record.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The so-called commuting columnist is wringing his hands over parents who leave children in cars when temperatures soar over 90 degrees (Local front).

Meanwhile, the New Jersey columnist is rehashing an analysis that appeared on Thursday's front page about who will pay for new Hudson River rail tunnels to ease a commuting crisis (Opinion front).

Welcome to another boring Sunday edition of The Record, where Editor Martin Gottlieb fills Page 1 with boring political stories, putting readers to sleep. 

Today, the only relief is a gripping tale about a "professional wingwalker," a stunt woman who rides atop a biplane, thrilling spectators below (A-1).

"You're not making any money. The food is crap. The hotels are terrible," Carol Pilon, 46, told Staff Writer Christopher Maag. "But I get to do the thing in the world that makes my heart sing with joy."

For a change, the headline sings, too:

"Walking in the clouds

and flirting with death"

Heavy politics

Gottlieb leads today's paper with a column on the "comeback" of Robert G. Torricelli, the disgraced Democrat and former U.S. senator (A-1).

The column, NJ/DC, usually runs on Mondays, so does that mean Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson gets to bore us two days in a row this week?

At the bottom of Page 1 is a story about wealthy onetime backers of Governor Christie betting their money on Jeb Bush becoming the GOP presidential nominee in 2016 (A-1). 

Yawn.

Local news?

On the Local front today, Road Warrior John Cichowski seems to be saying a woman left her infant "to roast in a car" in Hackensack, when no such thing happened (L-1).

In fact, the infant was rescued long before it "roasted," thanks to an alert employee of Costco Wholesale.

Tunnel vision

Meanwhile, what is Columnist Mike Kelly doing writing about Hudson River rail tunnels, a commuting issue Cichowski has sorely neglected?

Kelly has been banging away at a typewriter and computer for more years than readers care to remember, but he still comes up with some of the clunkiest lead paragraphs in the history of journalism:

"Governor Christie plans to visit Newark on Tuesday [and] ... will likely be campaigning, but it won't be for a change of address to the White House" (O-1).

The lead is wrong on so many levels, especially because Christie isn't "campaigning" for an expansion of mass transit; he's the one who killed the tunnels that were being built in 2010.

And in another major embarrassment for six-figure Production Editor Liz Houlton, some moron in the newsroom used a photo of the Lincoln Tunnel, not a rail tunnel, on the continuation page (O-3).

Downtowns

If you're looking for stories about our struggling downtowns, skip today's Business section, just as you've been doing every day (B-1).

And if you thought no paper cold be edited as badly as The Record, take a look at the 4-page USA Today Personal Finance insert the Business editors use as a crutch every Sunday.

On B-3, the word "in" was dropped in the fifth paragraph of the story on car options. Under "Fancy Wheels and Low-Profile Tires," the word "are" should have been edited out.

For years, the Sunday insert came from the Wall Street Journal. 

Using inferior USA Today stories is another example of the dramatic decline in quality at the Woodland Park daily since Publisher Stephen A. Borg took over.

Borgs rely on Christie ally in sale of Rockaway plant

Some visitors to the Bergen County Courthouse on Main Street in Hackensack park at Costco Wholesale, 80 S.River St., to avoid the $5 fee at the temporary lot leased from North Jersey Media Group, publisher of The Record.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The sale-leaseback deal with a close Borg family friend is the latest chapter in the troubled history of North Jersey Media Group's Rockaway Township printing plant.

On Friday, Stephen A. Borg, publisher of The Record, announced an agreement with a fund sponsored by the Hampshire Cos. of Morristown, but not that family friend Jon F. Hanson is the real estate companies' founder and chairman.

Hanson and Christie

Hanson, 77, a close friend of NJMG Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg, also is Governor Christie's adviser on casino and sports development projects.

The real estate developer has received extensive and favorable coverage in the Woodland Park daily, though Staff Writer John Brennan never discloses Hanson's ties to the Borgs.

But in June 2014, The Guardian newspaper reported a joint venture that included Hanson's Hampshire Cos. was awarded a $105 million tax incentive in 2013 by the Christie administration for a hotel and office project in Paterson.

The Guardian said Hanson is one of Christie's chief fundraisers, and both men served as top fundraisers for the presidential campaign of George W. Bush in 2000.

The newspaper said Hanson's ties to Christie also extend to insurance giant Prudential, where the businessman retired from the board of directors in 2011.

Later that year, the company received a $250 million tax incentive from the state Economic Development Authority to move its offices a few blocks.

Hanson and Mac

In 2011, Eye on The Record reported Hanson and Malcolm Borg purchased a private jet from a woman who was later featured in a Business page story in The Record:

"A Web site listing recent sales by Freestream Aircraft Ltd. says a Citation Excel was 'exclusively purchased on behalf of Mr. Malcolm Borg and Mr. John Hanson,' though Hanson's first name is misspelled.

"The price isn't given, but Freestream sells jets that cost $10 million to $50 million.

"Borg discusses the process of buying the plane in this testimonial about Rebecca Posoli-Cilli, president of Freestream's U.S. office in Hackensack:

'Rebecca’s sales team, but especially Rebecca, was the best thing that happened to us when my friend and I decided to sell our 1984 Citation III and upgrade into a late-model Citation Excel. She had the patience of Job in dealing with me, the lead partner, in the acquisition of our Excel. Without her, we would not have made the great choice we did. She found us a plane with 1100 hours that was 95% equipped with everything desired; she took care of all the pre-buy inspections and details; and she negotiated the upgrades to our avionics with Duncan Aviation. 

'Without Rebecca, my friend [Hanson] and his family and my family and I would not be enjoying the wonderful convenience of having our own jet at our disposal. She was simply incredible on all counts, and I recommend her to any potential airplane purchaser without reservation.' 

• Malcolm A. Borg, Managing Partner – Trio Air Holdings, LLC

Rockaway plant

The Rockaway printing plant was built during a recession in the early 1990s as Malcolm Borg sought to extend The Record's reach into Morris County.

But when the elder Borg sought a loan to buy another daily newspaper, banks told him he was overextended.

The plant began printing other newspapers, including USA Today and the Irish Echo, and became a big profit center.

After Stephen Borg took over as publisher of The Record and Herald News in 2006, the four-color presses in Hackensack were worn out, and he moved the printing of those dailies to Rockaway, enabling him to lay off more than 50 pressman.

According to NJMG, the printing plant produces the company's two daily newspapers, more than 40 of its community newspapers and also prints USA Today, Greater Media Newspapers, Gannett Westchester-Rockland Newspapers and the New Jersey Herald.

Decline in quality

The move to Rockaway, a major downsizing of the staff in 2008 and the abandonment of Hackensack in 2009 appear to have contributed to a precipitous decline in the quality and accuracy of local journalism at The Record.

Today, for example, an A-2 correction notes a story on Friday identified Ridgewood Mayor Paul Aronsohn as village manager.

That's a really stupid mistake, but typical of the sloppiness since Liz "Queen of Errors" Houlton was promoted to six-figure production editor. 

The front page often reads like a national paper, thanks to Editor Marty Gottlieb, a former bigwig at The New York Times.

And the Local section reads more and more like a police blotter, as many of the stories in today's edition show, thanks to the laziness and incompetence of Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza (L-1 to L-6).

Today's paper

Typical of media hype and exaggeration is today's Page 1 headline comparing the killings of newspaper editors, police officers and hostages in Paris to the 2011 attack on America:

France 
grapples
with its
own 9/11

In two long front-page stories remembering Brendan Jordan, The Record makes no attempt to find out whether improper maintenance caused the freak collapse of a folding bench that fatally injured the 7-year-old in a New Milford school on Wednesday.