 Image by wstera2 via Flickr |
| On Sunday, the Jets will face the Pittsburgh Steelers for a Super Bowl berth. |
The way things are going, expect an enormous photo of the Jets on Page 1, if they get into the Super Bowl, plus a scratch-off panel that allows readers to breathe in the pungent aroma of the locker room, where Editor Francis Scandale seems to be hanging out a lot during the playoffs.
Scandale wanted to include a DVD with each copy of The Record of Woodland Park, showing how he and the other male editors bond over sports coverage, complete with ass-slapping, high-fiving and jock-strap waving at their news meeting.
"Hey, Ron." Smack! "Hey, Gary." Smack! "Hey, Randy." Smack! "Hey, Corny." Smack!
Today, readers will have to content themselves with two Jets photos on the front page and two of the most boring process stories the desperate editors scrambled to get into shape over the weekend. Could the headline on the lead story be any duller?
Offices,
aides for
legislators
cost $17M
That "for" at the end of the second line is a no-no. Is $17 million a lot or a little compared to congressional delegations from other states? The headline is so uninformative, the paper might as well run a headline that says:
The Record
still costs
only 50 cents
Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson throws a lot of numbers around and there's a big, gee-whiz photo-graphic inside, but the one number readers need to put the story in context is missing.
A House resolution to trim spending is supposed to save $35 million -- out of how much? Is that largely symbolic, literally a drop in the Oradell Reservoir? Who knows? Jackson is not telling, and the editors are on autopilot.
Let's see: $35 million is a 5% savings. So what do I multiply $35 million by to find out the total cost? What is this story doing on Page 1?
On the front of Better Living, Staff Writer Colleen Diskin provides no information in her story on Community Supported Agriculture about the cost of weekly purchases of produce and eggs from local farms.
Let's see: $35 million is a 5% savings. So what do I multiply $35 million by to find out the total cost? What is this story doing on Page 1?
On the front of Better Living, Staff Writer Colleen Diskin provides no information in her story on Community Supported Agriculture about the cost of weekly purchases of produce and eggs from local farms.
Blame the victim
On the front of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section, a six-column auto dealer's ad continues to appear above the fold.
On L-6, a six-paragraph story reports that a second teenager (in a week) was killed by an NJ Transit train, but this story and others never discuss whether the railroad takes any measures to prevent pedestrians from walking on the tracks.
