A rare glimpse of observant Muslims who threaten no one

The opening of a 222-unit apartment building at 94 State St. in Hackensack has been delayed until September, city officials say. In June 2013, when ground was broken on what is expected to be an important step in the city's ambitious downtown rehabilitation plan, the developer said the building would be finished by last January.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

On the front page of The Record today, observant Muslim American men and women are shown eating a pre-dawn breakfast at a 24-hour diner in Hackensack.

Staff Writer Hannan Adely reports:

"They catch up on their jobs, travels and relationships before they are due to begin the sunrise prayer and daily fast that marks each day during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan" (A-1).

This rare glimpse of observant Muslims, who organize the breakfasts on social media, may remind readers of The Record's coverage of the black and Hispanic communities.

For example, the Woodland Park daily runs a series of upbeat stories during Black History Month, but the rest of the year, blacks are portrayed as criminal suspects and victims of police brutality.

Englewood's segregated schools, housing and job discrimination, and redlining are routinely ignored by The Record's local editors, Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza.  

The rest of the year, we can count on The Record and other media to portray Muslims as religious fanatics who decapitate their captors or blow people to smithereens in produce markets.

More global news

Sadly, Editor Martin Gottlieb devoted the rest of the front page today to national and international news (A-1).

Even though readers heard 24-hours of jawboning on radio and TV about the nuclear agreement with Iran, Gottlieb leads the paper with the story.

The sidebar on partisan-political reaction sheds little light on the merits of the pact, and serves once again to demonize President Obama.

Gottieb even quotes Governor Christie, who has made such a mess of New Jersey, as weighing in on the issue, presumably from his second home in New Hampshire.

Burying local news

Gottlieb found room for a Page 1 brief on Christie's presidential campaign PAC, but not the expected approval of fare hikes and service cutbacks on NJ Transit buses and trains forced by the GOP bully's state-aid cuts (L-1).

Similarly, Tuesday's obituary of former Passaic Mayor Margie Semler should have been on the front page or Gottlieb should have run at least an A-1 brief on the death of the courageous leader.  

Day after day, the former New York Times editor and reporter disappoints local readers.

On A-2 today, the editors acknowledge they misspelled the name of the police chief in tiny Northvale.

Baseball history

Instead of municipal news, today's Local front is dominated by the second story on baseball history in three days (L-1).

Look at that glorious photo of overweight, out-of-shape geezers remembering their on-the-field exploits in 1965.

That's kosher?

On the Better Living front, Food Editor Esther Davidowitz knocks herself out praising Douglas Soclof, a Teaneck man who started "the first Glatt kosher meal-delivery company" (BL-1).

A photo shows Soclof has both a pot belly and absolutely no fashion sense, so what does he know about good food?

I don't see anything in this upbeat story on whether any of the veal, beef or chicken in the ready to cook kosher meals he delivers is free of harmful antibiotics and other additives.

Editor doesn't know Bronx from Baltimore

The photo that should have appeared on Friday's Page 1. 

Editor Marty Gottlieb continues to obsess over sports, with daily coverage of the Yankees on Page 1, but readers are howling over weak columnists and embarrassing copy desk errors.

Even a non-baseball fan like me knows the Yankees faced the Orioles in the Bronx on Thursday night, so why does the sports column on Friday's Page 1 carry a Baltimore dateline? 

What about the purple prose from Staff Writer Bob Klapisch, complete with a typo?

"The teams are so evenly matched the game are more like wars, the at-bats thinly disguised hand-to-hand combat."

And you thought Mike Kelly was the worst writer on the paper?

Next to the Klapisch column on Friday, Gottlieb ran a big photo of Vice President Joe Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan after their debate on Thursday night, but the men were shown from the neck up.

They looked like they were arm wrestling or about to bite the other guy's ear off, but the caption said they were "shaking hands."

And why didn't The Record's story tell readers who "won" and "lost" the debate, as the media was so eager to do after the presidential candidates' face-off?

It gets even worse

Friday's paper got worse -- thanks to head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza.

The agoraphobic Road Warrior continues to rely on readers as his eyes and ears -- so Staff Writer John Cichowski's L-1 column delivered the breaking news that big trucks menace drivers on Route 17.

An astounding seven photos in Local on Friday and Saturday show the aftermath of non-fatal automobile accidents.

Saturday's Local section also has more than a dozen court or crime stories. 

Celebrating cheap beef

In the apparent belief readers can't get enough beef raised on harmful antibiotics and growth hormones, Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung wrote about a new Korean barbecue restaurant (Better Living on Friday).

Korean barbecue restaurants are notorious for offering cheap cuts of meat that are marinated to tenderize them and make them taste better. 

Ung doesn't even report that some Korean restaurants serve 10 or more free side dishes, compared to the six in a photo with her review (the other dishes shown are served only with barbecue).  

Does Gilmok in Closter offer shrimp or other seafood to grill on the table for non-meat eaters or customers who want to avoid mystery cuts of beef?

Does Gilmok, like virtually all Korean barbecue restaurants, require a minimum of two orders of meat ($22.95 to $28.95 each).

The answers to those and other questions don't appear in the lukewarm appraisal.

Turning off readers with sports

Image via Wikipedia

If you're not a sports fan, seeing a good two-thirds of today's front page devoted to baseball, basketball and golf may make you wonder what you're missing -- and what The Record of Woodland Park missed. It's the second day in a row sports has eaten up a large part of Page 1.

The lead story on A-1 is about the continuing controversy over state aid to schools, but it's all downhill from there, and I'm not referring to skiing.

In Local, you won't find any news of Hackensack, Teaneck, Englewood or many other Bergen County towns. Yet on the Business page, you will find a second story about the new iPad. Wasn't the first enough free advertising?