In tabloid mode

The murder of a 9-year-old North Jersey boy in the city is the best the desperate, incompetent editors could do for the front page of The Record of Woodland Park today.

Doesn't that big Page 1 photo of grieving relatives make you sick over the paper's tabloid-like exploitation of them? Why doesn't the reporter discuss the obvious child-care issues of entrusting a child to relatives on a regular basis. Later, we have to endure sloppy editing, with a quote from the principal of the boy's school running twice at the end of the story.

At the bottom of the front page, another EnCap story appears, as if anyone still cares about the botched attempt to remake Meadowlands garbage dumps. Do we need any more examples of how New Jersey is a political cesspool of greedy developers and even greedier public officials? Why not highlight the good that may come of this debacle -- open space and more solar energy -- instead of leaving it to the end of the story? 

On Page A-4, there's a flattering "profile" of Mary Pat Christie, who will become first lady Jan. 19. The reporter doesn't have the good sense to ask her whether she is going to encourage her husband to eat a healthier diet or reform a campaign-finance system that allows only the rich to run for county or statewide office in New Jersey.

Looking for news of Hackensack, Teaneck and Englewood in the Local section? You won't find any. Yet a great deal of space is squandered on 10 political figures "to watch in 2010." I'm wondering whether we'll see any of them in handcuffs.

The rest of the paper went right into the recycling bin.