'That's such a crummy newspaper'

Port Authority police have been trying to discourage drivers from using the $3.50 car-pool discount at Hudson River crossings, including the George Washington Bridge.

This week, I met a woman who never cancelled her subscription to The New York Times after she moved to Fort Lee from Manhattan decades ago.

"That's such a crummy newspaper," she sniffed, when I mentioned The Record.

You'd think she would be interested in The Record now that it has ex-Timesman Marty Gottlieb running the newsroom and ordering his subeditors and reporters to rewrite the New York paper and other media.

Get me rewrite

For three days running this week, the Woodland Park daily's front page was dominated by a scandal involving halfway houses -- a story The Times broke on Sunday.

Compare The Times' 10-month investigation to The Record's nearly 3-year investigation of a single man, Michael Mordaga, the former chief of detectives in Hackensack and at the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office.

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes squandered an estimated $500,000 in staff salaries, and didn't even come up with a story strong enough to put on Page 1.

Other media lead way

Today's lead front-page story on the Port Authority's car-pool discount is based on "recent media reports" (A-8).

Notice The Record's spin on drivers picking up other commuters at the Fort Lee end of the George Washington Bridge so they can ask for a car-pool discount -- $3.50 instead of the usual E-ZPass rush-hour toll of $9.50.

The story claims Port Authority police have a "safety concern," and that's why the bi-state agency has been ticketing drivers.

Of course. Drivers could pick up a rapist, murderer or worse -- a Tea Party member.

Discount disclaimer

But the truth is the Port Authority will do anything to prevent commuters from saving money after the agency hiked tolls on the Hudson River crossings last year, including raising the $2.50 car-pool discount.

Why does The Record refer to it as the "little-known" discount?

It's because the paper's so-called transportation reporters and its commuting columnist, Road Warrior John Cichowski, have rarely publicized any of the discounts available to car-poolers, hybrid-car owners and seniors.

Even today's A-1 story fails to mention the car-pool discount is available at any time of the day as long as you have three people in the car and you register beforehand by calling E-ZPass.

Mass hysteria

A brief on A-9 advises readers of another NJ Transit We Are Listening forum to hear complaints, comments or compliments from commuters.

A long-line of transportation reporters, starting with Deputy Assignment Editor Dan Sforza, have told commuters, We Are Not Listening. 

Instead of covering mass transit, The Record covers the meetings of mass-transit agencies.

Old data

The lead story in Sykes' Local section is about the mortality rate from open-heart surgeries at North Jersey hospitals, but the data is from 2009.

Sykes and Sforza managed to find two stories from sleepy Hillsdale.

Yet, there is no municipal news from Hackensack, Teaneck, Englewood or other large towns.

'Eye on The Record' will resume this week

Image via Wikipedia

Reporter Jimmy Olsen, left and Editor Perry White from a comic strip.

My open-heart surgery on Friday was a complete success, giving me many more years in which to kick around The Record of Woodland Park.


Laughing out loud.


Before I left the hospital this afternoon, I watched "Superman Returns" (2006), and enjoyed Frank Langella's turn as Perry White, editor in chief of the Daily Planet. So much personality, so much bluster.


I began comparing him to Francis Scandale, the dullard who has been hanging on for more than a decade as editor of The Record.


In the movie, one of the editors races for the elevator shouting, "Perry, I'm taking the seaplane."


Ha. During the recent flooding, Publisher Stephen A. Borg apparently put the kabosh on renting a helicopter to bring readers dramatic photos of extensive flooding in Paterson.


Borg always seems to come down on the side of money, not journalism.

Politicians love the word 'reform'

Image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr

Governor Christie says what he does on the
weekend is none of the media's business.

When a politician uses the word "reform," he's telling voters he wants to change a "bad" system. 


When The Record uses the phrase "reform message" above a photo of Governor Christie on the front page today, Editor Francis Scandale is telling readers he's  lost all objectivity and wants to promote the governor's agenda.


Page 1 today is filled with four state or local stories, with the exception of a photo from Italy, as Scandale continues to diss his staff of talented photographers.


Sick city


Below Christie's photo, a story by Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson reports Paterson Mayor Jeffrey Jones got into trouble by suggesting "desperation" among flood-weary city residents can lead to "terrorism."


Of course, you might wonder why they didn't turn to violence long ago, if you've ever seen the blocks of dilapidated housing in Paterson, or read about how the police cannot protect residents or the stories in The Record portraying the city as a center of drugs and prostitution.


Two embarrassing corrections appear on Page A-2 today.


Republican greed


Columnist Charles Stile delivers a harsh assessment of Christie courting wealthy supporters, but the column is on the Local front, not Page 1, where his stuff has appeared many times before.


"Christie has put forward an ethics reform plan but has done little to push it," Stile says on L-6. "Replenishing the party [and his own] coffers is the priority."


Light subject


The lead story in Local is installation of solar lights at an Englewood synagogue, but readers won't find any municipal news of Hackensack, as the solar system's laziest assignment desk, run by Editor Deirdre Sykes, continues to orbit in outer space.


In Business, a story by Staff Writer Rebecca Olles on the Missoni line at Target completely omits mention of the Hackensack store (L-7).


Time out


I expect to resume Eye on The Record next week after recovering from open-heart surgery at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center.


See: A heart-to-heart talk about food