News media obsession with politics slowly tears our country apart, turns off voters

"I just want to help the institution reach its full potential," President Trump says at the United Nations. This is from Jimmy Margulies, onetime editorial cartoonist at The Record of Woodland Park.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

The loaded word, the dirty word of the last decade is "politics," and the news media love to use it liberally.

They know partisan politics and partisan bickering spark conflict and cause gridlock in Washington, and they use it in story after story as an excuse to ignore issues and what is best for the nation. 

But politics is a huge turnoff for voters, who have shown how apathetic they are by sitting out even the biggest national, state and local elections.

In the debate over repealing the Affordable Care Act, late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel said one of the sponsors, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, was lying about what is and isn't in the bill.

Cassidy shot back that Kimmel was politicizing the debate.

New Jersey

On Monday, The Record of Woodland Park, my local daily newspaper, could find room for only one issue -- taxes -- in its lead Page 1 story on the governor's race in New Jersey, but that was buried on the continuation page.

The headline: 

"MONEY, MORALS

AND THE ROAD AHEAD"

To politicize the story, party labels are used liberally -- "Democratic nominee Phil Murphy" and "Republican nominee Kim Guadagno" (the state's lieutenant governor), lead off the first two paragraphs.

Murphy is identified as a former banker and "finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee."

There is no discussion by Dustin Racioppi, the reporter who is assigned to cover Governor Christie, of what Murphy and Guadagno are proposing to do to repair all the damage the GOP bully did during in his two terms in office.

Christie's assaults on mass transit, the environment and state pension funds are well-known.

But Racioppi has been derelict in keeping up with the governor's nearly 600 vetoes. None of them is mentioned in Monday's scene setter.

Instead, Racioppi's stories on the campaign are full of politics, and he doesn't hesitate to describe proposals with loaded words, including "progressive" and "free-spending liberal." 

'Progressive'

On Tuesday, Racioppi assumed the role of spoiler in his lead paragraph on 3A, labeling Murphy's proposal to provide free community college in New Jersey "a progressive but costly proposal."

He doesn't let up, claiming in the third paragraph that Murphy "has been criticized for the price tags associated with his proposals."

Of course, readers don't find out until later Racioppi is indulging in politics, because he is referring to Republicans, including Christie, who vetoed a bill to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, calling the proposal "radical."

The governor also put the kibosh several times on bills to impose a tax surcharge on millionaires that would raise more than $1 billion a year.  

"The notion of states and the federal government offering free college has plenty of detractors, including the Republican governor Murphy is seeking to replace" in January, the reporter says.

"When Christie was running for president, he panned the idea as a 'typical liberal approach' that 'is wrong,'" says Racioppi, sounding like a puppet instead of a journalist.

'Free-spending liberal'

In a story on Wednesday reporting Barack Obama plans to host an event for Murphy, who was U.S. ambassador to Germany under the former president, Racioppi says:

"But for all of his money and support, Murphy faces a challenge on his Wall Street background and is frequently compared to [former Governor Jon] Corzine as a free-spending liberal whose proposal would put New Jersey on a path to economic ruin."

Of course, Racioppi doesn't mention Christie already accomplished that, balancing his budgets year after year with funds he stole from mass transit, cleaning up the environment, women's health initiatives, school-lunch programs and other areas.

And without doing any fact-checking, Racioppi channels a Guadagno campaign ad, paid for by the Republican Governors Association, which claims Murphy is "so out of touch, he's campaigning on a promise to raise New Jersey taxes by at least $1.3 billion a year ..., but New Jersey families can stop him this November."

'High and mighty'

Racioppi deliberately ignored an Aug. 18 NJ.com report that Murphy's $1.3 billion tax hike would be financed by millionaires, corporations and pot smokers: 

"Who pays for that 4 percent jump in spending? In short, the high and the mighty.

"The state's wealthiest will pay more in income tax, corporations would see tax loop-holes closed, and marijuana smokers would see their drug of choice become legalized -- and taxed.

"According to a Murphy spokesman, the proposed tax increases would raise roughly $1.3 billion a year, with a separate $80 million to $100 million with reforms that lower out-of-network health care costs."

Elaine D'Aurizio

Even though Elaine D'Aurizio was the first and so far only woman to write a column for The Record, the Woodland Park daily never profiled her in an expanded obituary after her death on Sept. 6. She was 76.

But tributes were posted on Facebook, including this one from former Law & Order Editor Jerry DeMarco:

"She took a 20-something wiseass who knew nothing about covering cops and told him what to do, what to say. More importantly, she taught by example. When that wiseass took heat, she told him not to change a thing for those folks (OK, she used saltier terminology). She made him feel smart, important, special. Sure, it's a cliche -- but those usually are truest: They don't make 'em like Elaine anymore. Haven't for a long time."

Also on Facebook, Patrick Reynolds, who works at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said: 

"RIP Elaine ...she did a story on Lincoln Tunnel ..Tunnel and Bridge Agents and how they saved a little boy who was choking on a hot dog while in rush hour traffic on the NY side of the Tunnel....I was a union shop steward at the time and a TBA as well...she met us at the Lincoln Tunnel and was amazed at the training and responsibilities these men and women had. The boy was unconscious when my guys got to him and worked for what seemed a lifetime and soon after they dislodged the hot dog and slowly brought him back. She was in tears while hearing the story from the TBA's who responded. The father was extremely grateful. As you know most of the times these stories don't have a happy ending. May she rest in peace." 

Scott McNiff, a police officer, commented:

"Oh no! She was a nice lady and an excellent journalist . She did a story on my father in her "Above and Beyond" column after he dove into the frozen Hudson River and saved a suicidal person, and then did a story on me in the same column a few years later for saving the life of a seven year old boy. I think we were the first father and son to be featured in the same column. I still have her story. She was a class act and will be missed. So sorry for the loss to the world of journalism as well as humanity."

Her eulogy was delivered on Sept. 9 at Our Lady of the Valley R.C. Church in Wayne by Stephen Smith, her nephew.

You'll find the full text in the comments section at the end of the post, but here is an excerpt:

"Elaine D’Aurizio was a journalist, and a good one. As a journalist she knew that a good story is in the human details not the platitudes. People tell us who they are in the little gestures and moments they share with us, the exchanges and small generosities that reverberate and stay with us.

"And that is also how she showed her love for all of us – in the details of knowing and empathizing with us."