 |
| Cartoonists Dave Granlund, above, and Rick McKee, below, are saying we should expect more indictments and guilty pleas in the probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. I don't know if there was any truth to a tweet I saw last week that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has filed four more sealed indictments. |
 |
| The "small fry" charged in the probe so far could make deals with prosecutors and provide crucial testimony against higher ups in the 2016 campaign of President Trump, who left today on a 12-day trip to Asia. |
-- HACKENSACK, N.J.
By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR
Since 8 people were killed in lower Manhattan on Tuesday, The Record of Woodland Park has reported in depth on the Paterson man who authorities say was behind the deadly terror attack.
But my local daily newspaper seemed desperate to make a connection to what Columnist Mike Kelly called "the deadliest terror incident in New York City since 9/11" (1A on Wednesday).
That was a real stretch.
When Islamic terrorists crashed hijacked airliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, nearly 2,800 people were killed, including many New Jersey residents.
On Halloween, suspect Sayfullo Saipov, 29, who lived with his wife and young children in Paterson, drove a rental truck down a lower Manhattan bike path blocks from the site of the 9/11 attack, but was able to kill only 8 people before he was shot by police and arrested.
Wednesday's banner headline, referring to the Paterson suspect, who immigrated legally from the Central Asian country of Uzbekistan, said:
Wednesday's banner headline, referring to the Paterson suspect, who immigrated legally from the Central Asian country of Uzbekistan, said:
"JERSEY CONNECTION"
But The Record hasn't reported that Saipov worked as a driver for Uber, according to TV news stations.
The suspect said he was inspired by 90 graphic and violent Islamic State propaganda videos police found on his phone, BBC.com reported.
Sloppy coverage
On Thursday, the coverage of the attack filled the entire front page of The Record under another banner headline:
But at the bottom of the page, readers learned about another "Jersey connection" the staff apparently missed on Wednesday:
One of the 8 people killed was Darren Drake, 32, a New Milford native and former school board member.
Inside, a story by Staff Writers Scott Fallon and Lindy Washburn reported that also among those killed were "five longtime friends from Argentina on a trip to New York" (Thursday's 4A).
But a photo with the story showed eight people, and the caption below it listed the names of only four of them as among the dead. The fifth victim was never identified.
Readers have become accustomed to that kind of sloppiness since Gannett Co. bought The Record and laid off more than 350 employees of its publishing company, North Jersey Media Group, including most of the copy editors, who are supposed to catch and correct errors like that.
Regulate rentals?
Then on Thursday's Local front, Columnist John Cichowski, aka Road Warrior, wrote about how "easy" it was for him and another reporter to go to Home Depots and rent a truck like the one the suspect used in the attack less than 24 hours earlier.
How asinine.
In fact, Cichowski was so desperate to fill space that he actually interviews and quotes the other staffer, Ricardo Kaulessar,
"They didn't ask me what I need the truck for," Kaulessar was quoted as saying.
More desperation
By today, other news intruded on the terror attack, and the front page carried stories about the GOP tax plan, and the teachers union trying to stop the reelection of Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney, one of the most powerful Democrats in the state (1A).
But Kelly, the columnist, refused to give up, and he tried mightily to connect the deadly truck attack to artist Maya Lin, who is best known for designing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
In his third paragraph on Page 1, Kelly explained why he would be going on and on about Lin:
The 8 people were killed "a short distance from her Manhattan studio."
He also apparently asked her to reflect on Tuesday's terror attack, and quoted her saying:
"For now, we're in the middle of something. And it is a horrible something."
How profound. She could just as well be referring to the Trump administration or global warming.
Threats to Muslims
Another Page 1 story reported that "North Jersey Muslims were on edge Thursday" after a Paterson mosque received "hate-fueled phone calls threatening violence and arson" following the arrest of the suspect (1A).
Deep into the story, The Record noted, "Tuesday's attack brought new negative attention to Paterson" (8A).
That's rich.
In the past 15 years, the Woodland Park daily has done little else but publish negative stories about the city, including a major series on how whites from nearby suburbs were drawn to Paterson drug dealers.
The series included a street map of Paterson, showing where drugs were being sold.
Revised bylines
Gannett has revised bylines again.
Here is the byline over today's story on threats to a Paterson mosque:
"Hannan Adely and Joe Malinconico
"North Jersey Record
"USA TODAY NETWORK -- NEW JERSEY"
So now The Record is being called "North Jersey Record," a name the daily newspaper never had.
On Thursday, the coverage of the attack filled the entire front page of The Record under another banner headline:
"'CONSUMED BY HATE'"
"Officials
paint life
of troubled
young man"
But at the bottom of the page, readers learned about another "Jersey connection" the staff apparently missed on Wednesday:
One of the 8 people killed was Darren Drake, 32, a New Milford native and former school board member.
Inside, a story by Staff Writers Scott Fallon and Lindy Washburn reported that also among those killed were "five longtime friends from Argentina on a trip to New York" (Thursday's 4A).
But a photo with the story showed eight people, and the caption below it listed the names of only four of them as among the dead. The fifth victim was never identified.
Readers have become accustomed to that kind of sloppiness since Gannett Co. bought The Record and laid off more than 350 employees of its publishing company, North Jersey Media Group, including most of the copy editors, who are supposed to catch and correct errors like that.
Regulate rentals?
Then on Thursday's Local front, Columnist John Cichowski, aka Road Warrior, wrote about how "easy" it was for him and another reporter to go to Home Depots and rent a truck like the one the suspect used in the attack less than 24 hours earlier.
How asinine.
In fact, Cichowski was so desperate to fill space that he actually interviews and quotes the other staffer, Ricardo Kaulessar,
"They didn't ask me what I need the truck for," Kaulessar was quoted as saying.
More desperation
By today, other news intruded on the terror attack, and the front page carried stories about the GOP tax plan, and the teachers union trying to stop the reelection of Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney, one of the most powerful Democrats in the state (1A).
But Kelly, the columnist, refused to give up, and he tried mightily to connect the deadly truck attack to artist Maya Lin, who is best known for designing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
In his third paragraph on Page 1, Kelly explained why he would be going on and on about Lin:
The 8 people were killed "a short distance from her Manhattan studio."
He also apparently asked her to reflect on Tuesday's terror attack, and quoted her saying:
"For now, we're in the middle of something. And it is a horrible something."
How profound. She could just as well be referring to the Trump administration or global warming.
Threats to Muslims
Another Page 1 story reported that "North Jersey Muslims were on edge Thursday" after a Paterson mosque received "hate-fueled phone calls threatening violence and arson" following the arrest of the suspect (1A).
Deep into the story, The Record noted, "Tuesday's attack brought new negative attention to Paterson" (8A).
That's rich.
In the past 15 years, the Woodland Park daily has done little else but publish negative stories about the city, including a major series on how whites from nearby suburbs were drawn to Paterson drug dealers.
The series included a street map of Paterson, showing where drugs were being sold.
Revised bylines
Gannett has revised bylines again.
Here is the byline over today's story on threats to a Paterson mosque:
"Hannan Adely and Joe Malinconico
"North Jersey Record
"USA TODAY NETWORK -- NEW JERSEY"
So now The Record is being called "North Jersey Record," a name the daily newspaper never had.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please keep on topic.