The Record

One hesitates to quote Shakespeare to the Editors of The Record. The thought of all that dust rising from their library shelves is enough to make me sneeze. They do, however, "protest too much".

The Editors of the Record (known affectionately as the "Hacks on the Hackensack") announced that they were closing their main office, firing photographers, and reporters would operate from homes and automobiles by cell phone. This announcement, in the context of falling subscription rates and declining advertising revenues, led to the inevitable observation that the Record is on a course to bankruptcy.

It was a fair point. Newspapers are failing every day. The Record is located in one of the best demographic regions of the nation but has been increasingly marginalized. Its readership is aging and limited to the least educated and lowest economic base of Bergen County. Subscription rates and the County mortality rate are almost exactly equal.

The Record probably would have died anyway but the decision to abandon its role as the staple of suburban living and adopt an angry and mean tone accelerated the larger destructive trends. Newspapers are dying every day but some survive by filling niches. The Star Ledger has become the only credible source of state news while the New York Times and Washington Post have become indispensable as sources of international or national information. The Record decided that it had a role as the mirror of everything that was ugly on the face of its own constituency.

A rather excellent column by The Record’s Charles Stile could put the kibosh on a fundraiser that was expected to bring in $60,000 for U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg’s re-election campaign.   The Lautenberg campaign, according to the published report, had devised a scam of sorts: they requested forty premium seats to the Bruce Springsteen concert at Giants Stadium through their friends at the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which they intended to buy at $108 per ticket and sell for $1,500 each.   

More from PolitickerNJ.com:
Round One: Torricelli on The (Bergen) Record
Round Two: Doblin takes on Torricelli

Alfred Doblin, the editorial page editor and columnist for The Record, was offended by former U.S. Sen. Bob Torricelli's PolitickerNJ.com Op-Ed that sharply criticized his newspaper.

"Being lectured on meanness by the likes of Bob Torricelli is akin to Amy Winehouse leading a rehab retreat for substance abusers," Doblin wrote.  CLICK HERE TO READ DOBLIN'S COLUMN

Former U.S. Sen. Bob Torricelli says The Record is dead
The Record announced yesterday that it was closing its Hackensack offices and "reinventing"itself. It was actually announcing its own death without the benefit of the Obit page.

It reminded me of the death of an aging uncle. You felt badly because of the loss but you remembered all of the times that he kicked the dog and yelled at the kids.

It's a death march that started long ago. A generation ago, the Record was the Bible for suburban living in Bergen County. Every local football game, road closing and store opening filled its pages. It was "A Friend of the People it Serves". Somewhere it all fell apart.

It's easy to dismiss its death as an evitable result of changes in technology. The Internet will eventually destroy most newspapers but the looming death of the Record is still ahead of its time. Bergen County has among the best demographics in the United States. Incomes are high, educational levels are good and there's a real sense of local community. Available advertising from retailers may be the best in the nation.

It has everything that the Ledger, Inquirer and a dozen other papers lack. They'll survive another decade or two while the Record will be gone in a matter of a few years. Why?

Congratulations to The Record’s Jeff Pillets, John Brennan and Tim Nostrand, whose stories on the Encap development plan at the Meadowlands has been named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting.   The nomination was "for their probe of how plans to build a luxury community atop old landfills became entangled in questionable state loans and other allegations of favoritism."

Bergen County Executive Dennis McNerney, a Democrat, has proposed some regionalization of local government services, which prompted The Record to run a pair of Op-Ed items from small-town Mayors who oppose the possible challenge to their home rule.  Should the newspaper have noted that both the Mayors -- Sophie Heymann of Closter and George Fosdick of Ridgefield Park -- are registered Republicans?

Which Democratic presidential candidate is the real “agent of change”? 

That was the topic of The Record’s Charles Stile’s column on Tuesday.

In his political column previewing last night’s Hillary Clinton for President fundraiser organized by Bergen County Democrat Chair Joe Ferriero, Stile questioned the legitimacy of Clinton’s reform message.