NJ Transit rail officials stop blaming the victim

The Midtown Bridge between Hackensack and Bogota, above, has been closed indefinitely for emergency repairs, borough police said today. The bridge was closed on Thursday, though I don't recall seeing anything in The Record.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

NJ Transit has stopped blaming the people who commit suicide by train.

On Page 1 of The Record today, Staff Writer Jim Norman reports rail suicides are on the upswing, prompting the public transit agency to work with the state Department of Human Services on new programs "aimed at stemming the tragic trend."

Nowhere in Norman's story does "trespasser" appear -- the word that NJ Transit repeatedly used to describe suicide victims in earlier stories by transportation reporter Karen Rouse.

Rouse completely and enthusiastically swallowed the agency line in every story she wrote about a rail suicide, and the paper often didn't even bother to identify the victim.

But The Record still shies away from asking NJ Transit why it doesn't build more fences or deploy more transit police to prevent people from using trains to kill themselves.

Bad headline

The Woodland Park daily managed to get midnight gay marriage ceremonies on today's front page, but chose an idiotic headline: "History struck at midnight."

What didn't strike was inspiration.

Editor Marty Gottlieb wasted more front page space on a professional football game and another look ahead at the Super Toilet Bowl in February (A-1).

Two more corrections from the newsroom that can't write straight or fact check appear on A-2.

Local yokels

Gottlieb wasn't the only editor scrambling for legitimate news: 

Deputy Assignment Flunky Dan Sforza put a story and huge photo of a "passive house" on the Local front today.

The L-1 story about a Teaneck couple and their energy efficient house has Sunday Real Estate section written all over it. 

Today's local-news section also carries an astounding four stories on walks, runs or ceremonies for various charities (L-1 and L-3).

Today's Better Living cover story on three career waiters is a refreshing break from the paper's mindless promotion of celebrity chefs, restaurants and their wealthy owners (BL-1).