the rix mix

I'm disappointed by the unexceptional reporting & commentary coming out of the Star-Ledger over the past week. The venerable Newark newspaper had a tragic & frightening story dropped on its doorstep last weekend, a terrible crime, & a pivotal event with a half-dozen & more angles; murder, police investigation, politics, citizen outrage, public safety, human interest, city history, & now immigration. The paper needed to be on top of & inside this story in every way. But it couldn't summon up the kind of concentrated focus it delivered (& won a Pulitzer) for the more investigative tale of the Jim McGreevey scandal & resignation. Even the resident misanthropic columnist, Paul Mulshine, should have been politely asked to go up to Ivy Hill or over to City Hall; Paul at least knows that where innocence & evil collide, often so do clarity & sentiment. Perhaps the Ledger's confusing website is part of the problem, & I haven't read everything there is to read in the blog section. It's difficult enough to get back to a web page one has read. The tags are useless. Breaking news favors TV cameras & sound bites, but a local newspaper still has the edge in breadth, depth, & reflection. Most likely, the Star-Ledger is understaffed.

Labels: Newark NJ, what I'm reading