Weekly Top Three

by: Thurman Hart

Fri Aug 01, 2008 at 12:38:25 AM EDT

Number Three:
 Aaron wants you to know that some guys have all the luck (yeah, I know, that isn't a Springsteen song, but he's not even two - give him a break).  

Fresh on the heels of our senior senior Senator dusting up the all-but-dead news-cycle, we find out that the Sports and Exposition Authority held a whole buttload of tickets in reserve for VIPs.  One of the VIPs is an unnamed Broadway theatre employee (probably not in the chorus line) who promptly listed the tickets on Craigs List.  

This isn't as bad as it could be - at least people were paying for the tickets:

More than 150 tickets went to sports authority commissioners, including Michael Neglia, who bought a total of 52 tickets to the three shows, and Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura, who purchased 48 tickets for tonight's concert.

For the money quote of why Jersey is so screwed from stem to stern, we go to Gary Bongiovanni:

"You want to take care of people as much as you can, within reason," said Gary Bongiovanni, editor in chief of Pollstar, a concert industry magazine. "It's just easier to say yes than to say no."

Wasn't that Sharpe James' re-election slogan?  Which brings us to...

Sharpe James was sentenced to twenty-seven months in a federal prison and then allowed to walk out of court a free man.  This is because we don't consider white collar crime, like government corruption, to be a "real crime".  This is another reason why Jersey gets screwed from stem to stern.  

When the judge says that a corrupt mayor really didn't victimize anyone, what can we hope for?  If James didn't hurt anyone, then it wasn't for lack of trying.  And, while the judge is right that it can't be considered for legal consideration without proof, no one really thinks this is the first time James stuck his thumb into the cookie jar and shared it with his buddies first.  

It should be noted that Duh Mare, Frank Hague, never really hurt anyone, either.  And he did a lot of good for Jersey City.  But, you know, he didn't pay for the hospital named after his mother from his own pocket.  And exactly how did he finance his lifestyle on such a paltry paycheck?

Chris Christie wants more time for Sharpe James.  I suggest he start by digging through some financial records.  And speaking of finances...

Number One:
What will they read?

It seems that the Star-Ledger, the flagship North Jersey paper that ranks fifteen in circulation in nationwide figures, is losing tens of millions of dollars.  Their answer?  No, not "actually become a statewide newspaper".  Close the Washington bureau after the Presidential election and - well - bust the union:

The owners of The Star-Ledger announced today they will sell the newspaper if they cannot win union concessions and persuade a large number of non-union, full-time workers to take buyouts in the next two months.

It seems that the Star-Ledger's problems stem from an over-reliance on classified advertisements for revenue.  Really?  Of all the things upon which to depend, it's the classifieds?  

The problem with the S-L, just like most newspapers, is that they haven't adapted to the idea of electronic delivery of news.  They've tried a few things that are worthwhile - like the NJ Voices group blog and the daily webcast.  But they haven't adjusted their revenue scheme to fit the means of delivery.  

If they would simply trade links, they would find their news stories floating higher in search engine results and that would result in more page views and, if they are smart, more ad revenue.  I know I've said this before, the Washington Post manages to do this.  Selling news just doesn't work - ask the New York Times why they abandoned the abominable "New York Times Select" online subscriptions (no one bought them).  The news is simply a way to get eyes on the screen so people can be exposed to your real product - advertising.

Yeah, it must be the union's fault.