What the Berkeley Heights Massage Parlor “Breaking News” Tells Us About Power, Privilege and Hyperlocal News Blogs
What the Berkeley Heights Massage Parlor “Breaking News” Tells Us About Power, Privilege and Hyperlocal News Blogs
-John Migueis
A recent headline from a local news outlet brought a wave of attention to a police report:
Police Chief William Ives reports the arrest of a 64-year-old female following an ongoing investigation into illicit activities at a local business. Changling Wang, who resided and worked at Qitopia Massage Spa on Springfield Avenue, was taken into custody by Berkeley Heights Police Detectives with the assistance of the Union County Prosecutor’s Office Intelligence and Narcotics Division on Wednesday, November 13, 2024 following a month-long investigation.
The story continues, detailing an undercover operation that led to Wang’s arrest for alleged prostitution. The press release – front and center on the site as if it were an article and published a mere day after the arrest, goes on to note that she was processed and released with a pending court date.
What does this incident tell us about the state of hyperlocal journalism, particularly when compared to the far less sensational local political stories that often go uncovered?
While local media made room on the front page for the arrest of a private individual—one who is neither a public figure nor a political leader—other, arguably more consequential, events have gone largely unnoticed. In fact, numerous incidents that could directly impact the residents of Berkeley Heights have been either buried in the back pages or simply ignored altogether:
September 14, 2021: The Union County Prosecutor’s office entered into a de facto agreement with the local school district over violations of the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) by the former Board of Education (BOE) majority. There was no fanfare. No investigative coverage. Just a terse, celebratory letter praising the district’s compliance while also outlining changes that were to be made.
November 4, 2021: The New Jersey Department of Education found that the district, under Dr. Varley and the former BOE majority, violated educational adequacy and bidding laws. Yet, this revelation was nowhere to be found in the local press.
October 19, 2022: The School Ethics Commission rejected motions to dismiss complaints about improper use of district funds in pursuing ethics claims against a former BOE member. This too failed to make the headlines.
This Year: A state judge ruled in favor of a complaint against the former BOE Majority, recommending disciplinary action for unethical conduct. While this ruling was reported, key findings were omitted, giving the impression that the district was largely blameless, despite mounting evidence to the contrary.
January 12, 2023: The New Jersey Attorney General settled with Dr. Melissa Varley over nepotism allegations. This was mentioned in a single, buried sentence in a larger article, hardly drawing the level of scrutiny such a serious finding warranted.
April 25, 2024: The public discovered that the district had spent $34,000 on two losing OPRA cases. This was two out of several the District lost. This didn’t even get a mention in the local press.
Additionally, stories that could hold local officials to account have been either buried or censored altogether:
A resident’s fact-based response to a candidate statement was removed without explanation. When concrete evidence was presented to justify the response, the reasoning shifted from “it’s not fact-based” to a vague claim that the publication didn’t want to “encourage divisiveness.”
A Board of Education member’s questionable social media activity, as well as misleading statements made regarding the existence of a key proficiency report, were never fully investigated or reported on.
Even more troubling, there are pressing questions regarding local spending priorities that have gone ignored. For example, the recent council vote on a $450,000 project to repave a road that had already been worked on the year before. Why wasn’t this money directed towards addressing the hazardous roads the township had only recently acknowledged? A closer look at the meeting would raise even more questions about the council’s priorities—but the press has largely been silent.
When we broke news about campaign money flooding the BOE race, the response from the established media was swift—and misleading. An op-ed appeared in a local news blog that incorrectly claimed the financial figures we reported were inaccurate. The numbers came directly from NJ Elec. Within 24 hours, those figures were adjusted on the state election site.
The op-ed also failed to address crucial details, such as campaign donations from state Senator Scutari or the controversial no-bid contract awarded to a campaign vendor and a donor to the campaign also being paid by the town for professional services—information that should have been central to the conversation. Instead, the op-ed belittled the reporting by labeling it as coming from a “blog.”
Contrast this with the swift, front-page coverage of a massage parlor arrest.
So, while the arrest of a massage parlor employee makes for an eye-catching headline, it is important to consider the broader context of local news coverage—or the lack thereof.
This disparity in reporting raises important questions about the role of hyperlocal news blogs and outlets, the relationship these outlets have to positions of power and influence, and whether they are truly serving the public’s interest.
I’m also left wondering whether this business owner has a PR team or an army of publicly funded attorneys defending or spinning her every move. Of course she doesn’t- and perhaps that’s what makes her such an easy target.
The key issue here isn’t the arrest itself, but the way the local press picks and chooses which stories to highlight, and more troublingly, which ones to ignore. Until these patterns change, residents may continue to be left in the dark about the most pressing issues affecting their community. And that, in itself, is the real story, in my opinion.
NJ21st does not profit from its content, does not accept money for campaign or business advertisements and is not run by a corporation. We welcome content from ALL residents, regardless of political affiliation to contribute content as long as they work or reside in the 21st District and abide by our terms.