Reporter John H. Kuhn set an example that few follow

On River Street in Hackensack, you can make one stop for cheap gasoline and even cheaper, low-quality hamburgers.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I seriously doubt that many of the reporters at The Record will read the obituary of John H. Kuhn on the Local news front today.

And if they do, it's unlikely they'll try to match the disabled reporter's energy or his insistence on going out into the field to cover a story (L-1).

"He [Kuhn] churned out many thousands of stories over 43 years, often four or more a day," Staff Writer Jay Levin says.

"In the newsroom and in the leafy, affluent towns he called his own, the longtime Norwood resident was known as Mr. Northern Valley."

Today, the bylines of some members of the staff appear infrequently, as they take it easy under the protection of their benevolent local assignment editors, Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza.

Stories are longer, though often not complete, and many of them are done by telephone or are based on press releases.

At The Record of Woodland Park, local news is no longer a priority, and Law & Order and court stories often dominate the section called "Local."

Brendan Jordan

The coverage of Brendan Jordan's death in a New Milford school gymnasium on Jan. 7 is typical of how the local-news staff covers stories.

Today, 10 days after the 7-year-old was fatally injured by a falling bench, a front-page story reports a safety mechanism wasn't engaged and a backup safety device was missing, "according to a police report released on Friday" (A-1).

The staff didn't attempt to do any independent reporting or ask the obvious questions about maintenance before release of the police report.

And New Milford School Superintendent Michael Polizzi "declined to comment" on the report, firm in the knowledge The Record's reporters always take "no" for an answer.

A sidebar with comment from the boy's parents, Tyler and Veronica Jordan, also on Page 1, doesn't ask the obvious question:

Will the Jordans hire an attorney and file a lawsuit against the district that may ultimately force the superintendent and his maintenance staff to pay more attention to school safety?

Eye on The Record 

will return next week