Wanted: enigmatic cops reporter

Just a few days after a strange species of bipedal apes made their way out of the trees, Jim Kinney penned his try-out article for the Saratogian. By the time Sir William Johnson suckled up to the High Rock Spring in 1767, Kinney had already achieved lead-reporter status in the newsroom and wrote a brief about the whole affair along with his cop roundup.

Since that time, the Saratogian’ s police and Saratoga County reporter has literally choked the paper with his by-line. This year alone, his name has appeared 104 times in the Saratogian and 15 in the Troy Record. In other words, Kinney produced about 13 articles during the average work week; for those in the business, this is what is known as an impressive output of copy.

Simply put, Kinney is more a news machine than a news reporter. And that news machine will soon have a change of scenery for the first time this century. Saratogian managing editor Barbara Lombardo announced last week Kinney’s impending departure for Springfield, Mass., the heroin capital of the Northeast.

Starting later this month, Kinney will take up a post with the Springfield Republican, an 85,000-plus circulation daily owned by Newhouse Newspapers. The company operates 37 newspapers in 10 states, including the Post-Standard in Syracuse and the New Orleans Times Picayune, the largest paper in Louisiana.

For those who have never met Kinney in person, he’s a tall, somewhat gangly fellow with close-cropped hair, a slight speech impediment and a stiff upper lip. Probably the best description is that he’s the apple-pie eating football-loving ‘all-American boy’ type.

In as much, his politics leans on the conservative side. He was nearly a cheerleader for former Congressman John Sweeney and literally ignored a story about the Republican’s son being arrested for a brutal beating in Stillwater. Kinney also tends to gravitate to the side of cops and the legal system. Often times, his crime articles include bullshit back-slapping comments local cops espouse in an almost self-congratulatory way after a minor arrest; the ‘good police work’ garbage most reporters omit for obvious reasons.

Still, Kinney has been a bastion at the paper and his hard work is undeniable. In fact, his decade-long presence at the Saratogian has been somewhat of an enigma, seeing as though the paper routinely turns over its staff once a month. Kinney is among the last vestiges leftover from the Gannet days. Local readers have marveled about the mindset it takes to achieve this sort of longevity at such a calamity of a paper.

But as Lombardo attests in her seldom-read blog, Kinney did it all with a smile. Most of the times at least. Some former Saratogian reporters have marveled at the strength with which Kinney’s fingers hammer his keyboard. Other speak volumes about Kinney’s deadline face -sort of the expression one would make while passing a kidney stone.

Like his reporting or not, Kinney will leave behind some big shoes for the Journal Register Company to fill. In truth, they’ll probably never find a reporter to put up with the abuses Kinney has undoubtedly withstood during his tenure. Most likely, they’ll throw a few pennies at a recent college grad, who will then mercilessly stumble through the beat for several months before getting a solid footing and seeking better employment. In other words, get ready for another dip in Saratogian quality.