Gersh Kuntzman
{{short description|American journalist}}
{{third-party|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Gersh Kuntzman
| image = Gersh_kuntzman_2015.jpg
| caption = Kuntzman in 2015
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| occupation = Journalist
| website = {{url|http://gershkuntzman.homestead.com}}
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Gersh Kuntzman is an American journalist.
Career
=Journalism=
Kuntzman previously worked for the New York Post, writing the column "MetroGnome," which ran during 1995–2004.{{cite web |title=BIO OF GERSH KUNTZMAN |url=https://gershkuntzman.homestead.com/Gersh_bio_2015.pdf |website=gershkuntzman.blogspot.com |accessdate=3 July 2020}} He had a weekly column for Newsweek online that ran during 2001–2005.{{cite web |title=Gersh Kuntzman Resume |url=https://gershkuntzman.homestead.com/Gersh_Kuntzman_sresume.pdf |website=homestead.com |accessdate=3 July 2020}}
In 2005, Kuntzman became editor of The Brooklyn Paper, a group of community newspapers covering Kings County, New York. During his tenure, he won awards for Editor of the Year and Columnist of the Year from the Suburban Newspapers of America.{{cite web|url=http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/30/31/30_31noty.html|title=The Brooklyn Paper is 'Newspaper of the Year'|date=11 August 2007 |publisher=|accessdate=31 March 2017}} His editorial writing also won awards from the Independent Free Papers of America. That organization also gave The Brooklyn Paper its Vic Jose Award in 2009.{{cite web|url=http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/32/39/32_39_gk_brooklyn_paper_wins_more_awards.html|title=We win — again! More awards for your Brooklyn Paper!|publisher=|accessdate=31 March 2017}}
In 2012, Kuntzman became deputy managing editor for news at the New York Daily News, where he later became a columnist until 2016.
In 2016, Kuntzman became the center of widespread attention when he wrote an article titled "Firing an AR-15 is horrifying, menacing, and very very loud." In the article, Kuntzman says that he traveled to a gun range in Philadelphia to shoot a "military-style weapon" so that he could better understand such weapons' appeals in the wake of the Orlando nightclub shooting. He said, "It felt to me like a bazooka—and sounded like a cannon." Kuntzman further described the experience by saying that "The recoil bruised my shoulder" and "The smell of sulfur and destruction made me sick." Some consider the most controversial part of the article was when Kuntzman claimed, "The explosions—like a bomb—gave me a temporary form of PTSD".{{cite web|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/firing-ar-15-horrifying-dangerous-loud-article-1.2673201|title=Firing an AR-15 is horrifying, menacing, and very very loud|work=NY Daily News|author=Gersh Kuntzman|accessdate=November 15, 2016}} Kuntzman faced widespread ridicule for the article, particularly the claim that he suffered from PTSD, with some critics saying such a claim diminished the severity of PTSD suffered by veterans.{{cite web|url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jun/15/gersh-kuntzman-ny-daily-news-writer-firing-ar-15-g/|title=Gersh Kuntzman, N.Y. Daily News writer: Firing AR-15 'gave me a temporary form of PTSD'|work=The Washington Times|author=Douglas Ernst|accessdate=November 15, 2016}}{{Cite web |url=https://taskandpurpose.com/military-life/nyc-journalist-claims-shooting-ar-15-gave-ptsd/ |title=NYC Journalist Claims Shooting An AR-15 Gave Him PTSD |last=Linehan |first=Adam |date=2016-06-15 |website=Task & Purpose |access-date=2024-12-11}} Kuntzman later wrote another article further criticizing gun owners, noting that many of them had sent him videos of "7-, 10- and 12-year old girls" firing the weapon while smiling.{{cite web|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/gun-lovers-opinion-assault-rifles-article-1.2674555|title=To gun lovers, you can't even have an opinion on assault rifles - unless it's theirs. Here's the proof|work=NY Daily News|author=Gersh Kuntzman|accessdate=November 15, 2016}}
In April 2016, Kuntzman criticized U.S. government's drone assassination program and implied that the Obama administration may be guilty of war crimes."[http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/president-obama-legacy-death-drones-article-1.2601570 President Obama should apologize when he visits atomic bomb site in Hiroshima — and while he's at it, he should swear off drone strikes]". NY Daily News. April 14, 2016. He also wanted President Obama to apologize for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
Following the assassination of Andrei Karlov, Russian ambassador to Turkey, on 19 December 2016, Kuntzman compared his murder by Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş to the assassination of Nazi German diplomat Ernst vom Rath by Jewish student Herschel Grynszpan, saying "justice has been served".{{cite web|last1=Gersh|first1=Kuntzman|title=Assassination of Russian Ambassador Andrei Karlov was not terrorism, but retribution for Vladimir Putin's war crimes|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/don-cry-russia-slain-envoy-putin-lackey-article-1.2917281|website=New York Daily News|accessdate=20 December 2016}} The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman wrote on her Facebook page to Kuntzman: "you have said that the fight of the Jewish people against anti-Semitism in 1930s amounts to the terrorist ways of the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra ... Are they really the same to you?""[https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/311380-kremlin-blasts-us-newspaper-demands-apology-for-justifying-assassination-of/ Kremlin demands US paper apologize for 'justifying' assassination]". The Hill. December 21, 2016.
In 2017, he began work as breaking news editor of Newsweek; he was fired in February 2018.{{cite web |last1=Kelly |first1=Keith J. |title=Newsweek fires two more editors as turmoil escalates |url=https://nypost.com/2018/02/27/newsweek-fires-two-more-editors-as-turmoil-escalates/ |website=nypost.com |date=27 February 2018 |publisher=NYP Holdings, Inc. |accessdate=19 May 2020}} He joined Streetsblog NYC as its editor-in-chief later that year in July.{{Cite web |title=Gersh Kuntzman - Editor-in-Chief at OpenPlans |url=https://theorg.com/org/openplans/org-chart/gersh-kuntzman |access-date=2023-01-19 |website=THE ORG |language=en}}
=Activism=
Kuntzman was featured in a December 2022 New York Times article that focused on citizens "cleaning up" license plates which had been intentionally damaged or obscured for the purpose of avoiding tolls and speed cameras.{{Cite news |last=Kilgannon |first=Corey |date=2022-12-17 |title=They Dispense Street Justice, One Defaced License Plate at a Time |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/17/nyregion/license-plate-vigilantes.html |access-date=2023-01-31 |issn=0362-4331}} A subsequent article in The New Yorker{{Cite magazine |date=2023-01-16 |title=At Large with New York's One-Man Crime Spree |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/01/23/at-large-with-new-yorks-one-man-crime-spree |access-date=2023-01-19 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US}} and a segment on This American Life{{Cite magazine| date=2024-04-05 |title=Minor Crimes Division Prologue |url=https://www.thisamericanlife.org/828/minor-crimes-division/prologue-2 |access-date=2024-09-03 |magazine=This American Life |language=en-US}} featured the same work.
Kuntzman described himself as a supporter of the Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton."[http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/voted-clinton-don-president-article-1.2884943 I voted for Hillary Clinton — and even I don't want her to be president at this point]". NY Daily News. November 23, 2016.
Personal life
Kuntzman is Jewish.{{cite news |last=Kuntzman |first=Gersh |date=2018-04-08 |title=We must show solidarity with Muslim-Americans in face of Trump administration fear-mongering |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/2016/11/18/we-must-show-solidarity-with-muslim-americans-in-face-of-trump-administration-fear-mongering/ |work=New York Daily News |quote=I am a Jew. |access-date=2024-12-24}}
Footnotes
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External links
- {{Official website|http://www.gershkuntzman.com}}
- [http://www.nydailynews.com/authors?author=GERSH-KUNTZMAN Daily News archive for Gersh Kuntzman] Daily News writers page
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