In that context, The Record is an increasingly endangered and valuable species. As chain owners have denuded local newspapers of muscle, The Record, a family-owned business, has managed to avoid the wholesale cuts that have decimated other newspapers. It helps to have dedicated ownership: Started in 1895, The Record has been owned since 1930 by the Borg family, which has called all the shots.

The family has made sure that the newspaper is a source of accountability and high-quality information. About 200 people, including 85 reporters, work in the newsroom of The Record.

How important is local ownership? It was Stephen Borg, the publisher and the fourth generation of the family to serve in that role, who gave the initial tip about the traffic tie-up to Mr. Gottlieb.

Beyond that, family ownership allows continuity of purpose and personnel. Many of the chains churn through journalists quickly or alter their job descriptions as the strategy of the moment dictates. But Mr. Cichowski is a veteran, having written the traffic column for more than a decade, and Mr. Boburg has been reporting on every wiggle and wobble of the Port Authority for three years.

When news broke that the governor’s office was involved in the closings, Rachel Maddow of MSNBC interviewed Mr. Boburg on her show and reminded viewers: “Anytime you see a story on national TV that starts in a small town, odds are that story began with local reporters who would not give up and who reported it right and aggressively, even though it always stirs stuff up on their hometown beat. And so it is with today’s bombshell news.”

Mr. Gottlieb, who started out at The Record many years ago and came back two years ago from The New York Times, has watched in wonder at what his reporters’ work has wrought. In a phone call, he reminded me that while the coverage of the bridge scandal was impressive, the track for that work was laid down in the months and years before it broke.

“It is no accident that Stephen would get a tip or that he would call me and Johnny would follow up,” he said. “The people that he called in Fort Lee know and trust him, so they told him what was going on. And then given the work that Shawn had already done on the Port Authority, it is not a coincidence that he would tease out a number of sensational stories over time.”