 Blauner started in journalism as an assistant to Pete Hamill, before reporting for the Newark Star-Ledger in New Jersey and the Norwich Bulletin in Connecticut.From 1982 to 1991, Blauner wrote for New York magazine, covering crime, politics, and oddball city characters.Blauner also was the sole author of a full-length issue of the magazine, "The Voices of New York," (April 11, 1988), which was an oral history of the city from 1968 to 1988.