KANSAS CITY PITCH WEEKLY GIVES UP ON THE INTERNETS IN FAVOR OF FACEBOOK AMID TRAGIC WEBSITE REDESIGN!!!
The look of the new Pitch website redesign is nice and pleasing to the eye but abandons some basic Internets functionality that ultimately ruin the online presence.
The Pitch abandons open comments in favor of login
In only the rarest of exceptions this tactic simply chases commenters away and makes the site nothing more than a resource for more active social media aggregators.
The Pitch Has Drastically Curbed Their Posting Frequency
Studies suggest that the average lifespan of an article on the Internets is less than 48 hours at most. The majority of what the Pitch has posted over the past month is mostly generic music reviews, a few really great foodie notes and 1 or 2 news articles a week tops. For all intents and purposes, The Pitch seems to be hoping that print will save them amid dwindling revenue streams . . . And we don't even want to get into the strange biz behind their loan company lawsuit coverage that seems forced upon most readers.
The Pitch Brand Is Strong On Facebook
This risky move for a local print publication seems to put a lot faith in social media sharing and maybe overestimates the utility of a global distribution network's benefits for a biz model leveraging hyperlocal Kansas City insider coverage of topics that may not interest anyone beyond a small cross-section of aging hipsters and working professionals.
Reality . . . The Pitch has one really great reporter - Steve Vockrodt - who covers news, one EXCELLENT INSTITUTION OF A LOCAL NEWSMAN - Charles Feruzza - who is the judge and jury for every restaurant within the metro . . . And then . . . A bunch of other dweebs living off trust funds who are about as committed to this town as the next Justin Bieber tour.
Still . . . The weekly model is last bastion of the newsprint's viability. There is something important about a real world presence of local news and weekly articles offer more thoughtful reporting and commentary . . .
Don't get it twisted . . . TKC WANTS THE PITCH TO STAY WINNING . . . But there's no doubt that their path to sustainability no longer includes a vibrant web community and instead depends on fickle social media audiences who don't seem able to distinguish one click-bait article from the more thoughtful content this local news outlet provides.
Developing . . .
A lot of what you say is debatable here. I think comprehensive and more fact filled posts remain of interest to people for a longer time. But I will say that I only really the Pitch nowadays because it comes up in my Facebook feed.
ReplyDeletePitch is a poor man's New Times.
ReplyDeletePitch does great work and when they're on the money they can compete with any paper in the region. But there is a lot of filler there and a lot of content they could do without. It'll be interesting to see if they can make a horse race of it.
ReplyDeleteThe average lifespan on an article on the Internetz is less than 1 to 0 seconds.
ReplyDeletePitch is great, they are smart to stick to the paper. We still need the real world. Never forget that.
ReplyDeleteNortheast News is about to take over.
ReplyDeleteWhat about Ink? If the Star is looking to save money they should start to shut down that rag that's just about as useless as a used piece of toilet paper? Younger people don't read it and old people don't bother. One of the worst ideas ever to emerge from the idiots on 18th street.
ReplyDeleteWhat's facebook?
ReplyDeleteFuck Face Book.
ReplyDeleteInsane, self absorbed pyukes posting every time they take a shit.
Fuck the liberal Pitch too.
Maybe they could follow your business model, Tony, and troll a small and ever shrinking cadre of malcontented white subrube-an man-children who froth at the mouth over daily streetcar rants and race-baiting for an increasingly smaller and less relevant sub-culture.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't they just talk with Lyin' Sly and ask for taxpayer subsidies to try to sustain the unsustainable.
ReplyDelete8:16 is the one reader who will never leave coming here many times a day. He just admitted he is a troll while lashing out at Tony and his trolls. But will say it is interesting to see what crap will flow out of his mouth each day. Personally, I think he has several of these comments made that he just copies and pastes on here since they seldom seem to change word wise.
ReplyDeleteINK is just a bar guide for white girls. The Pitch has real substance.
ReplyDeleteWhat 9:11 said!
ReplyDeletePitch hasn't been good since Tony Ortega left. And it wasn't all that great then. But it was more local and in depth. Now it's a print version of Herne horrible site.
ReplyDeleteThe same company that owns the Pitch has these yuppie rags in cities around the country. Their purpose is to pretty much sell advertising for anything and about everything and then slop together some half researched biased stories to destroy reputations for the sake of the type of sensationalism that gains readers - something akin to the National Enquirer only even lower journalistic standards.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, legitimate print media is dying a painful death across the nation and about the only thing that keeps products like the Pitch in business are the lop-sided, sensationalistic, bullshit crap they write and print around a myriad of advertising that normal humans likely find a bit risque' at a minimum.
The Pitch is little more than chicken soup for the paranoid air heads who will likely accomplish little more than the other Trekkies.
Real tired, 916. Plus, you are slowing down with regard to your response time to any criticism of Tony.
ReplyDeleteThe Pitch is owned by SouthComm Communications in Nashville, Tn. http://www.southcomm.com/#!brands/sv13s
ReplyDeleteThe Pitch is being printed in St. Joseph now. Why?
ReplyDeleteThey couldn't pay their bills with The Star.
True.
^^^ That print facility won't belong to the star for very long. McClatchy is selling it off.
ReplyDeleteWho owns INK?
ReplyDelete^^^ The star.
ReplyDelete^^^ They're not going to restore your old salary wildman. Sorry about that.
ReplyDeleteIt's just as bad as the "redesign" of the KCPD website.
ReplyDeleteIf you can call it that.