A beloved Kansas City writer and music aficionado recently earned an outpouring of sympathy and encouragement with his social media blast revealing continued harsh times at the local newspaper.
Here's the word:
"After 21+ years with The Kansas City Star, my time there has come to an end. The Star and parent company, McClatchy put several of us on a 90-day unpaid furlough back in April and on the 91st day they let us know we wouldn't be going back to work."
Accordingly and what this note confirms . . .
LAYOFFS CONTINUE AT THE KANSAS CITY STAR AS THE McCLATCHY ACQUISITION THREATENS MORE COST CUTTING!!!
The response that we've seen from local newsies is hopeful but also naive.
Not all of the KC Star castaways can work for cut-rate prices for public TV or NPR. We've seen a few launch startup e-mail newsletters and blog operations that are nothing more than 2020 campaign season ploys funded by progressive political interests . . . The funding is sketchy and doesn't include dental for workers stuck stringing out progressive talking points and hoping for rigged social media attention.
We won't pretend to have the answer for desperate newsies . . . Mayor Quinton Lucas has floated the idea of (more) taxpayer support for the newspaper that would completely ruin their credibility and any semblance of objectivity.
And whilst the public feigns love of local "journalism" (lulz) the numbers tell a different story. Far more people would rather scroll social media to spy on former loves and spar with family and frenemies rather than learn about sordid local government actions.
On the bright side, TV is doing a much better job of stepping up their local reporting game and their reach is far greater than dead-tree media.
Blame COVID-19 or the decline of literacy in America . . . But there is now simply no denying that paper is an outdated and obsolete method of delivering news as the transition to the Internets all but eliminates the competitive advantage of fading dead-tree institutions.
Check the links:
McClatchy DC: Chatham Asset Management, the hedge fund that won McClatchy Co. at auction, announced Friday that media industry veteran Tony W. Hunter will be the company’s new chief executive.
Jimmy C: Tony Hunter, McClatchy’s new chief executive, has been chairman of the board of a marijuana company the last 13 months.
Poynter: What you need to know about hedge funds — and their affinity for newspaper organizations
NPR: 'Ghosting The News' Author Says Local Journalism 'Freefall' Is Accelerating
AFP: Virus hastens newspapers' slide into shaky digital future
Developing . . .
KC will be a worse place without the star, more corruption and more politicians propped up by special interests without question.
ReplyDeleteWe need a strong local paper, it's not media, it is the 4th estate.
^^^
Deletethat's a nice thought but things don't really work that way. The newspaper hasn't been relevant in local life for at least 10 years. Turning it into a non profit will only hurt the public and raise taxes.
The Star didnt fight corruption. Who ya kibbin?
DeleteYou would still have The Star if they didnt purposly drive away their customers by being an advocacy for democrats
DeleteA worse place? Murders, local government sponsored vandalism promoting a terrorist organization, communists marching down the street? Politicians and media cowering to a mob that destroys business ? This sounds scary.
DeleteWhat's a newspaper?
ReplyDelete^^^
DeleteLULZ!
Drop the college kid activism. Stop protecting the Jackson County corruption.
ReplyDeleteThey'll make money hand over fist. But leftists don't really understand how to make money, just take it. So I'm merely shouting at the moon about this.
Don't feel sorry for the Editors and Journalists of the Red Star.
ReplyDeleteYou print Communist trash daily; you deserve to lose your jobs.
Buh Bye !!!
The KC Scar has been on life support for years. Pull the damn plug already!
ReplyDeleteBut keep the Wednesday ads for my frying.
ReplyDeletePlace ads on plate. Cover with paper towel. Place greasy bacon and sausage on towel. When drippings absorbed, place ads in proper container for all things Star.
Since they have become the propaganda arm for BLM, maybe BLM will dig into their treasury to pay their rent.
ReplyDeleteBut don't count on it.
The "journalists" at KC Star this is happening to, I don't feel sorry for them. When they became simple propaganda tools promoting a "progressive agenda," and not investigating muckrackers, they lost their journalistic souls. Damn them!
ReplyDeleteOnly dying geriatrics care about the Star.
ReplyDeleteThe rag writers at the Scar are getting what they deserve for being POS shills. It quit selling and yet they persisted. Put more stuff behind the pay wall. That will save you. If not you can always apply to Russia Today!
ReplyDeleteCan we convert the Star Building that taxpayers built downtown for the paper into a Downtown Baseball Stadium?
ReplyDeleteIt should easily have enough room to house an indoor playing field and seating for all of the fans they'll have left after thus Season.
Another lost weekend Bandit? Big day running ignorant on a blog again? Action packed day on tap! Say Qball and libtard again! Come on do it! You know you want to! Loser.
ReplyDeleteWhy does Bsndit bother you so much? You give him loads of shit (the operative word is loads) for commenting, but you always have a response. Aren’t you just as active?
DeleteKC Star has failed the Kansas City area miserably An endorsement from the KC Star editorially board means certain failure Businesses are leaving the KC area because of the cartoon like quality of all forms of media in KC, print and electronic. They just can never get the story accurately. Good by Star.
ReplyDeleteThe Star will be here long after you gerries shuffle off this mortal coil so...
ReplyDeleteGreat Kevin Bacon impression! "ALL IS WELL! ALL IS WELL!!!!"
ReplyDelete^^^Crickets...crickets...crickets.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete@ 10:32 That's what everyone thought abut the times and as you can see it's a slow death but it will die. Unless of course some trouble shooter comes in and changes it from the bias BS it is.
^^^And yet you won’t be around to see it so why worry Boomer? You’re all going to die before the Star, so maybe go do something productive while you can instead celebrating the death of a poet you’re not going to be around for? How about that Boomer?
ReplyDelete^^^And yet you won't be around to see it so why worry Whippersnapper? You're going to die before the Star because you're going to take the cinnamon challenge or something stupid like that because you're stupid.
ReplyDelete^^Nah Boomer, I just don’t care as much about a physical paper as you do because I matter. I have a life, friends, family, and things to do. Wether or not a relic of bygone era survives doesn’t phase me in the least. You don’t have anything or anyone, so pedestrian shit like this matters to you. OK Boomer?
ReplyDeleteBoomer says work on getting an education and then pop off-okay Junior? PS -tell your mom I’ll be by at the regular time and have my beer cold. Afterwards hang around so I can use your empty head to set my beer on. Thanks
DeleteThe Star decided a long time ago to become a liberal rag that targeted all Republicans for insult and scorn. When you alienate about half of your possible target market by ignorant bias in a relatively small market, you get what you deserve. With the layoffs, maybe the new owners will decide to hire reporters and editors who don't have an axe to grind and will create more balanced coverage, but I highly doubt they are that smart.
ReplyDeleteWorthless liberal rag for years. Hope the close completely. The Martin City paper should expand and fill the void.
ReplyDelete11:12 -- "^^Nah Boomer, I just don’t care as much about a physical paper as you do because I matter. I have a life, friends, family, and things to do."
ReplyDeleteWe all can tell you're unemployed and living off the government because of how much time you have to post.
^^and yet it’s Sunday and I don’t have to work you stupid fucking Boomer. Maybe if you didn’t spend 24/7 on a blog for dying geriatrics, you might know what day it is. Stupid fucking Boomer.
ReplyDelete^^ you need anger management. Consider drinking less, especially early in the day.
DeleteThe posers and toadies at the Scar have gotten the Kansas Shitty of their wet dreams. This mess is everything that they have advocated for decades. They should be happy. Sure it doesn't pay well but they got what they wanted. Congrats! Enjoy!
ReplyDelete11:22 "Stupid fucking Boomer"
ReplyDeleteSomebody's little feelings got hurt.
^^and yet they figured out that playing to a bunch of geriatric fucktards is not a successful business model as they die every day and don’t spend any money cause they’re broke. Weird.
ReplyDelete11:22 is on here every day all day. He has no job. That's a fact.
ReplyDelete^^^and how would you know that if YOU weren’t on here every day all day. You must have no life and that’s a fact. Weird.
ReplyDeleteSame for you Weird guy. Plus you’re weird.
Delete11:22, you should be in church now, asking for forgiveness for all of your past sins, of which there are many. Oh, and wear a mask on your face and over your gassy backside. God bless.
ReplyDeleteIt is possible to look at the string of comments here after a hard day's work and see where all of the dumb posts came from and what time they would posted. It's not rocket science. Try to keep up.
ReplyDelete11:22 I believe you just had a conniption fit, simmer down dude!
ReplyDeleteFAKE NEWS GO BYEBYE!
ReplyDeleteKILLA CITY CANT GET MUCH WORSE.921
ReplyDeleteTHIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN EVERYONE KNOWS YOUR NEWS IS LIBERAL BIAS BULLSHIT.
ReplyDeleteFuck the leftist piece of shit I hope they go to Cuba and starve
ReplyDeleteWhy would they go to Cuba? In what reality or circumstance would they go to Cuba?
DeleteYour comment is as useful and informed as making the decision to have a second and third anus surgically added below each elbow.
Those three anuses would collectively be jealous of the type and the amount of excrement that comes out of your ignorant mouth.
Considering the extreme leftist socialist bent of this publication, it make sense putting a drug dealer in as the CEO.
ReplyDelete"...Mayor Quinton Lucas has floated the idea of (more) taxpayer support for the newspaper that would completely ruin their credibility and any semblance of objectivity."
ReplyDeleteLike that didn't happen years ago.
Face if, if you are posting here you are nothing important and have nothing even halfway important to do. You are just a LOSER like me. Welcome to the loser blog.
ReplyDeleteI bet the ladies love you.
DeleteHE DOESNT DO PUSSY HE LIKES BBC
ReplyDeleteYour smolWC doesn't matter until BBCs matter
DeleteYour smolWC will never matter over BBC. Ask your wife, your mom and your dad.
DeleteSomehow it ain't the end but only the beginning. If you are a rational conservative, your optimism is usually correct. Thus, your cynicism is usually proved out also. My cynicism and wet finger wind test tells me that the whole model will be overhauled and doubled-down to create a new "Star" that backs up its godless rhetoric by attacking not just conservative leaders, but accusing joe 6 pack by name. It will be the new "John TV" and will be the ultimate accusatory arm of New American Communism. Liberal optimism is always misplaced, and its cynicism is reserved for a country's best citizens. Brace yourself, its gonna get worse.
ReplyDeleteBoommer Hater acts like he doesn't like Boomers but he sure enjoys sniffing his Granny's panties.
ReplyDeleteLiving in Granny's basement, Basement Butt Mate Joe Biden is his hero !
Boomer Hater, run along your Granny needs another sponge bath.
Unemployed weird chimpy boomer hater with all your "friends". They are all in the tree waiting for you. They saved a you banana. You say you aren't working today because it's Sunday.....Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha
ReplyDeleteWhat if it shut its doors and nobody notices? Wait a minute, nobody notice now. What's the difference. I learned to live without the Star long before the internet was invented. They always had utter contempt for anything south of 75th St. or North of the River, and it showed. Then when the suburbs became the "pretty girl" with all the advertisers and money, they found out we had learned to live very well without them. There just aren't enough beautiful people left in the "right" part of KC to support a newspaper.
ReplyDeleteCould be worse. Company could have hired Chainsaw Al Dunlap to slash heads and I do mean slash. The man loved cutting employees off at the knees. Gawd only knows what white guilt white guy retraining process will look like? You're better off dead that going through all that.
ReplyDeleteThe virus has nothing to do with the impending demise of the Star.
ReplyDeleteAnd constantly cutting costs by reducing the number of "reporters" is like trying to apply CPR to a corpse.
The paper has gone from bad, to awful, and now it's just downright silly.
Maybe these laid-off people can get jobs at some of the subsidized developments they're so enthused about or maybe even become an engineer on THE streetcar.
The Star hasn't died.
It's committed suicide.
I for one look forward to our new hedge fund overlords!
ReplyDelete608, thanks for the reference to Chainsaw Al, who was a standout exception of ruthless cost-cutting in the seventies.
ReplyDeleteProblem is, that approach and the attached value system became the norm and are today.
921, your idealized notions aren't operative anymore.
ReplyDeleteIt is criminal what the McClatchy group has done to a great newspaper. For years we have suffered Yael and the editorial boards liberal views when we as a Midwestern city do not adhere to liberal positions but conservative views. I hope it will be a quick and painless death soon.
ReplyDeleteI used to subscribe to the Star, but found it more economical just to assume leftist talking points on my own, without paying to read them.
ReplyDelete