Kansas City Star Survival Plan Exposed: Sunday Only Print Edition

The situation is getting dire at the so-called Kansas City paper-of-record.

Remember . . . Our predictions about the fortunes of the newspaper have all been proven correct but typically take about a decade for everyone else to acknowledge.

Sadly . . . The rate of dead-tree decline seems to be speeding up. 

To wit . . . 

INSIDERS EXPOSE THE KANSAS CITY STAR SURVIVAL PLAN: ONE DAY PER WEEK PRINTING COMING SOON?!?

Sunday seems to be where they're putting all their effort and likely that makes the most sense to keep printing given that most of their efforts are coming at a loss. 

Not-so-fun fact . . . 

Lots of locals still don't know that the paper stopped printing a Saturday edition. 

The week days are scrawny and have less content than some church publications. 

In addition to this chatter, some of the BEST & BRIGHTEST TKC READERS offer perspective on events down South that foreshadow KC newspaper decline.  

Here's the fallout . . .

Digital access is a concern. During the pandemic, public schools here found that about 1 in 5 families had limited or no internet access.

Even so, you don't see newspapers like you used to scattered around tables at the coffee shop or local lunch counter.

"The newspaper is probably the only thing left where if everybody reads the story in the same way and gets the same facts then you have a baseline, and that will go away," Retired political scientist Natalie Davis says. "That's what newspapers do."

CORRECTION: THAT'S WHAT NEWSPAPERS USED TO DO!!!

Print media universality and ubiquity has been replaced by social media aggregators who don't care about one city vs. another. 

Moreover . . . 

The newspaper was always more of a political mouthpiece than a unifying force. 

Again . . . At the end of the year it's easy to give into nostalgia . . . Meanwhile, there are many people excited about new technologies and better ways to share stories, concerns and information . . . Which is the whole point of any "journalism" worth the effort.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

For 3 big Alabama newspapers, the presses are grinding to a halt

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - It's gotten harder to find a sidewalk newspaper box to buy a copy of The Birmingham News, but you can find the latest edition at the public library downtown. Sherrel Wheeler Stewart pulls a food stain-splattered copy hanging from a spindle. "A lot of people read it," she says.