Kansas City Beacon Blog Bemoans Newspaper Downfall & Begs For Money

Real talk . . .

The future of journalism (lulz) is nothing more or less than begging rich people to pay big bucks for a digital mirror that merely offers slanted opinions & biased reports which satisfy the fickle sensibilities of our ruling elites. 

The patronage model is fundamentally flawed but it's the only revenue stream that works nearly as effectively as a RICH DADDY. 

Accordingly, we recently found a bit of utility in the pitch letter from another local prog blog . . . Here's their attack on the newspaper and a nice bit of local history . . .

"In the early 20th century, the Kansas City Star was one of the most influential newspapers in the country, with a staff of more than 1,000 employees, including reporters and editors. And that remained true for decades. In the 1970s, The Star employed hundreds of reporters, who covered a population of one million people. For years, The Star produced powerful, impactful work that was recognized across the country – in 1982, the paper won two Pulitzer Prizes for its coverage of the Hyatt Regency walkway collapse. But by the late 1990s, the newspaper that had kept Kansas Citians informed for more than a century was beginning a long, steep decline.

"By the time COVID hit, at a moment when we needed accurate information more than ever, the paper was a shell of its former self. In March of 2020, just as the virus was beginning to spread across the country, McClatchy, the media company that owned The Star, The Wichita Eagle, and more, filed for bankruptcy. The paper was ultimately sold to a hedge fund in New Jersey, whose goal is to wring as much profit as possible out of this critical source of community information. Today The Star employs just sixty reporters to cover a metropolitan area with a population of more than 2.5 million."

And so . . . Here's the inevitable ask . . . 

"It’s time to invest in the kind of independent Kansas City journalism that holds power accountable and sheds light on the issues that matter most to our communities. If we don’t act soon, we risk falling behind cities like Cleveland, which are already taking serious steps toward equitable information distribution."

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

Investing in local news to bridge divides, empower citizens and create lasting change in Kansas City

I just got back from Cleveland, where I had the exciting opportunity to meet with 36 leaders of nonprofit journalism organizations at the American Journalism Project Conference.