Hiding behind a paywall was a BAD IDEA, the Buzz is soon to be back

I've got to hand it to the folks at The Star, they're trying to make the reversal of AN OBVIOUS MISTAKE seem like a tactical move. Nice to know that the editorial side of the paper is still completely full of it and can now continue to show their incompetence in public (like the rest of us).

Anyway, the Prime Buzz will be open to the public and free on or around Sept. 4th.

When we say “free,” we mean all of Prime Buzz, The Kansas City Star’s political blog that formerly was subscription-only at KansasCity.com. Access to local and regional political coverage, FREE. Political commentary and municipal agenda previews, FREE. And we’re continuing to offer, FREE, the weekday e-mailed Prime Buzz summary — one of many enhancements over The Star’s former free political blog, the KC Buzz Blog.

“We built the best political Web site in the Midwest, and we appreciate those who recognized the value of Prime Buzz by subscribing to it, signing up for a free trial or otherwise figuring out a way to access it,” said Mark Zieman, The Star’s editor.

“But covering our democratic process is at the core of what we do. Coming into an election year, we decided to trade the extra subscription revenue for a chance to bring that important content to a much greater audience.”

Yeah, I'm sure that corporate entities with dwindling consumer base are really EXCITED about giving up a rare opportunity to make money . . . The truth is that the Prime Buzz pay wall was obviously a tremendous disaster and even their press release reveals that a lot of folks were able to get to their info WITHOUT paying.

Also, now that they're giving it away free it's pretty obvious that (except for those kind souls who sent me tips constantly) . . . The vast majority of people who paid for this service have been played for suckers!!!

Information wants to be free folks . . . And thankfully, there is no way for any single entity to dominate the Internets as of yet . . . Even the biggest online audience now only represents another niche. Even better, the power of an "Army of Davids" is what really seems to be driving the future of Internet publishing - an endeavor that's largely unprofitable but bestows more power on everyday people than was ever available to folks during media's 20th century corporate era.

Still, I hope local political bloggers don't see this move as competition. You'll never be able to "compete" with the resources of a global media company BUT they also will NEVER be able to summon the power of a single voice or idea that is published for the world to see without having to ask permission.