There's simply no hope for what people once called journalism in this Kansas City . . . And, on second thought, I think I helped kill journalism in Kansas City or at least TKC was the first local news(ish) blog from which all other "journalists" started swagger jackin' . . . Natch.
In an 800 word diatribe Nadia "Chickenhead No More!!!" Pflaum admits her bias against the P&L District . . . A subject of her reporting beat (hehe beat) . . .
I consider myself part of the local hip-hop scene because I am a fan, and I've been concerned with the scene's triumphs and its woes throughout my six years in Kansas City. Had I not used fired-up language, I doubt anyone like Christopher would have noticed.Funny . . .
Yeah, I said it, and I don't regret what I wrote . . . What I should have said was fuck white flight. Fuck all the broken promises from wealthy entities who have our paid permission to hold a piece of downtown hostage. Fuck all of us for not being able to have an honest, rational, civil discussion about our city's racial divide.
Yeah. I said it. Now what?
NOW WHAT NADIA IS THAT YOU JUST STOPPED BEING A "JOURNALIST" AND ARE CURRENTLY NOTHING MORE THAN A PUNDIT i.e. BLOGGER!!! WELCOME TO THE CLUB!!!
The consequences: A D-list newsie like Nadia could make a living subsidized by her parents and "dating" random denizens of the local hip-hop scene in her former vocation . . . On the other hand, "Professional Bloggers" (lol) mostly live in basements and are dismissed by corporate newsies.
As for Nadia's other concerns . . .
THE LAZY LITTLE WOMAN TALKS TAXPAYER SUBSIDIES BUT HAS YET TO FILE MANY STORIES ON TAX ISSUES RELATED TO THE P&L DISTRICT!!!
In fact, she's linking really good tax stories done by better reporters like Justin Kendall and David Martin . . .
ARE YOUR BUDDIES GOING TO THROW AWAY THEIR JOURNALISM CREDENTIALS WITH YOU NADIA?!?! IS THE PITCH NOW THE ANTI-P&L DISTRICT ALTERNATIVE KC PAPER?!?!
This might prove important not only when researching stories but also for advertising revenue.
Thing is, Nadia's bias has been apparent all along . . . It has only taken one nasty blog post by Hearne Christopher Jr. to make her admit that she's not a journalist, that she's just a blogger, just like TKC only much nicer to look at . . . She is someone with an agenda.
Furthermore, I think there's a reference to TKC as "an attention-starved blogger" which is a fair statement . . . BUT IT IS IN THE CONTEXT OF AN 800 WORD OPUS WHEREIN A FORMER JOURNALIST PUTS HERSELF AT THE CENTER OF A CONTROVERSIAL KANSAS CITY STORY!!!
Turn in your newsie card Nadia . . . What you just did was confirm everything this TKC has ever written about you for years and simply thrown away that so-called "credibility" that professional reporters seem care about so much . . .
NADIA JUST BROUGHT HERSELF DOWN TO BLOGGER LEVEL!!!
And that's kind of disappointing because her implosion was not necessary given the fact that she showed so much promise back in 2005 when she wrote one of the best Pitch Cover stories in recent memory. Sadly, that was years ago and her career seems to have stagnated since then . . . Whereas this blog has grown stronger and mas macho . . . Nadia and the rest of her Pitch pals have faced cruel layoffs and cutback and are staring down the barrel of a user generated content system to contend with . . . Unfortunately, Nadia's swan song is one that abandons her former newsie credentials in favor of competing in the realm of the blogosphere . . . Again, Good luck.
Real talk: What's really happening here is that the media cycle in Kansas City is spinning in favor of opinion/blog content and news stories are no longer as relevant. Nadia and The Pitch are simply following the bad example set by The Star which reported this story with opinion and not facts or direct quotes. It's all just a self-perpetuating quest for eyeballs that we're all a part of in order to chase profit and not provide anything close a public service.
Finally, I don't think anyone could have predicted that this week Kansas City's paper-of-record would give up their credibility and objectivity by printing opinion columns on their front page and the lead investigative reporter would admit her years long reputation of bias all for the sake of DJ Jazzy Jeff and a 4th rate cowtown hip-hop concert. So many feisty decisions . . . What an angry time of month for Nadia to let such a caustic missive flow.
UPDATE: TKC STAYS WINNING . . . NADIA DOESN'T HAVE THE COURAGE OF HER CONVICTIONS AND THE POST HAS BEEN DELETED BY THE PITCH!!!
Here's the header retouched for fair use purposes and for posterity:
So . . . She's not only biased . . . She's also a bit of a coward or at least The Pitch is too timid to show the real character of their employees. Or maybe we should just be nice and simply describe her as . . . A female reporter.
Tony, I didn't know you dated Nadia.
ReplyDeleteFuck you Tony.
ReplyDeleteTony you just pissed because when you google Tony Botello the first result is
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pitch.com/2007-01-18/news/the-truth-about-tony/
that blog post of hers is long gone.
ReplyDelete"Regular readers of the blog Tonyskansascity.com might wonder where its author, Tony Botello, got his seething vendetta against Nadia Pflaum"
ReplyDeleteIs it because she's a woman? Because she has a voice? Because she's a woman who dares to use her voice?
Of course not!
Surely it's because of high-minded issues such as "journalistic integrity," which we all know Tony is a champion of
It's like Oscar the Grouch coming down on Martha Stewart for not being prim, proper and clean enough
Warning!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteIF U Go after Tony he will find pictures of you and your g/f or b/f and post them all over the Internet and write words like douchebag or skank on your face in white marker OH SO SCARYY!!!!!
If you are a woman journalist you can't dare write about things that are controversial or important, tony will get mad at you and call you a ho or a bitch
so what is an example of a female whose writing Tony respects and calls groundbreaking? can anyone tell me?
it's some body like May's Machete who posts pictures of her diseased vagina and polaroids of herself in bondage gear
if you do that, tony will respect you and link to you. if you write about anything real especially something he doesn't agree with you are a ho
i agree anon 5:15 he is definitely the number one referee for journalism integrity
Good comparison.
ReplyDeleteI saw Hearne Christofer Junior do a line of coke off Tony's ass at the power and light district
ReplyDeleteand then they talked about female reporters who are half their age and have twice their talent
better revoke their bloggers licenses quick!
If Nadia is such a great reporter why don't they let her keep her blog posts up?
ReplyDeleteWe all can get angry. Give her a break.
ReplyDeletehow is this long face broad part of a hip-hop scene...lol
ReplyDeleteI bet she has Black friends too!!!
Kansas City Rap Music is a joke.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteGeez, Tonester… Ease up on the character attacks.
ReplyDeleteWhat is it that makes you so hostile toward these two ladies? I understand that they're not your favorite writers, but it hardly necessitates the kind of viciousness and cyber-hatred you direct at them almost every week.
Having worked as a blogger and freelance journalist, I think there are more similarities than differences between bloggers and reporters, especially as the two realms converge and reporters are asked by their employers to start blogs to give their publications a more human, off-the-cuff flavor. Although we like to hold our journalists to lofty standards of objectivity, they're still just people. No matter how much reporters try to keep their cool and stay objective in their printed work, opinions do break through and I believe Nadia was just trying to clear the air in her personal column (which I agree should stay up once it's out there).
I know outrage and big red letters is just part of your shtick, but a Pitch Weekly feature writer expressing her opinion on TWITTER hardly seems deserving of such vitriol. Like another commenter said, it's not like being unbiased and credible are your strong suits.
So what exactly is your problem with these two? Is it because they're female? Attractive? Young? Talented? Because they get paid? Because they disagree with you?
Whatever your disagreements with J&N are, they don't deserve that kind of treatment (posting their personal pics, calling them names, etc). I read your site and enjoy the links and commentary even when I don't agree with it at all, but trashing people like this just winds up reflecting poorly on you.
Just my opinion...
Since when has the Pitch been a "News Venue"??? People pick it up for the band listings and, well, like your site Tony, because IT'S FREE! And who has "press credentials" anymore? What, like she has a hat that says "Press" on a little card or something? The only press creds issued anymore are from the networks themselves, or maybe from the White House or the military, and all that's about is for security reasons. Pretty much everybody is "free-lance" nowadays- and so now your defending P&L?! It sucks, the Star is in free-fall, your biased Tony, Nadia's biased...welcome to the new press, same as the old press, only cheaper.
ReplyDeletePlease keep it coming, Tony. Continue to out yourself as a bitter wannabe. Sensationalism and sexism isn't cutting edge. It's trite and boring. It's been done by millions of smug, entitled men before you.
ReplyDeleteThe rest of us will continue to have a meaningful dialog about local issues as you and your likely similarly accomplished fans shout epithets into the abyss. This and your derogatory comments on another young female journalist over the past few days clarifies your own hidden agenda. I'd never be able to take any future "reporting" you do seriously, even if I came back to read it. If you have any women readers left after this at all, that would be the cover story of the year.
thanks for that 6:31 post, Nadia.
ReplyDeleteWhich one of those two whores in the photo is Nadia?
ReplyDelete"Although we like to hold our journalists to lofty standards of objectivity, they're still just people. No matter how much reporters try to keep their cool and stay objective in their printed work, opinions do break through and I believe Nadia was just trying to clear the air in her personal column (which I agree should stay up once it's out there)."
ReplyDeleteOk, screw that opinion. Professionalism in journalism has gone completely out the door. If you want to be a news person you report the various W. If you have an opinion you voice it to you friends, family and neightbors.
Oh wait, these so called journalists these days have no friends, family or neighbors and for some reason think they can just let it go in public.
This is an example of the pathetic education system in this country. Crap like this should be -and in fact- expected on a blog like this. Anyone getting paid money to write news should be held to a much higher standard.
Nadia is not a reporter. Now I'm glad I rejected her resume.
ReplyDeleteOh my god. A reporter said what they really think.
ReplyDeletethe only bad thing about this is Pitch pussed out and took it down. Can you reprint it?
"you voice it to you (sic) friends, family and neighbors"
ReplyDeleteyeah, Bite Me, it appears as if you are a shining example of the education system at its finest. "screw that opinion" is the kind of attitude that makes this blog so pathetic. if tony or many of his readers don't like someone's opinion, that's their exact response: "screw you, you're wrong!"
do you really think a few tweets from someone invalidates their journalistic credentials, as Tony says here?
real journalistic scandals are marked by serious conflict of interest, dishonesty or plagiarism, none of which Nadia here is guilty of. You hand your badge over for reporting favorably on someone/something you are getting money from. Or bashing an opposing candidate when your mom is running for civic office (cough...TONY). Not for voicing a negative opinion about an entertainment district. It's not like Nadia is full time civic affairs correspondent for the Star, and it's also not like she's going to sneakily insert false facts into articles about the P&L if she even covers that topic in an official news story, which is doubtful.
tony's claims of a "hidden agenda" are at best laughable, but you are right, crap like this is to be expected from this blog and trying to argue with someone like tony is pointless. there will always be anonymous assholes backing him up with the most racist, sexist and hateful things they can dream up.
I'm not Nadia, but I am flattered you mistook my writing style for her. She's a great writer. Her blog today was no exception, and it made some of the same points that I've seen this blog rant on in a more nuanced, insightful way--no wonder Tony's jealous of her.
ReplyDeleteIf he was really concerned with taking down corporate journalism, he would be attacking the real culprit here: The Pitch for censoring her.
So was Nadia there in her role as "journalist" or was she there because she's a fan of hip hop? Was she there to review the concert? Was she having an adult beverage or 8? Why in god's green earth is this the particular hill, bad hip hop, the one she decides to defend at all costs? REALLY? How the fuck was Jazzy Jeff's performance going to advance the discussion of race in Kansas City when it's obvious you're biased to see nothing but what you want to see? Did you do any research to find out if any other past performers had been asked to lower their levels? Did you ask anyone why P&L even had them in their summer concert series? Did you find out someone spoke directly with Jazzy Jeff or if the requests were filtered through someone else? Because if you didn't put forth an ounce of effort past some Facebook blathering then yeah, whatever respect you might of had before surely was flushed down the crapper. Seriously, great way to promote civil discussion. Bravo.
ReplyDeletejust another silly little bitch running around kansas city pretending to be something she's not.....she belongs in this shithole cowtown.
ReplyDeleteHI!!!! I'M ANOTHER KANSAS CITY ATTENTION WHORE!!!! TALK ABOUT ME!!! TALK ABOUT MEEEEEEEEE!!!! THERE'S MORE THAN ENOUGH ATTENTION FOR ATTENTION WHORES LIKE US!!! TALK ABOUT MEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! BYEEEEEEE!!!!
ReplyDelete"I consider myself part of the local hip-hop scene"
ReplyDeleteThat's when I stopped reading.
I met Nadia once. She was kinda bitchy and seemed surprised that I didn't know who she was.
ReplyDeleteCame off as a trust funder that has the luxury of screwing around as a half assed journalist to me.
I am not sure what she does for money but it is not writing.
I think someone has a crush on Nadia...it's a little like 4th grade.
ReplyDeleteTony is jealous that Nadia is getting attention and approval. Maybe he should write a creative thought occasionally.
ReplyDeleteI have had a crush on Nadia for a while. Honestly. no joke. If you actually read her writing or ever talk to her at length you'll know that she's pretty amazing.
ReplyDeletepretty amazing tits...
ReplyDeletepretty amazing ability to keep a job as a journalist...
and
pretty amazing chicken head!
Because little tony knows he has nor never will have a chance with a big boobed cutie like Nadia. Poor little tony/
ReplyDeleteyall poppin off at the lip like you know whats really going down! nadia and that other whore Janee are fuckin jokes. supporting wack music and writting shitty articles. remember when shitty emcees gave you props for a "very dope" article at HH &HW's? about that pay to be played bullshit. Nadia you fuckin suck as a journalist. So do your friends. yall are on some bullshit.
ReplyDeleteIt's obvious Nadia plays favorites in her coverage. She's been doing it all along. It's not just with P&L but with all of her work.
ReplyDelete