It's strange that everyone wonders about the future of news when it is right in front of us. Web Ads will never pay the bills, news printed on dead trees is a losing proposition and more and more people just don't seem to want to suffer advertising unless it's more entertainment than anything else. (See: The Axe Deodorant Ball Washing Commercial)
Anyhoo, in this hostile Great Recession environment the only glimmer of hope is the advertorial. With a few labels to keep the FTC off the back of bloggers it seems that shilling and calling it news is final frontier for online publishers.
Old media shouldn't act surprised because they've been doing it since Gutenberg.
Kansas City loves Larry Moore and a few years ago local news on KMBC was dedicated to the love of a new custard place.
Let's not forget that Kansas City is still paying the price for The Star's clandestine marketing support for The Stadium Tax.
Hell, I regularly sing the praises of Jardine's but that has a lot more to do with the fact that I really adore the owner, Beena, who most people agree is one of the best and brightest people in Kansas City.
So, in this new media landscape it's important to identify the players. To wit . . .
KICKASS TKC TIPSTER WONDER ABOUT THE MARKETING CONNECTIONS OF THE KANSAS CITY FREE PRESS!!!
Check it:
You should know something about the kcfreepress.com. According to the whois listing the web domain is registered to Jeff Henry from thinkbigshot.com. Big Shot is a marketing firm out located in downtown Kansas City. With a quick look through the thinkbigshot.com website, I noticed they have done work for The Mavericks and The Bulldog, both of whom have been featured by KC Free Press. It would be pretty convenient for an advertising firm to own a news website and then feature a paying customer (Aside from having such a diverse staff to appeal to all readers).So, not only is The KC Free Press All White they don't seem to be very forthright in noting that a great many people think their operation is nothing more than a marketing gimmick.
Here at TKC I think I've done the best to scare off any advertisers who would attempt to challenge the editorial stance of this blog and to be fair to the KC Free press: Downtown beer isn't really controversial and the milquetoast writing seems to give itself away as nothing more than fodder to push people to products and services they don't need.
But the trend is bigger than a few hipsters pretending to offer news. There's no getting around the fact that the advertorial route is simply the best way for online denizens to make money and more than anything this will influence ALL news coverage in the future now that the illusion that mainstream journalists aren't subservient to financial interests has, thankfully, faded away.
I'd like to buy an ad that says you're full of shit Tony and your Funk hate makes the blog a joke.
ReplyDeleteI see that noted astrologist Quan Tracy Cherry is now pictured. Does that help?
ReplyDeleteIve got to hand it to you Tony. Youve got to have some big, hairy balls to accuse another website of running advertorial content...in a post where you run advertorial content.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the fact that you're always blowing Jardine's has "a lot more to do with the fact that you really adore the owner" than the fact that she's compensating you (and your lover Hearne)...but maybe you really adore her because she helps you pay the bills.
Wow, slow news day?
ReplyDeleteThe reason that ThinkBigShot.com is listed as the WHOIS owner probably has a lot more to do with the fact that ThinkBigShot likely did the web design and development for the site and thus registered the domain for the proprietors of KCFreePress.com.
ReplyDeleteA step toward legitimacy would be not automatically jumping to conclusions on every little nugget of info that one of your TIPSTERS gives you. More often than not, those tipsters are just morons hiding behind anonymity.
Interesting. Where did that kickass TKC tipster find the bulldog feature. I can't find it anywhere. Link, please?
ReplyDeleteAnd your write-ups for Jardine's go beyond an occasional mention. For a two-month stretch you mentioned it every. single. day.
This conversation might be interesting if everyone didn't already know you're just trying to do a hatchet job on every other media outlet in town.
You bash the Star yet you link to them constantly and use them as your primary news source. You give the Pitch shit for facebook promo gone wrong yet ignore the detailed, in-depth reporting they do every week. And this argument against kcfree press is just more of the same weak sauce designed to give his boss, the great comment screener Hearne a leg up.
You've had some lame posts before, Tony. This is among the lamest.
ReplyDeleteAdverts disguised as content......like KC confidential?
ReplyDelete^^^^ exactly!!!!
ReplyDeleteTony, you fool.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it that I want to listen to Darla Jaye and read the Missouri Record every time I sign on this blog?
ReplyDeleteSteve Gutenberg?
ReplyDeleteLast comment is funniest.
ReplyDeleteGOOD STUFF SHANE WE ALL KNOW WHERE YOU DRAW YOUR CHECK.
ReplyDeleteYOU BULLSHITTER.
Good points all but I think Tony has a point about media sources.
ReplyDeleteTo you calling BS on me, who do you think I work for? Because it isn't ThinkBigShot.
ReplyDeleteIt's easy to find out where I work. I have nothing to hide. You can click through to my own blog where you can find plenty of information about me.
What about you?
and more importantly, who does Tony work for?
ReplyDeleteHearne
Actually, if you fellow readers go to their website you will find the profile of the publisher, Jeff Henry. He lists that he created both BigShot and KC Free Press.
ReplyDeleteHis profile is here: http://www.kcfreepress.com/staff/jeff-henry/
Big Deal, KCfreepress is more like a magazine than an everyday news source, it it what it is and theres nothing wrong with it. Tony, I like your spots on the DarlaJaye show,keep it going!
ReplyDeleteMan, those AWESOME TKC tipsters are INVALUABLE! Where would we ever have found this information without them!
ReplyDeleteTony=not a very good reporter.