TKC EXCLUSIVE AND BREAKING NEWS!!! KANSAS CITY JOURNALISTS DECRY INACCURATE REPORTING FROM HEARNE CHRISTOPHER JR. ON THE TOPIC OF DON HARMAN'S DEATH!!! FOX 4'S MARK ALFORD SETS THE RECORD STRAIGHT!!!
Every so often Kansas City rises up and rebukes a person rather strongly.
In the last Mayoral election, Former Mayor Mark Funkhouser found himself on the receiving end of a historic rejection from Kansas City voters. He moved out of town to get another gig in the aftermath.
Currently . . .
REACTION AMONG KANSAS CITY'S PROFESSIONAL AND MAINSTREAM JOURNALISTS REGARDING HEARNE CHRISTOPHER'S REPORTING ON DON HARMAN'S DEATH HAS BEEN OVERWHELMINGLY NEGATIVE!!!
More . . .
A GREAT MANY REPORTERS CITE STUNNING INACCURACIES AND SENSATIONALISTIC INSINUATIONS IN HEARNE'S WRITING!!!
Let's set the stage just a bit . . . I'm not gonna link KC Confidential because THIS ISN'T JUST BLOGGER BEEF and I used to work there and now I'm glad I don't considering the harsh feelings coming the way of the site that's struggling to gain a following. Mr. Christopher claims readership numbers that are only backed up by his misreading of his own internal numbers but to put it in a more global perspective: His former colleagues have far outpaced his Internet venture . . . Joe Posnanski blogs to tens of thousands of people every day . . . And like it or not, Jason Whitlock is a Twitter Juggernaut.
Meanwhile, Hearne has a pretty good local blog. But how he reacted to the Don Harman tragedy is garnering some major pushback . . .
"The type of writing that Hearne is doing right now gives us a great insight into why he's no longer working for The Kansas City Star," a reporter recently told me regarding the subject of credibility.
There's more . . .
Another media mover & shaker said: "He probably doesn't realize how many people he has made angry with these posts that are completely off base. He doesn't have a chance of working again at a professional level in Kansas City."
What's the fuss? On Hearne's blog he wrote about Don Harman being questioned in a missing person's case in the context of the recent tragedy. While Hearne can claim accuracy on the very basic detail of routine police questioning . . . The juxtaposition of police questions was tawdry and rather sensational in my opinion and that of so many others.
HOWEVER HEARNE CHRISTOPHER JR. WAS SIMPLY INACCURATE WHEN HE HIT BOTTOM AND INCORRECTLY WROTE ABOUT THE METHOD OF DON HARMAN'S DEMISE!!!
Here's the quote from a post on Hearne's blog on Dec. 1st:
"What then might have caused Harman to hang himself from the rafters of his house for his family to find?"
For the record, I like Hearne, I think he's a nice guy and I hope we can be friends after this report. But I've asked my friends to let me know if I ever take a story too far like what I think has happened in these postings. A request for comment was sent to Hearne before this story was posted, he did not care to leave a comment on the record.
To wit and in a reasoned, on record and professional manner . . .
WDAF MORNING ANCHORMAN MARK ALFORD OFFERS A COUPLE OF DIRECT QUOTES TO CLEAR UP ANY CONFUSION REGARDING SO MUCH SPECULATION ON THE INTERNET!!!
Regarding the insinuations about the missing person case and unfortunate juxtapositions regarding the timing of the tragedy.
Mr. Alford notes, "Don and I talked briefly about that case recently, not in great detail... But that case was NOT what troubled Don."
In light of the macabre speculation regarding the method of death that's going around the local Internet and on Hearne's blog . . .
Mr. Alford shares this with us this morning: "No Don did NOT hang himself. He died very peacefully. I do not want to give specifics because I do not want to encourage other people considering suicide, but rest assured, he did it in the best way he could to make it as easy as possible for those who found him."
A VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO MR. ALFORD for slumming it on the Internet in order to set the record straight regarding so many inaccuracies that continue to circulate.
Can we let the man rest in peace please?
ReplyDeleteYou mean Hearne?
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of "man" grows up to be a gossip columnist?
And on this day, not a single fuck was given.
ReplyDeleteHearne puts the "D" in D-bag.
ReplyDeleteIts not just Hearne. The comments here on TKC were appalling.
ReplyDeleteOh Hearn, was that the best picture on the sheet. UGLY
ReplyDeleteTony, puritanically pants shitting himself over the level of decorum on another blog had me on the fuckin floor lmao for the last 10 minutes.
ReplyDeleteThank god, there is a force for good, that draws those ever so important lines in the journalistic sand for we commentating cognescenti and fans of the internet to employ during these trying times.
What a fuckin hoot.
Gird yourself HEARNE!! The usual splenetic, slatternly, smattering of supercillious, self righteous shit, finger pointing and ad hominem insults based on emotional responses from lemmings with their brains in their cell phone holsters.
Salt of the earth zeitgeist apparatchiks, tearing themselves away from the Kardashians during commercials to pontificate from on high with the "wet by every rain, blown by every wind" knowledge eminating from the top of the bell curve.
Hearne's extemporaneous, A La Francaise, minute to minute revelations on this story were, as they say, "Breaking News."
Vetting a story in the new millenium, with bloggers, twitter and the internet, is NOT going to be like going to the movies to see "All The President's Men."
We are all inside the abattoir, watching the 4th estate make sausage. If you don't like sausage, don't look, or read the politically correct, boring, editorialized, slanted, watered down diaphanous ditherings in the Kansas City Star.
Mr. Harman was a public figure, and Hearne is not getting sued for fuckin shit. So go home to your mommys and tell them to block this site, cause it is just too grown up for you.
If your rerading Tony's fuckin Kansas City, and you think your are an arbiter of propriety, then your drunker than I get on a regular basis.
What a hoot!! :)
Mr. Alford has handled this tragedy remarkably well, and it has been nice to see that both Don and Mark must have been great friends even off of TV (which has been known to fake things for ratings).
ReplyDeleteI still pray for Don's family but for all those that knew Don personally must be having a hard time as well and I wish them the best as they try to get through this.
With that being said, I do wish those that do nothing but want to spread rumors just to prove their worth, shame on you. Didn't your parents teach you anything about thinking before you say/type something?
TONY: *reading kcconfidential*"We need to brand Hearne Chistopher with the 4th Estate's most ignominious scarlet letter, for all the world to see!!"
ReplyDeleteTONY'S MOM: *screaming down basement stairs* "Tony! Your Huevos Rancheros are getting cold!! Come up here at eat! I have to warm up my car before I go to work!!"
TONY: "How can you think of food at a time like this!! kcconfidential has broken news about that really nice white weatherman in a disgraceful way!"
TONY'S MOM: "Are you going to rake the leaves today?"
TONY: *apoplectic, spitting as he screams* "MOTHER!!! This is a watershed moment and my reply to the gauntlet that Hearne has thrown down before me will be remembered as the bellwether event that determined the history of journalism and the 4th estate from this moment forward."
TONY'S MOM: "Tony, we got leaf blowers out the fuckin ass in the garage, all I'm askin is for ya to clear some of the leaves outta the front yard. Jesus! We are the only Mexican family for miles with a leaf within 200 yards of their property. PLEASE!!"
TONY: "I will defend Don Harman's honor, then, if there is time, I will have a look at the leaves!"
TONY'S MOM: "Really? Don Harman, the white bread, Howdy Doody, caucasion that probably pulled down a phone number while you brought in well over $400.00 last year? You can relate to that guy?"
TONY: "Not really, but Hearne is kickin my ass in the blogosphere, I gotta do something."
TONY'S MOM: "Leaves Tony, leaves." *slams basement door*
Well done, Tony. Hernia needs to be called out for "intentional infliction of emotional distress" and sued by the Harman family.
ReplyDeleteHe knowingly is printing crap that he knows is wrong just to try to generate hits on his blog.
Maybe the closing of Jardine's and his girlfriend's troubles have made him lose his mind.
Bloggers specialize in outrageous nonsense, claims, and accusations just ot try to make their sites more "interesting". Never you, of course, T.
ReplyDeleteThey really don't much care about the impact of their comments on those who they cite and only very occasionally is someone so annoyed, insulted, or libeled that they sue.
And when you add blogging to a gossip columnist, why should anyone be surprised at the crap that results?
Most blogs are just more porn on the internet and thanking Mr. Alford for slumming is very appropriate.
To be fair........
ReplyDeleteTony has said some pretty distastyeful shit about...
Mary Sanchez
Nadia Pflaum
The former mayors children
the former mayor and wife
99 percent of the stars columnists
I could go on but I have to go to work. I found Hearnes writing on Harman to be distasteful and misleading. But Tony you calling out Hearne for his writing ethics is like Alonzo calling out Al Sharpton for race baiting.
That said, nothing like a blogger slap fight to draw traffic.
Mark, don't forget Jenee Osterheldt.
ReplyDeleteLook Tony, I love your blog and think the 1st Amendment gets a hell of good workout here.
It needs it.
That said, gimme a fuckin break.
Wasn't this guy a regular on the stigall show? Res Ipse Loquitor.
ReplyDeleteCouple more things---
ReplyDelete"Another media mover & shaker said: "He probably doesn't realize how many people he has made angry with these posts that are completely off base. He doesn't have a chance of working again at a professional level in Kansas City."
Where would he work anyway? The Star, The Pitch? Hemorrhaging employees and advertisers like customers on the White Star line in a winter hurricane?
There is NO WHERE to go Tony.
Your insecurities are evident. YOUR THE SHIT DUDE.
"REACTION AMONG KANSAS CITY'S PROFESSIONAL AND MAINSTREAM JOURNALISTS REGARDING HEARNE CHRISTOPHER'S REPORTING ON DON HARMAN'S DEATH HAS BEEN OVERWHELMINGLY NEGATIVE!!!"
Who gives a fuck what "Mainstream Journalists" think?
Twitter, blogs, the internet now forces the honest and unbridled news with all its warts into the public domain without the trammelling, editing, slants and politicization of reality.
For example.
Most all national news organizations will do ther best to hide the race of criminals suspected in crimes when the news breaks.
The 4th estate for the most part, is interested in how they think the world should be, not in how it actually is.
The news is filtered and slanted with an agenda.
Bolgs, twitter and the internet now force the truth from traditional news sources for we hoi polloi to digest.
Thats a good thing.
Mike Mahoney is a guy I hope smokes cigars and is a REAL TV Journalist.
Tony's buddy Russ whats his name is a real journalist.
Mark Alford, aside from the egregious and pitiable offence of graduating from Texas, is probably a pretty good guy, but is hjust a talking head.
Boggers, twitter and the internet are the ral point guards in the dissemination of th news, and its a good thing, not a bad thing imo.
So the idea, proposed by Tony (Who should have a little more respect for his OWN blog which does in fact break local stories and force the Star and Tv to work harder.), that Mark Alford is slumming is a disservice to his own work, and the good offices of others in the new journalistic milieu within which he labors.
Mr. Alfored is lucky to get a quote.
Hearne was interviewing me once. I said something and then told him it was off the record. His next sentence was, "Can I print that?" and I told him "absolutely not."
ReplyDeleteAngry as hell, I call HIS boss at the Star. That accomplished nothing, and the damage was already done. Fuck Hearne Christopher.....and his hair piece. I don't read his POS blog for a reason, and if you don't stop glorifying that scumbag, I'll stop reading yours.
Say howdy to your mom
Forgot to mention that Hearn Scumtopher DID print what I told him not to print.
ReplyDeleteDon't get upset, Chuck. Here, suck a black dick.
ReplyDelete10:24
ReplyDeleteThat really hurt.
I gotta go to work, so its safe now.
Suicidal asphyxia by helium.
ReplyDelete@chuck: you're a pompous ass. You just copy and paste comments from the "other" blog onto here because you're too stupid to come up with two smart things to say. And for you to call anyone self-righteous is laughable.
ReplyDelete-Forgot to mention that Hearn Scumtopher DID print what I told him not to print.-
ReplyDeleteYou're the dumbshit for talking to a reporter with their notepad out. Do you have the slightest bit of common sense?
Whatever else, Tony may or may not be, Tony doesn't seem to be insecure. Chuck is probably just hungover from the weekend. HC just another KC rich kid, not worth a second thought. Until this post, I didn't realize he was still around.
ReplyDeleteI came over to this site after reading a comment on KC Confidential about some guy using all cap red letters to blather about Hearne Christopher's reporting on Don Harmon's suicide. How old is this Tony guy? 19? 20? I perused the home page and the blog post summaries and this guy is a clown who apparently fancies himself as someone important. This blog appears to be just as crappy as the dozen or so other local ones out there just like it. Seriously, who actually thinks interspersing pics of scantily clad women in his/her blog makes it more credible? Google image search is a lot easier if someone has a fix for racy, lingerie pics. First and last comment, first and last visit to this site.
ReplyDeleteWhy would you say "suck a black dick" as an insult? IMO, they are truly delicious....
ReplyDeletePeople on the TV and the people that love them.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, juast south of the Plaza, that other guy reminds us of tkc's big date tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteFREE GILBERT GURRERO!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this story. I didn't realize Hearne Christpher was still alive.
ReplyDeleteHas kcreporter.com run the KC Star out of business yet?
ReplyDeleteWhy no more London Andrews photos? Can't find anything "suitable for work"?
ReplyDeleteHearne gives the rest of us alcoholics a bad name.
ReplyDeletelol at it all. R.I.P. Don Harman.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDeleteYou're the dumbshit for talking to a reporter with their notepad out. Do you have the slightest bit of common sense?
12/5/11 10:46 AM
First of all, it was a phone interview. Secondly, fuck you.
11:11 also likes sucking dirty black asshole...so don't worry about insulting him.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Tony would never morbidly speculate on other people's deaths and misery... except for when he and Hearne were working together and he wrote a huge blog post about music critic Tim Finn speculating on the relationship with his just-deceased wife and whether Finn was happy she was dead and really hated her.
ReplyDeleteHearne is absolute scum.
Tony isn't any better.
And John Landsberg too.
I was gonna mention that but at least Tony didn't try to play detective and blog about the way she died.
ReplyDeleteThe Internet sucks though. I agree with you @2:56.
Oh my fucking god, Chuck. That was the best comment I've ever read. Do you have anything published? I'm not being sarcastic either.
ReplyDeleteChuck is often as funny as Hell. He's a regular all over the local net but unfortunately I think he has a real job.
ReplyDelete- I said something and then told him it was off the record-
ReplyDeletePhone interview or not, this guy is a dumbshit.
Any one who has an ounce of sense knows that you can not say something to a reporter and retroactively declare it "off the record". See below.
-sources wishing to ensure the confidentiality of certain information are generally advised to discuss the "terms of use" before actually disclosing the information-
I lost respect for TKC ever since he advocated for the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile. Yeah Tony, they will say anything to maximize profit margins, dumb ass. Haven't you ever heard of bait and switch?
ReplyDeleteChuck, if you're reading this: Do you have a link to your blog or other writings?
Chuck's tour de force missives are finally getting the attention they deserve.
ReplyDeleteI often imagine him looking like an especially fired-up Steve Buscemi when reading his stuff.
Probably way off, but it seems to work.
Chuck is a loon and an idiot who can barely string together a sentence. Hearne and Tony prove that the tail can wag the dog but they both have fleas.
ReplyDeleteI think "paid writer" is holding up a sign that says "$19.99 Oil Change" in front of the Jiffy Lube.
ReplyDeleteThat stain on your shirt is oil, not ink pal.
This loon and idiot does not have a blog, but you all are kind to ask.
Tony, Hearne, Mo Rage, Mid Miscreant, Jimmy and greg all create things. They are actually talented folks contributing to the conversation.
I am just a smartass. :)
Damn good one chuck :-)
ReplyDeleteOne of the bartenders worked at The Record Bar before moving to Jardine's I'll get the truth from her.
I'm not saying you're not entertaining Chuck. And you' give your list way too much credit. They are just retouching what the real media produces.
ReplyDeleteOphan . . . Why dig into nose candy stories?
ReplyDeletecovered.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I just read the Hearne article and you, Tony, are just inciting a flame war to garner hits. In fact the two of you in both of your posts just come across as TMZ-caliber gossip writers that are desperate for attention or controversy. Despite the Hearne post being vapid and vague by insinuating a first-person account of Harman's questionable "dark side", it's more of a sophomoric attempt that is all bark with absolutely no bite. But still Tony, you have to stoop down in order to generate controversy for gaining hits. Why even waste your time on this? Hearne's column didn't substantiate anything about the other side of Harman! And he is a fucking paid journalist? It's all an extremely biased/subjective/skewed account that doesn't deserve a shred of merit or credibility. WHY AM I SITTING IN MY MOTHER'S BASEMENT WITH A JOURNALISM DEGREE? I see why you are, Tony.
ReplyDeleteI expect this from a tabloid web page--then again, you have a bunch of smut as your trademark. Again, maybe I am just repeating what Chuck said earlier, but I had to look up most of the words in this comments.
6:48, don't care about the coke. If the employees are owed money then that is a big story. Could involve jail time and would surely interest the IRS too.
ReplyDeleteBesides the real story is will Hearne have his party there IF his ex has done the workers wrong.
I like your style orphan but Hearne's party is a fucking of goobers. I'm surprised Tony didn't beg for an invite. Hearne lied about what happened to Harman and that's unfortunate and wrong. He should know better. I thought he was raised better.
ReplyDeleteso let me get this straight. does this mean you're not going to suck up to Hearne any more, Tony?
ReplyDeleteyou're so right (above) Byron.
ReplyDeleteand thank God for Chuck and those insights.
for anyone--here, anyway--to rail about anything remotely "appropriate" is beyond understanding.
the responses posted here after Dan Harman's death were nearly beyond belief.
just because someone sends you an email doesn't mean you should put it out there for all to see, just to prove you get mail.
no, true Anon (pussy) 10:50, above, Tony "doesn't seem to be insecure.
ReplyDeletehe's honestly too stupid to be insecure.
stupid or unaware.
Hearne is a horrible person. That is all there is to it. Anyone who would talk to him is a fool. I see him out occasionally and go out of my way to avoid him.
ReplyDeleteJesus I am hungover today.
ReplyDeleteGood luck today Tony!
BTW, I am gonna need a ride to that party...
Please??
:)