As subscriptions, advertising and circulation decline, the newspaper is making a cringe-worthy hard sell in today's Sunday edition.
Take a look:
Newspaper: Kansas City, we need each other. So let’s keep the conversation going
The diatribe mostly features dead-tree media attempting to take credit for stuff people learned 1st on social media. Moreover, the talk about policy influence is laughable given the deadlocked and horrific state of local government. Read closely and the newspaper even claims they locked up former Jackson County Exec Mike Sanders after serving as his press release mouthpiece for so many years.
Fact it, they could dig up William Rockhill Nelson, reanimate him and have him make the sales pitch and it still wouldn't change the fact that most people read the "news" on their phones where the institutional legacy of The Star really doesn't compete with cats who can play piano.
We could rage but a denizen of our blog community puts it best:
"This self-aggrandizing commercial is pretty pathetic. The Star never disappoints when it comes to proving that arrogance and ignorance is a seriously unattractive combo."
You decide . . .
Sorry, I'm far more entertained by Hulu. They're not getting my money.
ReplyDeleteDon't need a paper anymore. All the fake news and lowest common denominator crap you can consume is on line.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy my crisp, snappy, and hermetically sealed paper to protect it from the elements every morning!
ReplyDeleteThe Star is not worth the paper it is printed on.
ReplyDeleteI said SHUT UP before I throw ur ass out dat window!
ReplyDeleteA business that can't conceal its disdain for half its potential customers deserves to fold. I will miss the sports and comics, but the news stories for some time have been indistinguishable from the editorials. Sad to say, the Star will not be missed.
ReplyDeleteKC Star needs to become a nonprofit.
ReplyDeleteIt already is.
ReplyDeleteNope, Beaver. It's a for-profit. See, McClatchey owns it and is on the NYSE.
DeleteI don't see how destroying the local paper is a win for anyone.
ReplyDelete@9:32. It was sarcasm. Look it up. Go be offended by something else today.
ReplyDeleteGee, Wally. What's sarcasm, I mean, arent I supposed to smile or laugh when someone is being sarcastic?
DeleteThe Star Editor says they worked all night to reveal problems with duck boats. Ignoring Missouri state responsibility for watercraft protects democrat corruption of previous administrations. Mike Sanders was only state chairman, but Nixon was governor.
ReplyDeleteThe Jay Nixon administration was filled with corruption and cronyism. The State of Missouri overlooked the problems with the duck water craft in Arkansas and other states.
The drowning at Lake of the Ozarks of a young man under arrest, without a life jacket, can be partly blamed on the lack of training of the officer. Jay Nixon combined the Water Patrol with the Highway Patrol and insufficient training was given to HP officers. Jay Nixon was involved when the Missouri National Guard was told to stand down and let the riots in Ferguson continue.
Loss of life and businesses resulted. Missouri regulates and licenses water craft. Motorized vehicles are inspected for safety and licensed. Missouri should have been aware of the national problems with these "ducks" and instituted some regulations or requirements.
Does the Star protect Democrat corruption?
The Star claims they are interested in exposing corruption.
ReplyDeleteWhen will there be a Star investigation of the details of the cost of refinancing the Baltimore Cordish P&L bonds in 2014 as a lead-up to Sly's re-election in 2015? Reportedly fifteen million annual subsidy lowered in 2014 and 2015 to five million dollars.
Why? Only apparent reason was to help Sly's re-election in 2015. Reported cost of extending was to extend bond repayment and increase debt. Was $36 million added to $297 million Cordish P&L debt? Who besides the bond dealers benefited from this ploy? A Pulitzer Prize may await.
The Star exposing corruption in a democratic run shitty administration? Are you fucking kidding? I dropped this fucking paper almost as soon as "DoGood" started writing his lefty shit. Kept it for a short time, cause I liked the Sunday crossword in the Star magazine, but finally couldn't take their bs any longer. Sad, once fine paper. Bye.
ReplyDeleteAt least now we know why the Star has come down so strongly in support of the beggars.
ReplyDeleteI tried talking to them over my on again-off again 35-year subscription history. In the early years, it was always delivery problems and problems related to the delivery problem solutions. At least in those days, you were talking to real people in the KC metro. Later years it was off-shore people who could not understand you nor you them.
ReplyDeleteI tried to talk to them when they started paring down content. Abby runs three letters but the Star cut it down to one or none at all. Same with Edith Lank. I tried talking to them when the comics page kept shrinking. And when the letters to the editor would be cut back or not run at all. Funny thing though, there was always room for more advertisements. Because advertisements pay, content costs. They also got away from local articles in, for instance, the Sunday House & Home section. They would alternate between several local designers, decorators, etc. They disappeared only to be replaced by generic columns picked up from some cheap wire service content.
I tried to talk to them when the actual news articles...the news itself...would be cut back to partial stories that would end with, "for more on this go our website". So basically, they TAUGHT me to find content online. Their news articles with the full story. The missing columns and comics.
Lastly, I tried to talk to them when my subscription rate jumped to over $400 per year. They were sorry to lose me but no, there was no price concession to be made. There were no special rates. They understood and were sorry but it was $400+ or nothing. Thirteen days later on a Saturday morning i got a call from the Star and some guy named "Mike" offering to take me back for less than half of what I was paying. When I asked him why I was not offered that when I quit, when I pressed him on why, he rudely said, "Look I don't know why this wasn't available before. I'm just offering you this deal now. Do you want it or not?!!" I said no thank you and hung up.
In depth stories like the Maryville rape coverage was what the Star was really good at. Unfortunately, those rare gems were few and far between. As you can see, I put up with more and tried harder to keep the Star more than anyone else on this site would tolerate. I did try to speak. You just weren't listening.
Perhaps a good talking to didn't take, but perhaps something more is needed, if I may be so bold.
DeleteThe article was proof-positive that editor Mike Fannin is OUT-OF-TOUCH and living in the liberal media ECHO CHAMBER.
ReplyDeleteThe fact is, the McClatchy newspaper chain remains in dire straits from which there will be no escape. They continue to play for time, liquidating assets and laying off their staff.
They've allowed Chatham Asset Management to accumulate over a million shares (10-percent owner) and string them up like a loan shark in search of blood.
McClatchy shares (MNI) have gone nowhere for the past year, linger at $9.00, and Chatham keeps them propped up while they suck the lifeblood from their host.
When the company enters bankruptcy, the final insult to remaining employees and retirees will be when the bankruptcy court approves the discharging of pension obligations. If they all experience a sudden conversion to Conservatism at that point it will be a dollar short and a day too late.
Good ridence. They deserve to fail
ReplyDeleteNewspapers should serve the community. When the don't, bye bye.
The Star stopped serving the community years ago.
The amazing thing is that not so many years ago, there were TWO editions of the newspaper, delivered each day. the Times, in the morning and the Star in the evening. They were both full size, big thick newspapers.
Newspapers are dying off everywhere. Another casualty of the internet. Even the Wall Street Journal is a shell of its former self.
You must be old if "not so many years ago" was the 1980s.
DeleteAwaiting Jimmy Fitz's take.
ReplyDeleteThe Star is about as objective as NPR, I avoid both of them.
ReplyDeleteIf the Star Editor is interested in exposing area political corruption they should do an investigation of
ReplyDeletethe $12 million-dollar, Chicago, no bid contract to improve customer service in the Water Department. No changes or improvements were ever proclaimed by any of the media.
What did happen is that a flood of mailings began coming from Chicago and other locales wanting every KCMO property owner to buy water line insurance from a private company. The last several years the letters have been official looking letters from the City Manager. Why was Troy Schulte promoting private insurance? Is Kansas City paying the costs of mailings for a private, for-profit company. Only conclusion is that the $12 million was used to setup private companies to sell this insurance. Who are the silent partner/owners of this for- profit company?
You must still be wet behind the ears to have typed what you did, or did Mommy type it for you?
ReplyDeleteThe Star has not been willing to criticize Jackson County Prosecutors for failing to prosecute arson after a woman causes two arson fires; then burns a third nail salon that results in the death of two firefighters.
ReplyDeleteThe Star writes a lengthy analysis after deaths but will not criticize Mike Sanders or Peter Baker for failing to prosecute.
The Star should throw in the towel and stop publishing. Paying $2.50 for a few sheets of newsprint that stinks and leaves an inkstain on your fingers is not a big sell. Even if you subscribe online, the cost is guaranteed to go up and up. Goodbye KC Star. RIP
ReplyDeleteActually, the article convinced me - I'll sign up for $7.99/mo., AND pay a year in advance, but I want a guarantee that the content I receive will contain no Advertising, including the Classifieds, no Sports Coverage, and nothing downloaded by the Star from on-line sources.
ReplyDeleteDo we have a deal, McClatchey?
The KC Red Star? Oh wow where do I begin. I used to LOVE reading the paper. That was many years ago. Now all I see is a dumping ground for coupons and advertising. They really oversell their reach on that. It is also the print media outlet for the Missouri Democrat party. Can you imagine what it must have been like the day after Election Day in 2016 at the star offices?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the star is far too biased for my independent thinking. If you want to read the star you might as well go read the huffington post. Because the huffington post doesn’t cover real issues at city hall either, but they may run a sunshine story on Claire or that socialist lesbian kickboxer. At the pace the star is going its only a matter of time before people who subscribe find the gender box missing on the subscription form. Why? Because gender is a social construct.
The paper has been out of touch with its subscribers for years and years. Now it is even out of touch with its remaining advertisers. I noticed our local grocery store quite selling it, even the Sunday edition. It is $3.00 wasted for about a 30 minute mediocre read about things that we don't care about anyway. Somehow renaming Paseo and the overpriced events and parking in the Power and Light District are just not inspiring to most readers.
ReplyDeleteStar Sunday edition raised to $4 a few weeks ago.
DeleteAnd, there's recycler bins at two of our neighborhood's schools that are still getting plastic strapped stacks of the Star's sections tossed in, for over a year, now. These un-delivered, un-collated sections that appear a few times a month seem a waste, maybe fraud. Are they "printed" and "distributed" to make use of newsprint spools, ink, laserjets, labor, etc., for creating accounting "expenses"?! Hmmmmmmm...
The editor writes that a survey shows the locals trust the Star more than the national news folks. They obviously didn't talk with many of us to find out our feelings.
ReplyDeleteThe Star has lost so many because of the content and the lack of content. As an example, many writers at the paper over the years has added to credibility issues. Sanches, Jenee' (thank god this racist so called journalist is gone) Sanchez isn't much better. Dave Helling is another who hasn't helped the star and his own credibility. "Doogood" is another example.
The star has never met a tax hike it didn't endorse to the citizens of both Missouri and Kansas. Or federal tax hikes, or "feebies", Obamacare, food stamps and the list goes on and on.
Then the price hikes with less news because they cut reporters to save money and that began the death spiral.
MAYBE, just maybe those are the things that the editor ought to look at of why they lose subscribers
Getting rid of Sancheeze and Hoopz has devastated the Star and they have no hopes of recovery.
ReplyDeletethey had their chance, more than a fair chance, and they've blown it.
ReplyDeletehis comments have a kernel of truth but they're too late and too out of touch now.
Because of the demise of local newspapers nationwide, NPR is now considering taking up the slack by energizing its local news efforts.
ReplyDeleteTrue, such local news would likely be tainted left, but at least it would be serious and rigorous.
any assertion that they were leaders in exposing the original crony airport proposal is wrong.
ReplyDeletethey followed, not led the discussion.
tkc actually did more early!
Mike,
ReplyDeleteHere's how to save the paper--
1. Reduce the annual subscription rate to $175 - $200 and massively market to get back middle class households as home subscribers. $540 is not affordable by middle class households and many wealthy ones find it insulting. If you can't make it work under $200, well, fold up shop now and avoid a painful, wretching end.
2. Implement a policy of no op-ed or signed editorials by reporters. meaning all local editorials would be newspaper editorials reviewed by the whole editorial board. Present pro-and-con analyses of LOCAL issues. Reassign reporters to journalism and objective truth reporting and they'll stop wasting time and also stop insulting half their readers. This may mean fewer reporters still. Fine.
3. Hire an avowed conservative to be a reporter and a member of the editorial board, just to show good faith, which you haven't recently.
Radical surgery is needed or you're going down.
One thing that's perplexing is that the McClatchy newspapers we read occasionslly in other cities seem more rigorous on local news.
ReplyDeleteIt's impossible to not have schadenfreude for them.
ReplyDeleteTHE MAIN STREAM MEDIA IS THE ONES MEDDLING IN THE 2018 Elections not the Russians. There meeting in northern California to try to take Conservative views off social media. And there tech.platforms. Remember it is the left media. And they want the Democrats and the Socialist. In power. Look it up. Hundreds of articles.
ReplyDeleteEven though the Star is a left wing tissue it would be sad to loose it.
ReplyDeletehttp://thehill.com/homenews/media/403746-pittsburgh-becomes-largest-us-city-without-a-daily-print-newspaper
NPR tainted left ?!?! Their left arm is holding a UN charter up to its shoulder in a donkeys ass.
ReplyDelete