TKC SUNDAY SPECIAL!!! KANSAS CITY STAR SUFFERS MORE LAYOFFS AMID PARENT COMPANY BANKRUPTCY SALE!!!



A beloved Kansas City writer and music aficionado recently earned an outpouring of sympathy and encouragement with his social media blast revealing continued harsh times at the local newspaper.

Here's the word:

"After 21+ years with The Kansas City Star, my time there has come to an end. The Star and parent company, McClatchy put several of us on a 90-day unpaid furlough back in April and on the 91st day they let us know we wouldn't be going back to work."

Accordingly and what this note confirms . . .

LAYOFFS CONTINUE AT THE KANSAS CITY STAR AS THE McCLATCHY ACQUISITION THREATENS MORE COST CUTTING!!!

The response that we've seen from local newsies is hopeful but also naive.

Not all of the KC Star castaways can work for cut-rate prices for public TV or NPR. We've seen a few launch startup e-mail newsletters and blog operations that are nothing more than 2020 campaign season ploys funded by progressive political interests . . . The funding is sketchy and doesn't include dental for workers stuck stringing out progressive talking points and hoping for rigged social media attention.

We won't pretend to have the answer for desperate newsies . . . Mayor Quinton Lucas has floated the idea of (more) taxpayer support for the newspaper that would completely ruin their credibility and any semblance of objectivity.

And whilst the public feigns love of local "journalism" (lulz) the numbers tell a different story. Far more people would rather scroll social media to spy on former loves and spar with family and frenemies rather than learn about sordid local government actions.

On the bright side, TV is doing a much better job of stepping up their local reporting game and their reach is far greater than dead-tree media.

Blame COVID-19 or the decline of literacy in America . . . But there is now simply no denying that paper is an outdated and obsolete method of delivering news as the transition to the Internets all but eliminates the competitive advantage of fading dead-tree institutions.

Check the links:

McClatchy DC: Chatham Asset Management, the hedge fund that won McClatchy Co. at auction, announced Friday that media industry veteran Tony W. Hunter will be the company’s new chief executive.

Jimmy C: Tony Hunter, McClatchy’s new chief executive, has been chairman of the board of a marijuana company the last 13 months.

Poynter: What you need to know about hedge funds — and their affinity for newspaper organizations

NPR: 'Ghosting The News' Author Says Local Journalism 'Freefall' Is Accelerating

AFP: Virus hastens newspapers' slide into shaky digital future

Developing . . .

Comments

  1. KC will be a worse place without the star, more corruption and more politicians propped up by special interests without question.

    We need a strong local paper, it's not media, it is the 4th estate.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ^^^

      that's a nice thought but things don't really work that way. The newspaper hasn't been relevant in local life for at least 10 years. Turning it into a non profit will only hurt the public and raise taxes.

      Delete
    2. The Star didnt fight corruption. Who ya kibbin?

      Delete
    3. You would still have The Star if they didnt purposly drive away their customers by being an advocacy for democrats

      Delete
    4. A worse place? Murders, local government sponsored vandalism promoting a terrorist organization, communists marching down the street? Politicians and media cowering to a mob that destroys business ? This sounds scary.

      Delete
  2. What's a newspaper?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Drop the college kid activism. Stop protecting the Jackson County corruption.

    They'll make money hand over fist. But leftists don't really understand how to make money, just take it. So I'm merely shouting at the moon about this.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Don't feel sorry for the Editors and Journalists of the Red Star.

    You print Communist trash daily; you deserve to lose your jobs.

    Buh Bye !!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. The KC Scar has been on life support for years. Pull the damn plug already!

    ReplyDelete
  6. But keep the Wednesday ads for my frying.

    Place ads on plate. Cover with paper towel. Place greasy bacon and sausage on towel. When drippings absorbed, place ads in proper container for all things Star.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Since they have become the propaganda arm for BLM, maybe BLM will dig into their treasury to pay their rent.
    But don't count on it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The "journalists" at KC Star this is happening to, I don't feel sorry for them. When they became simple propaganda tools promoting a "progressive agenda," and not investigating muckrackers, they lost their journalistic souls. Damn them!

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  9. Only dying geriatrics care about the Star.

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  10. The rag writers at the Scar are getting what they deserve for being POS shills. It quit selling and yet they persisted. Put more stuff behind the pay wall. That will save you. If not you can always apply to Russia Today!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Can we convert the Star Building that taxpayers built downtown for the paper into a Downtown Baseball Stadium?
    It should easily have enough room to house an indoor playing field and seating for all of the fans they'll have left after thus Season.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Another lost weekend Bandit? Big day running ignorant on a blog again? Action packed day on tap! Say Qball and libtard again! Come on do it! You know you want to! Loser.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why does Bsndit bother you so much? You give him loads of shit (the operative word is loads) for commenting, but you always have a response. Aren’t you just as active?

      Delete
  13. KC Star has failed the Kansas City area miserably An endorsement from the KC Star editorially board means certain failure Businesses are leaving the KC area because of the cartoon like quality of all forms of media in KC, print and electronic. They just can never get the story accurately. Good by Star.

    ReplyDelete
  14. The Star will be here long after you gerries shuffle off this mortal coil so...

    ReplyDelete
  15. Great Kevin Bacon impression! "ALL IS WELL! ALL IS WELL!!!!"

    ReplyDelete
  16. ^^^Crickets...crickets...crickets.

    ReplyDelete

  17. @ 10:32 That's what everyone thought abut the times and as you can see it's a slow death but it will die. Unless of course some trouble shooter comes in and changes it from the bias BS it is.

    ReplyDelete
  18. ^^^And yet you won’t be around to see it so why worry Boomer? You’re all going to die before the Star, so maybe go do something productive while you can instead celebrating the death of a poet you’re not going to be around for? How about that Boomer?

    ReplyDelete
  19. ^^^And yet you won't be around to see it so why worry Whippersnapper? You're going to die before the Star because you're going to take the cinnamon challenge or something stupid like that because you're stupid.

    ReplyDelete
  20. ^^Nah Boomer, I just don’t care as much about a physical paper as you do because I matter. I have a life, friends, family, and things to do. Wether or not a relic of bygone era survives doesn’t phase me in the least. You don’t have anything or anyone, so pedestrian shit like this matters to you. OK Boomer?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Boomer says work on getting an education and then pop off-okay Junior? PS -tell your mom I’ll be by at the regular time and have my beer cold. Afterwards hang around so I can use your empty head to set my beer on. Thanks

      Delete
  21. The Star decided a long time ago to become a liberal rag that targeted all Republicans for insult and scorn. When you alienate about half of your possible target market by ignorant bias in a relatively small market, you get what you deserve. With the layoffs, maybe the new owners will decide to hire reporters and editors who don't have an axe to grind and will create more balanced coverage, but I highly doubt they are that smart.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Worthless liberal rag for years. Hope the close completely. The Martin City paper should expand and fill the void.

    ReplyDelete
  23. 11:12 -- "^^Nah Boomer, I just don’t care as much about a physical paper as you do because I matter. I have a life, friends, family, and things to do."

    We all can tell you're unemployed and living off the government because of how much time you have to post.

    ReplyDelete
  24. ^^and yet it’s Sunday and I don’t have to work you stupid fucking Boomer. Maybe if you didn’t spend 24/7 on a blog for dying geriatrics, you might know what day it is. Stupid fucking Boomer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ^^ you need anger management. Consider drinking less, especially early in the day.

      Delete
  25. The posers and toadies at the Scar have gotten the Kansas Shitty of their wet dreams. This mess is everything that they have advocated for decades. They should be happy. Sure it doesn't pay well but they got what they wanted. Congrats! Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
  26. 11:22 "Stupid fucking Boomer"

    Somebody's little feelings got hurt.

    ReplyDelete
  27. ^^and yet they figured out that playing to a bunch of geriatric fucktards is not a successful business model as they die every day and don’t spend any money cause they’re broke. Weird.

    ReplyDelete
  28. 11:22 is on here every day all day. He has no job. That's a fact.

    ReplyDelete
  29. ^^^and how would you know that if YOU weren’t on here every day all day. You must have no life and that’s a fact. Weird.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Same for you Weird guy. Plus you’re weird.

      Delete
  30. 11:22, you should be in church now, asking for forgiveness for all of your past sins, of which there are many. Oh, and wear a mask on your face and over your gassy backside. God bless.

    ReplyDelete
  31. It is possible to look at the string of comments here after a hard day's work and see where all of the dumb posts came from and what time they would posted. It's not rocket science. Try to keep up.

    ReplyDelete
  32. 11:22 I believe you just had a conniption fit, simmer down dude!

    ReplyDelete
  33. FAKE NEWS GO BYEBYE!

    ReplyDelete
  34. KILLA CITY CANT GET MUCH WORSE.921

    ReplyDelete
  35. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN EVERYONE KNOWS YOUR NEWS IS LIBERAL BIAS BULLSHIT.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Fuck the leftist piece of shit I hope they go to Cuba and starve

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why would they go to Cuba? In what reality or circumstance would they go to Cuba?

      Your comment is as useful and informed as making the decision to have a second and third anus surgically added below each elbow.

      Those three anuses would collectively be jealous of the type and the amount of excrement that comes out of your ignorant mouth.

      Delete
  37. Considering the extreme leftist socialist bent of this publication, it make sense putting a drug dealer in as the CEO.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Byron Funkhouser8/9/20, 1:46 PM

    "...Mayor Quinton Lucas has floated the idea of (more) taxpayer support for the newspaper that would completely ruin their credibility and any semblance of objectivity."

    Like that didn't happen years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Face if, if you are posting here you are nothing important and have nothing even halfway important to do. You are just a LOSER like me. Welcome to the loser blog.

    ReplyDelete
  40. HE DOESNT DO PUSSY HE LIKES BBC

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your smolWC doesn't matter until BBCs matter

      Delete
    2. Your smolWC will never matter over BBC. Ask your wife, your mom and your dad.

      Delete
  41. Somehow it ain't the end but only the beginning. If you are a rational conservative, your optimism is usually correct. Thus, your cynicism is usually proved out also. My cynicism and wet finger wind test tells me that the whole model will be overhauled and doubled-down to create a new "Star" that backs up its godless rhetoric by attacking not just conservative leaders, but accusing joe 6 pack by name. It will be the new "John TV" and will be the ultimate accusatory arm of New American Communism. Liberal optimism is always misplaced, and its cynicism is reserved for a country's best citizens. Brace yourself, its gonna get worse.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Boommer Hater acts like he doesn't like Boomers but he sure enjoys sniffing his Granny's panties.

    Living in Granny's basement, Basement Butt Mate Joe Biden is his hero !

    Boomer Hater, run along your Granny needs another sponge bath.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Unemployed weird chimpy boomer hater with all your "friends". They are all in the tree waiting for you. They saved a you banana. You say you aren't working today because it's Sunday.....Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha

    ReplyDelete
  44. What if it shut its doors and nobody notices? Wait a minute, nobody notice now. What's the difference. I learned to live without the Star long before the internet was invented. They always had utter contempt for anything south of 75th St. or North of the River, and it showed. Then when the suburbs became the "pretty girl" with all the advertisers and money, they found out we had learned to live very well without them. There just aren't enough beautiful people left in the "right" part of KC to support a newspaper.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Could be worse. Company could have hired Chainsaw Al Dunlap to slash heads and I do mean slash. The man loved cutting employees off at the knees. Gawd only knows what white guilt white guy retraining process will look like? You're better off dead that going through all that.

    ReplyDelete
  46. The virus has nothing to do with the impending demise of the Star.
    And constantly cutting costs by reducing the number of "reporters" is like trying to apply CPR to a corpse.
    The paper has gone from bad, to awful, and now it's just downright silly.
    Maybe these laid-off people can get jobs at some of the subsidized developments they're so enthused about or maybe even become an engineer on THE streetcar.
    The Star hasn't died.
    It's committed suicide.

    ReplyDelete
  47. I for one look forward to our new hedge fund overlords!

    ReplyDelete
  48. 608, thanks for the reference to Chainsaw Al, who was a standout exception of ruthless cost-cutting in the seventies.

    Problem is, that approach and the attached value system became the norm and are today.

    ReplyDelete
  49. 921, your idealized notions aren't operative anymore.

    ReplyDelete
  50. It is criminal what the McClatchy group has done to a great newspaper. For years we have suffered Yael and the editorial boards liberal views when we as a Midwestern city do not adhere to liberal positions but conservative views. I hope it will be a quick and painless death soon.

    ReplyDelete
  51. I used to subscribe to the Star, but found it more economical just to assume leftist talking points on my own, without paying to read them.

    ReplyDelete

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