Rise Of 'Ghost Newsrooms' Already Underway In Kansas City

Allow us a remembrance . . .

Last year our now dead friend Jimmy C was the first guy to inform us that the Kansas City Star was operating out of a P.O. box on the Plaza for a brief period.

Now the newspaper is run out a smallish office near Crown Center that looks like something a mid-level dentist might utilize in better times. 

Moreover . . .

Thanks to TKC readers for sending a depressing Wall Street Journal . . . The reality is that we've been off our game during Thanksgiving week whilst the "news" keeps coming . . . Meanwhile, we're not too broken up about it inasmuch as this a quick rundown of our journalist betters might explain the local news game a bit more clearly . . .

One of the most successful online news endeavor . . . A husband & wife who "write" a happy-go-lucky morning newsletter that's mostly just promo content and one or two easily palatable morning talk show items. 

The KC "public" news cartel earns EPIC donations and all manner of dark money to mostly offer patrons a collection of content from progressive activists recycling month old stories from MSNBC. Sometimes this backfires. Example: They promoted some crazy-ass blog that imagined a racist serial killer in a "sex dungeon" story that turned out to be so kinky that the news politely ignored the whole affair.

We can't forget "the news king of Shawnee" who pretends that online subscriptions are funding his venture to promote his favorite politicos and report on high school sports which is way less embarrassing than admitting that dad's bankrolling his outfit.

And so . . . This brings us to tech and AI and telecommuting. 

Here's a passage explaining the phenomena with a warning . . . When the machines eventually learn how to tell fart jokes and mix in pop culture references and crude remarks with political controversy. We're going to start a new career signing the blues that we've always dreamed about . . . Check-it:

 In an age of media consolidation, "ghost newsrooms" have taken root across the U.S., with the work of full-time staffers displaced by that of freelancers, wire services and larger news networks, The Wall Street Journal reports. The result: Little or no coverage of truly local issues, including the inner workings of city governments. In some places, news startups are trying to fill the void, but the task is immense: There are nearly two-thirds fewer newspaper journalists in the U.S. now compared with 2005, according to Northwestern University researchers.

There are about 6,000 newspapers left in the U.S., down from 8,891 in 2005; they're disappearing at a rate of more than two a week, and most are never replaced, even online . . .

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . . Sorry, paywall . . .

Your Local Newspaper Might Not Have a Single Reporter

Rise of 'ghost newsrooms' is spawning efforts by local news startups to fill the void.