Consider this an observation…
A funny thing happened in Topeka today. In the form of a complimentary copy of the $1 list price Topeka Capital-Journal.
The question being, how might it stack up against the Kansas City Star? Would it give off a similar vibe of being a retirement community newsletter( like the Star and unlike the Lawrence Journal World)? Might it coax me into wanting to read it on a regular basis? Or would it merely be as lame as it usually appears sitting there un-picked up in grocery store racks?
Inquiring minds – mine anyway – wanted to know.
For starters, it felt pretty hefty, owing to the fact that like the Star and Journal World, Wednesday is the day they clean up on grocery store ads, courtesy of a token one page, two story “Flavor Section.”
As for dodging the oldster bullet, Topeka’s Capital-Journal does so handily.
The biggest difference being that it has only a smattering geezer ads. Most of Topeka’s display ads talk about weight loss, investment strategies, K Mart closings, camping and outdoor goods, maid services,healthcare, corner cafes, local theater, job fares, flea marts, grocery store bracket challenges, computer and technology training, car dealer ads out the wazoo and a surprisingly vibrant classified section.
Whereas the Star’s advertising seems almost limited to hearing aids, funerals, erectile dysfunction and the like. It actually took me two separate trips paging through the Topeka newspaper to find just one small hearing aid ad.
That’s the good news…
The bad news is that the news content of the Topeka Capital-Journal leaves much to be desired.
The “Dems” are coming after Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder if Trump wins the nod is the main, front page headline. The VA suicide hotline comes under criticism, along with some woman becoming the new head of the Topeka Community Foundation and some group putting the finishing touches on a duplex that will offer long term housing to the homeless.
There’s a couple decent crime stories – a body found in a creek and some former Kickapoo Tribe leaders facing charges of misusing funds. Oh and a water bottle is being blamed for a crash on I-70 in KCK – nobody’s even named in that story – and one mother comforted another in a quadruple murder case in Ottawa.
The all-important sports section is pretty bland , outside of a blue-haired local columnist bagging on KU for not playing its freshmen roundballers enough to get them seasoned for the coming season.
All in all, the overall feel of the Topeka paper is far superior to the Star, less so the news content.
And incredibly, the top dawg winner among the three newspapers in the Lawrence Journal World. Mostly because you don’t feel like you’re in your 80s or 90s reading it, the look is clean and by virtue of having a far younger reporter staff it feels better and seems to focus better on local news that a broad cross section of locals might find interesting and/or entertaining.
One thing appears crystal clear where the KC Star is concerned.
And that’s that it’s highly unlikely to expect much in the way of appreciable change until somebody at McClatchy or whoever else ends up own it implements a changing of the guard at the top.
Short of that, it’s basically a slow rolling funeral dirge for a news organization that has seen far better days.
Hearne, I am still one of the last ones on my block to get the STAR delivered daily. I often wonder why. Every time I visit relatives in Des Moines, I’m blown away by the breadth of coverage — and far-reaching reporting on many local and state topics — of the Des Moines Register. It amazes me how I can hang out and read their Sunday paper for close to an hour… and yet, I can breeze through the STAR most Sundays in about 30 minutes tops. I hope there is a purge of the old line guys — Yael, Guswelle, Shelley, Diugud — and a replacement with a bunch of young, hungry types fresh out of Mizzou or KU who want to make a name for themselves and see their bylines often. Is that a dream?
That sh8t heel in Ottawa needs the needle and he needs it tomorrow before lunch.
“The bad news is that the news content of the Topeka Capital-Journal leaves much to be desired.”
I’m sure if you contact them and ask them to write a story regarding who the “Watson’s Girl” is sleeping with now, they will do so. And they’ll probably add a photo with cleavage if you ask.
Good idea. More Watson’s Girl cleavage would get more eyeballs on this site, too.
Different pics please. I can only pleasure myself so much to the same damn pics of Watson’s Girl over and over. Freshen it up Hearny.
The good news is that the editorial page of The Star is now down to Yael and Lewis. Hopefully the new publisher will get tired of reading Yael’s daily hate directed at Brownback and columns from Lewis that could have been recycled from 20 years ago and terminate both of them in favor of retaining more reporters.
The bad news is that they aren’t doing either. The Star makes enough money to be cannibalized by the bloodsuckers at McClatchy and so, absent a sale to someone who actually cares about Kansas City and, isn’t a lawn jockey at The River Club like Art Brisbane The Star will continue to be bled in a recurring cycle of layoffs/reduced news content.
As for the Cap-Journal, they at least have one decent political reporter (Carpenter) which is one more than The Star. And you are correct, the family led Journal-World is probably the best paper in the state.
old man reads paper and tells everyone around the table, reading the andy capp comic aloud- the blog post
I love Balbo more than any man should…..
Why would anyone read a Topeka, kansas paper?