A friend of mine at the Star argues that whatever its flaws, locals should embrace and support the newspaper as the single authoritative source of local news….
I agree.
But just as the Star supports arts, entertainment, business and government, it also ushers forth to critique and comment upon them – for better and for worse. The idea being that criticism can be constructive.
Isn’t what’s good for the news goose also good for local ganders?
On that note, let’s take a look at Tuesday’s Front Page.
“Reading, Writing and 27 Shotguns,” reads a headline, leading to a story about Federal Education Department agents wielding sawed-off shotguns. An interesting spin, but the headline and treatment make it sound like teachers and scholarly types are packing.
That’s not the case, as a full reading of the story reveals. So why spin it like that with all the too-cute wordplay?
For example, “The U.S. Deptartment of Education is locked and loaded” and likening the sound of a shotgun blast to “an angry principal breaking up a food fight.”
Please.
Local: KC Mayor turned Missouri congressman. Emanuel Cleaver bilking taxpayers for $2,900 a month for a van that serves as a mobile office?
Maybe it wouldn’t be quite so vexing were it not for the added charge that Cleaver spent more on vehicle rental than anyone else in the house.
Two things of note: first, it was a politial Web site – not the Star – that unearthed the story. Second, seems Cleaver’s been tooling around in the van for years and only now is the newspaper getting around to bagging on him for it. Oh and the picture you see here – that’s not it.
Remembrances: Question: how long must someone of note be dead before the Star covers the story. Answer: until their heirs and assigns buy an ad.
So it is that today – more than a week after the fact – legendary WHB personality Richard Ward Fatherley – posted an obituary in the Star. And for all Fatherley’s accolades, it was a short one. Not too very much more than the standard seven or nine line freebie plus $65 for the pic. Fatherley, 69, got off cheap, so to speak. And unless the paper unleashes Aaron Barnhart or somebody else again to drum up one of those tributes…
Hey, even the St. Louis Globe-Democrat had a story about Fatherley’s passing on Monday.
Wait a second.
There’s no death schmooze feature in today’s Star. More than two fat pages of obit ads but that boxed dealie that eulogizes the Deader of the Day is missing. In it’s place; an even fatter funeral homes display ad. Priorities.
Sports: Just how important a place on the local sports landscape does the new Missouri Mavericks hockey team occupy – at least in the eyes of the Star?
The team barely secured a two-sentence mention of its playoff tickets going on sale today totally hidden on page two of sports.
FYI: Nothing here of much interest to me today, other than Horoscopes.
Business: If it’s Tuesday, it’s money shot day for the folks in Biz.
Today we learn that retailers actually employ sales and marketing stategies in laying out their stores. Oh and there’s a nice sidebar further informing that “Men Shop, Too.”
Kevin Collison reveals that scarcely half the hotel rooms in the metro were occupied last year. Ouch. Still we need a 1,000-room hotel downtown to attract conventions and help out the underperforming hotels.
I’m out…
Aaron Barnhart
Now that’s the Hearne we know and love – publishing without checking first!
Of course, had you done the Google and bothered to spell RWF’s name properly, you would have seen that I had already done an online remembrance on TV Barn. (It is, in fact, the fifth result when you search the Web for “Fatherley.”)
And had you flashed me an email you would have learned that I also wrote a Fatherley tribute for the print edition as well. Unfortunately, it (and Bob Wormington’s) had to wait because the day I was working on them both, a THIRD local legend, Walt Bodine, had some news you may have read in The Star.
You are still reading The Star, right?
MandDShagger
You have a friend at the Star? That’s PRICELESS. Still, props are in order. You have succeeded in getting some Star and Pitch staffers to read KCC to right your wrongs. As Ronald Regan said, “Trust, but verify”.
Bob Loblaw
Wow. Speaking of shotgun reporting… That’s pretty embarrassing, Hearne.
jojo
Hearne: Checked your analytic stats for your
site and your views and visitors are falling
faster than ever.
You’ve now effectively filled your site with
stories noone really cares about.
Noone cares about your daily critiques about
the star. We don’t read it…so we don’t care
anymore what they write. So why waste time and
effort in trying to bash these people? The comment segments barely reach 5 which shows that
this star search column is not atttracting readers but merely feeding your ego.
Jack’s column on dollar theatres: uh who care?
Noone goes to them so noone even knew one still
was operating.
The blogs about theatre…and tony’s rants about
the power and light have grown old and worn out
and i’m sure few people care. If we wanted to
read tony’s crap we could just go to his website.
The only saviour you have is greg hall who’s
writing averages dozens of comments because its
interesting…fun…and your readers look forward tro his commentary. But someday hall may
bolt for his own siteand you’re left with
almost nothing.
IOf you’re in this to make money and get advertisers…you’re on the wrong path. You need
content that people want to read. Right now…
theres almost nothing someone might come to
look for. If this is your own personal agenda to
destroy the careers and the lives of the people
at the kc star then you need some serious
help. These were once your co workers and
trying to destroy them is basically a waste of
time. Remember…they still get 400,000 subscribers and millions of hits on their web site.
As a businessman you need to make a decision.
Produce a site that attracts readers who then see
your advertisers message who then spend money
with your advertisers or become a dinosaur
like many of the media have become.
You’re readers are going elsewhere. You need to
recapture them before they are gone for good.
Tracy Thomas
JoJo is right. There I said it. I would doublecheck his fact about the Star having 400,000 “subscribers”.
Nice factual tone here, Jojo!
I would like Hearne to read DansPapers.com. Dan Rattiner in the Hamptons is my favorite writer, has published for 40 years out there, very funny writer, even makes stuff up, which then has a life of its own–eg the Long Island Subway. Completely invented, it fools some people. He even prints “ridership reports” and news of which celebrities, eg Alec Baldwin and Paul McCartney, were spotted on that subway the past week.
Light, fun reading, clever writing. Hearne, you have that ability when you turn your attention to it. Get off this kick the Star kick. This make-wrong approach is not what you are best at, anyway. Since you’re not constrained by space, write a paper or a website that you and everyone want to read!!!
craig glazer
I have no clue how many hits you get, but I know the Star has closer to 200,000 readers on the paper side and much of that is news stands etc…still good and still the number one read paper in the midwest.
That said, you seem to have many readers Hearne, I see the counts on comments on controversail stuff, sports,people etc…so thats good as well. I compare that to bigger online posts like Yahoo on Tiger Woods which had 200 plus comments, but we know had several hundred thousand readers, everyone doesn’t comment.
On the Star, BOY GARY LESAK SURE WANTS THAT INCE OF SNOW..on Saturday he says high of 52 low of 50 and light snow, hmmmm…how does it snow at 50 degrees? Come on Gary…
jl
All I no is that Hearn siriusly kneads a speelchecker.
craig glazer
Leave Hearne alone. He is on it.
hearne
Hey Aaron, such thin skin, dude. I’m not reading or reviewing TV Barn in case you forgot. Come to think of it, who is reading TV Barn?
I’m doing the print edition of the Star, remember? The one that used to cover heavy hitter deaths right around the time the person actually died, rather than waiting and submitting something to an advertising section?
BTW, the reason I spelled it Fatherly at 5 a.m. was the Star misspelled in his obit, errr remembrance, today and I didn’t catch it. You didn’t see that? You don’t read your own paper?
It’s not my mission to call you for Star Search, it’s to read the newspaper like a regular subscriber – which I am – and make observations. That’s what readers do.
As for making excuses about what else you wrote or plan to write, or why something did or didn’t run, the public doesn’t really care. Something happens, they expect to read it. If they don’t, you want them all to call you and ask why so you can explain about other stories you’re working on?
smartman
Point to Mr. Christopher. Game to Mr. Christopher. Mr. Christopher leads 0-1.
Star child…
The way The Star has covered educational issues is criminal…they write opinion pieces as experts and have no real knowledge of the on- the-ground issues that face students and their teachers… however, they are happy to act as a mouth piece for the over $100,000 a year education leeches that are fouling up a generation of students….why?… because the type of people that are left at The Star were point collectors and apple polishers when they were in school… that is, the 1% who thrived under drill and memorize lesson plans… hey, Star writers, you have arrived just in time to kill of the your newspaper…. sad…
what?
“hey, Star writers, you have arrived just in time to kill of the your newspaper”
speaking of a crappy education.
bschloz
Why does everyone want to figure this shit out? This is the internet real time…wild west…no rules. Hearne…do your thing!
All business that has worth grows organically.
I’d say The Star’s biggest asset is their delivery mechanism. Pretty powerful stuff to drop that package in the front yard at 5am 7 days a week. It has become a vehicle or wrap to deliver FSI’s. Things are changing pretty rapidly in the new economy…for instance good luck trying to get anyone under age of 30 to subscribe to anything in print or online. The Napster generation has grown up on Yahoo! and Drudge feeds.
jojo where have you been? I heard you’re moving to LaCyne?
jojo
wrong again bsnoz…not moving. MY house is in
the upper price bracket and as much as we’d
like to sell it…those priced houses arent
selling…so we’re waiting til next year.
As far as readers of print under theage of
30…you’re wrong again. Papers with content
that appeal to this group seem to be doing
pretty well around the country. Alternative
papers in denver/l.a./chicago/st. louis/
etc. are doinga big business because they know
what the younger readers want.
I see INK and the pitch seem to be doing okay
based on advertising (like all other media they
are down but they are surviving) and you see
people reading them everywhere. I’m sure many
enjoy the back of the pitch so they can get
their hookers instead of strolling down
independence avenue.
However…i am back. But i found it worthless
waste of time to argue consistently with the
“lower” class of people of this site.
They have no intelligence about anything other
than sports and to be honest that’s b ecome
old. How many blogs can we have here that
talk bout whether ku wins it all or not.
And by the way bsnoz…how bout taking me up
on my bet…you’re a ku fan…
someone needs to put their money where their
mouth is on this site.
bschloz
I said SUBSCRIBE as in part with money not pick up a FREE paper at lunch.
“I see INK and the pitch seem to be doing okay
based on advertising (like all other media they
are down but they are surviving) and you see
people reading them everywhere.”
YOU DO….NAME 3 PLACES?
jojo.. 2-1 is the #…. You want to put 2ger in front of that train. Lets Dance???
Good to see you posting again…You play nice now.
Dr. Winkie
Hearne….talk about thin skin. Come on. BTW,why did you take down the “website outlook”comment? Your censorship is the real comment being made.
Rick
Aaron is my boy. He unlike Hearne has survived the Star cuts. He unlike Hearne is known nationally and often appears on other radio programs. He unlike Hearne gives me free stuff and I can be bought ha ha.
Rick
And I have NO DOUBT that the TV Barn is more read the this site.
hearne
Rick: No doubt, huh? KCC traffic weekdays is significantly higher than TV Barn.
Flashback: Year Anniversary of Death of Bottom Line Communic
[…] criticism. For the record, I’ll post both in full here and now: Aaron Barnhart Says: March 16th, 2010 at 7:15 am […]
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