Last one out, turn out the…
Once upon a time, something called “stability” existed within the ranks of the newsroom at the Kansas City Star.
No mas.
These days it’s every man, woman and child for him or herself, as a six year gallows march continues with news staffers locked in a quarterly ranks thinning vice, resulting in those who can find work outside the newspaper sending out resumes and job feelers lickety-split.
The latest local casualty of the uncertain times in print journalism:
Features head Laurie Mansfield.
Mansfield pyramided a mid level editorship at the Des Moines Register and a major hand in helping launch the newspaper’s fluff weekly Juice in 2005 into an editorship overseeing the launch of Ink here three years later. She took over for veteran features editor Mary Lou Nolan last spring.
Prior to mansfield, Nolan ruled the FYI and arts and entertainment roost for 14 years. Mansfield’s tenure will be closer to 14 months when she skips town for a job, reportedly in Los Angeles.
Rumors have been roiling for weeks, but hard partying Star editor Mike Fannin has been on vacation galavanting about France the past two weeks and was not in town to post the announcement.
Some say the handwriting’s been on the wall since Manfield’s hubby, reporter Bill Reiter, bailed for Fox Sports last October. The couple essentially arrived here as a package, with Reiter landing a “sports enterprise” position at the Star in July of 2006.
The hard charging Mansfield’s departure is a huge blow for the Star and replacing her won’t be easy, insiders agree.
And the beat goes on…
Geeesh, they need to roll the clock back to the early 90’s and hang a sign outside that glass bohemoth that says “SPRINT”. Its like dejavu all over again. There’s no security anywhere in corporate America, but you still have to feel bad for these people.
The sign should say RUN LIKE HELL. Gotta love the commie lib hangers on who are sticking it out for “the cause”.
The Star is a solution without a problem. It’s not even in the Top Five best ways to access local news and info much less regional, national or international stories.
I have no empathy for floundering organizations or their so to be terminated employees when their raison d’etre is simply, “because”
Their rush to the bottom to become the best damn paper full of ads with a few AP stories sprinlked in for effect is almost completed. Cue the Citizen Kane GIF…
There’s a scene in Michael Lewis’ Liar’s Poker where management is begging a top trader to stay at Salomon Bros. They expected, they said, for him to forget about trading for a moment and consider the importance of loyalty to the firm…His response?
“‘You want loyalty, hire a cocker spaniel.”
That’s the corporate world, period.
Loyalty is a two-way street, but The Star put up the one-way signs several years ago.
Try 13 years ago when Chris Christian came to town
For the uninitiated, Chris Christian was the circulation VP at the Star for just under 10 years until quite recently.
+10,000,000,000.