Ah the power of suggestion…
A couple weeks back movie man Jack Poessiger read somewhere that Star Magazine was going away. Something about getting folded into the Kansas City Star’s mundane millennial mind-number Ink.
Next thing Man Jack knew, the prophecy had come true. Half of it anyway. No Star Mag last Sunday and none for a buddy who also didn’t get a copy of the venerable local weekly.
Hey, that Tony dude must have been right, Poessiger thought – until…
“It showed back up today,” Poessiger head scratches. “Do you think Tony’s story was wrong?”
A check with a number well-placed of insiders at 18th and Grand reveals that no word is no word. The only rumor about Star Mag floating around is Mr. T’s. Which is a bit of a head scratcher, since folding a senior citizen magnet into a vapid weekly freebie targeting 20-somethings would not appear to – you know – make sense.
“I haven’t heard anything,” says one source. “But it’s tough not to notice it is mostly bereft of advertising.”
Speaking of the Star, Poessiger says he’s been contemplating canceling his Star subscription altogether.
“I’ve thought about it,” he says. “I only get two or three days of business news and the Sunday business section is gone. The Monday paper is a joke. And the only thing that makes it so big on Sundays is all the advertising inserts, and I get most of the real news on television or online the night before. The only thing they’ve got that nobody else does is the obituaries.
“I’m not that big into sports and every so often you get some pretty good columns, but it’s not like it used to be. And like today the big story in Kansas City was a big shootout yesterday with seven people shot. But it was too late to get it into the paper, so…”
The best thing going in newspapers is USA Today, Poessiger says.
“Even the Monday USA Today has all their regular sections,” he says. “Full blown sections on Entertainment, Business, Sports and News. It’s not super thin like the Monday Star.”
I am starting to think you are not a big fan of The Star!
Just playing watchdog. Pitch, Star…if the shoe fits.
I will sleep better tonight knowing you are on the Star/Pitch beat!
Thanks for quoting Jack and not Craig. I feel the story is credible now, even if its not.
I agree
Well, Jack called me to ask about the Star Mag rumor and I ran it to the ground. Pretty simple.
For now anyway.
Hey, at some point in time the entire newspaper is going away. That’s pretty evident. Section by section, column by column, day by day. Sunday is payday for the Star because of all the insert ads, but it’s becoming increasingly evident that they’re a glorified mass mailing service. And how much longer can that continue?
Sunday is also the weakest day for content since rather than delivering news it’s basically a features section. How well can that bode for the future?
So yes, Star Mag is going away. The only question being when.
And maybe they’ll move a few bodies to Ink. But the chances of them mixing senior citizen repast with light-as-a-feather kiddie cuisine…surely not.
Asking if “Tony’s story was wrong” is like asking if the sun is going to come up.
SOMETIME LATER THIS YEAR THE STAR WILL STOP PUBLISHING AS MANY AS THREE OF THEIR DAILY EDITIONS!!!
January 8, 2009.
Actually, I think there is far more truth to what Tony wrote then than otherwise…
He admits that he seldom fact checks and that’s embarrassing, but his assessments of the local news media are pretty much spot on.
Two thumbs up.
BTW, the Star has gotten rid of their zoned editions, Joco, etc. So I think he’s right there too.
I wonder if Jr. meant “Mad Jack” instead of “Man Jack.” (Although the latter has far more interesting possibilities!)
Hey, there you are tiad!
Nah, it’s Man Jack, as in every man jack. Jack’s far too grounded to be mad.