I still can’t quite believe it…
After like six months of failed efforts, I finally landed a print subscription to the Arizona Daily Star about a week ago.
Trust me, it wasn’t easy, but I was happy to pay full boat, $40 every two months – a little more than double what former Star editor Jim Fitzpatrick and I were each paying for the Kansas City Star. That’s far less than what many oldsters are likely still shelling out in KLC.
And guess what?
Readers here are getting a ton more than those in my former zip code.
For starters, desert denizens get seven newspapers a week, including Saturday.
The KC Star did away with its Saturday newspaper prior to my moving out here late last fall. Tucson is where I graduated from high school and attended the University of Arizona, long ago.
Plus instead of getting shrunken relics of KC’s daily newspaper’s past, the Arizona Daily Star kicks out six (count ’em) sections on Sundays and four every other day.
Just imagine…
Each newspaper here gives you what they call in the biz, an “A Section,” a “Nation & World” section, a “Tucson & Region section plus “Sports.”
No FYI section, sadly.
Sunday tosses in a “Business”section (anybody remember that one?) and “Home + Life,” complete with a smattering of travel and arts.
Granted, most of you in all likelihood moved on from what’s left of multiple DUI editor dude Mike Fannin‘s two or three section Star, so that’s quite a bit more in terms of coverage here.
Now a confession.
Kansas City’s newspaper of record has far more local hard news coverage still…plus far and away more editorial angst, if that’s what floats your boat.
Because under Fannin’s ever shrinking regime, the editorial inmates are running the asylum, and trendy far left politics and social extremism run rampant. Unlike the “good, old days” of Art Brisbane, Mark Zieman and before, little to no effort or attention is paid to reporting the news more-or-less straight down the line…sans heaping doses of liberal political flavoring.
The KC Star always leaned “left” politically, but nothing close to the extremes of today.
Which undoubtedly accounts for the paper’s massive fall off in readership and ad revenues.
On a national level, CNN and MSNBC can somewhat afford to throw caution (and accurate reporting) to the wind in favor of propping up their narratives of choice.
And while both of those news networks are paying dearly for their biases in terms of viewership, they’re still in far better shape than Kansas City’s newspaper which is floundering badly (and sadly).
Because once all the various newspaper ownership groups get through taking write-offs and selling what’s left of the assets, chances are Kansas City will be left with little more than watered down television news coverage and undisciplined bloggers who lack the knowledge and resources to halfway accurately report much in the way of local news.
Unfortunately, here in Tucson an even more skeleton staff of editors and writers, mostly holed up in their homes, are mailing in a bare minimum of local and regional news.
In some ways, it kind of works, given that many locals here are either snowbirds who live here when the 100 degree-plus summer temps are long gone. And other folks who moved here from elsewhere with appetites and demands for comprehensive local news that are far less.
As for the few writers and editors remaining here, they share much of the same politics as KC’s journalists, but are far more disciplined and less offensive. Which is smarter, because why turn off half the readership in order to run a crusade?
And since most of the national news stories here are written by the Associated Press, they still get in their anti conservative news shots, albeit more far more softly served.
Which brings me to local politics…
With the influx of refugees from California and other states, Arizona – once quite conservative a la Barry Goldwater and John McCain – is changing from so-called “red” to “purple.”
Mike Fannin 2nd DUI mug shot
That said, Tucson is to Arizona politics, what liberal Lawrence is to Kansas.
Two hours further north Phoenix is still a far and away more conservative town.
Greater Tucson is also roughly a quarter the size of Greater Phoenix, so it’s far more quaint here.
Which adds to its charm, although being basically a border town as of this past January tends to dilute its quaintness.
In any case, after moving here late last fall, getting COVID, buying a new house and having a nice little garage fire, I’m just about settled in, to the point I’ll soon being looking for a job and trying to provide more reporting and what passes for insights into Oro Valley (where I live) and Tucson.
That said, I’m keeping a close eye of KC and Lawrence too…
Unfortunately, critiquing Kansas City area news strained through the prism of the Kansas City Star can be off putting. It’s so one dimensional and out-of-control politically that – especially not actually living there – makes it kinda like shadow boxing.
Plus, who wants to fight-fire-with-fire by haranguing about how badly the news and views being played out by the local newspaper of record are? I’m pretty much free of all that now, so why torture myself?
Basically, what needs to happen is somebody with an actual halfway un biased nose-for-news needs to reassume control of the KC Star and try and bring it back to life before it dies and leaves KC more-or-less rudderless news wise.
As for Tucson, it’s on a far better path because of the fact that it’s not trying to rub everybody nose who disagrees with its far left political agenda in excrement.
However, the Arizona Daily Star‘s staffing and imagination are sorely lacking and it continues to sink blandly into news reporting history.
And that my friends is the name of that tune…
See you should have stayed here and taken over running the Star.
Ya think?
Dunno, but at this point in time I don’t think they’d have me or even Whitlock in spite of the fact that both us were heavy hitters and left over money issues.
Well IMHO it’s a sinking ship just going down slower than the Titanic did. Can it be saved some ask? To me it’s been damaged so bad I’m not sure it can. And to me thats sad as it was Rockhill Nelson who made it possible for half of my ancestors being not only in this country but here in Kansas City so I really hate to see what it has become.
Well, it is sad, but as always, life goes on…
It’s too bad that it’s running out of gas in such an ugly manner. Because if they were clinging even in a token manner to some of the principals and values journalistically that they were not that many years ago, there would be any number of other options for updating and reconstituting some of the dated fundamentals and moving into the future.
Unfortunately the people both at the tiller and in the trenches don’t seem to have much of a clue…too bad
Maybe Harley will buy both the KC Star and the Arizona Daily Star. You could tease that story for another 400 posts…
You stated:
Plus, who wants to fight-fire-with-fire by haranguing about how badly the news and views being played out by the local newspaper of record are? I’m pretty much free of all that now, so why torture myself?
And yet, you DID!!!!
Plus got to run the Fannin photo again.
Newspapers are dead, period, Hearne. How can you not see that? So I guess you’ll go back to selling cars??
Harley, huh…
Trust me, after eight months free of the daily, boring, irritating drumbeat of “news” coverage by the KC Star, I’m a long way from feeling tortured. Just as I am from, for example, a past bad relationship.
Life goes on…then again I like keeping up and to an extent documenting some of the changes, which I find interesting up to a point.
And yes, running Mike Fannin’s DUI pic isn’t a bad way of reminding people of his stellar past, which isn’t that far from his steller present.
As for newspapers being dead…that rings more than a little hollow.
Don’t think the proverbial “fat lady” as chimed in quite yet. Try telling that people like Melinda Henneberger, who loves little more than celebrating her journalistic, uh, “accomplishments” as she breaks pretty much just about every so-called rule in the now lost-in-space guide to proper editorial behavior.
The order of the day now is to make whatever assumptions you choose to make and report them as “fact.”
Aside from Tucson’s Star being far more similar to the KC Star of old in terms of sections, page counts, etc. – the actual news coverage here has noticeably less content. It’s far and away a collection of Associated Press stories rather than local and even those are characterized by biased, liberal reporting.
Very strange.
The bottom line: serious, halfway unbiased news is what died during the Trump era and shows no sign of coming back.
Even the local news coverage by the Arizona Daily Star is very weak.
For example a huge ambush shooting of Tucson firefighters Sunday only made the front page of the daily paper on Tuesday.
And sports reporting – games stories and results are missing-in-action completely, even though the 100 miles away Phoenix Suns are playing for the NBA championship and the Arizona Diamondbacks are playing every week in Major League Baseball.
Frankly, the local paper here is such a yawn, that after less than two weeks of getting it, I’m inching closer to bailing.
So yeah, maybe you’re right newspapers may not be dead yet, but they’re fading ultra fast.
One wild card: there still is plenty of news out there. Unfortunately people like myself and Jim Fitzpatrick don’t have the time or inclination to actually cover it very well. And people like your buddy Mr. T may be willing toward free of charge and try and grab as much celebrity as they can, but that hardly counts as news coverage.
I do have some really good news for what’s left of the Pitch coming up here very soon.
And knowing you, you can’t wait for me to weigh on some local celebrity deaths!
That’s my Hearne–kicking the family of the deceased while the body is still lukewarm! Because you love to take folks down a peg.
I beg to differ…
As something of a history buff, I just like to make sure a more accounting for people of note is recorded as opposed to letting important details slide in the interest of being, uh, benevolent.
Harley? Are you serious? Harley beat all the others on kc. He outlasted craig/jeff/jack/smartman/hall/ and he’ll outlast every old man on KCC,
Well, that remains to be seen…
Because no one that I’m aware of is in a position to say that Harley is alive, let alone well.
If he’s hiding out somewhere out here in Arizona, let’s have something halfway convincing from him as evidence.
If he’s holed up somewhere as little more than a vegetable – or worse – I’m not so sure I would describe that as “outlasting.”
Certainly I’m still alive, although not quite kicking as much as I have in the past.
“The bottom line: serious, halfway unbiased news is what died during the Trump era and shows no sign of coming back.” No, it died before then, as the press deflected scandals under the Obama Administration and local news was replaced with AP stories during the Bush Administration and earlier. Stories where local people could read about local clubs, churches, neighborhood activities, etc were shoved off as “man grows largest pumpkin” bumpkin stories.
Moved here 15 years ago and had the St. Louis Post Dispatch as my template for comparison to the Kansas City Star. No comparison, even back then, as the Post Dispatch was more substantial in content compared to the Star even back then. The Post Dispatch would publish letters to the editor, while the Star would play the game of repeatedly throwing the letters back to the reader to “edit down” and not publish them.
Interesting…
Unfortunately, you came on the scene just as the Star was beginning to enter it’s death throws; Brisbane was gone William Rockhill Nelson devotee Mark Zieman was in charge (but hardly large) and while the Post Dispatch may well have been far superior, I have no evidence of that personally.
I can tell you that St. Louis Riverfront Times was far and away, vastly superior in every way to The Pitch, so you’re probably right.
Just as the Arizona Republic in Phoenix is head and shoulders above Tucson’s Arizona Daily Star.
Both newspaper have moved far to the left – the Republic having been, I think, more conservative.
But just as St. Louis is far bigger than KC, Phoenix dwarfs Tucson in population and size, so it’s not wildly surprising.
The Democrats have been angry since the hanging chad election and since then it has been win at all cost’s
Well, as one of the dems at the time who was bumped to see Gore lose, I can attest to your point…
These days however, in “independent” voter streak leans more to conservative thinking – little wonder with as ridiculously extreme and unobjective as mainstream journalism has tilted.
When I was kicking butt and taking names via my column in the Star, it was no secret that the vast majority of the news staffers and employees leaned pretty far to the left.
However, the editors and publishers kept a rein on things and required us all to at least try and shoot down the middle and get first rate, “legitimate” sources – if unnamed – to back our reporting and viewpoints.
Those days are so far long gone now that my hunch is that even – at the time – pretty far left leaning editorial writers such as Yael Abouhalkah are probably wondering, What the heck happened.
Yael got blown out to make room for the more infantile editorial writers of the past six or seven years. Their objective – now that relative amateurs like Mike Fannin have more-or-less done away with anything approaching “fair and balanced” reporting – is to make whatever point they choose to make, via cleverly-worded, bombastic generalizations, unsupported by sourcing or fact checking and balance.
You can tell they are having tons of fun and in a way, it’s hard not to blame it in part on Donald Trump.
Trump did a nice job of directing the country and economy, but he was his own worst enemy with his unhinged tongue and shoot from the hip comments.
Were he Joe Biden, the media would have taken Trump’s verbal missteps more in stride and looked at the big picture. You don’t have to go back very far or even glimpse at the sad state of affairs Biden has dragged the country in to.
Unfortunately, today’s media mostly take an us versus them approach to reporting and have little to no appetite to given the current president anything approaching the kind of scrutiny they did Trump.
Which is too bad, because just like every writer or reporter needs a good editor – look no further than my sundry typos and missteps – every politician and president needs critical press scrutiny.