I’m running out of clicks…
On Nashville newspaper The Tennessean’s website that is, where I’ve been following its coverage of today’s Chiefs-Titans matchup.
I used to run out of gas in my lost youth on account of low funds.
And putting off stopping to refuel grew into a way of life…which brings us to today.
See now, I’m down to my last four free story clicks on the Tennessean website.
They’ve had some great stories and columns – far better than the beleaguered, far more predictable Kansas City Star. So while I hate to miss out on the Tennesseans’ journalistic foreplay, I need to save a few clicks for the sure-to-be-killer post game story afterglow.
Which win or lose, is bound to be entertaining.
Because Nashville’s newspaper of record is doing far better than KC’s.
In no-small-part because they’re not jamming over-the-top, liberal point-of-view news and opinions down reader’s throats. And not just via the Star’s tiresome “new” editorial board. Because even the supposed straight-down-the-line news coverage is often patently biased.
Check out Nashville’s Opinion Page…notice the lack of busy body, I-told-you editorials?
Didn’t used to be that way.
These days all bets are off at the Star in terms of editors trying to uphold anything approaching unbiased reporting.
For those of us who travel and are exposed to newspapers outside of the New York Times and Washington Post, it’s pretty obvious. The bottom line being legit news organizations don’t have to go out of their way to stick it to Donald Trump and Republicans like Josh Hawley to report local and national news.
For more than 16 years I bore witness to the liberal leanings and biases of most of the reporters and editors at the Star. So in general, this is nothing new.
What’s changed dramatically is that there is pretty much zero “parental oversight” by editors to try and keep those biases out of the Star’s news coverage.
All bets are off in terms of fairness, and it’s costing the Star readers.
You don’t have to be a so-called rocket scientist to know that the internet is killing off print publications at a furious pace. And if you take a gander at one of the last successful sections of the Star – the obituaries section – oldster readers are dropping like flies.
There is no FYI section today; no biz section; no automobile section, no TV guide; no local news columnists, no travel; no restaurant reviews; no movie or theater critics; no food writer; no consumer watchdog; or no local calendar columnist; no media critic.
The list of missing-in-action sections and columns is far greater than what’s now left…
Even the Star‘s vaunted sports coverage is greatly diminished.
No way does Sam Mellinger and that Vahe dude from St. Louis come close to measuring up to former twin towers Jason Whitlock and Joe Posnanski.
What remains is a smattering of syndicated, biased national and international news, minimal, biased local news, along with a grab bag of comics, horoscopes, puzzles and games, mixed with syndicated food and movie reviews, boring, editorial scolds and -of course – lengthy listings of former newspaper readers who have checked out.
No wonder newspapers in towns like Nashville and Tucson are kicking KC’s butt with stories like, “Titans players arrive to Arrowhead Stadium in style” and “If Titans beat Chiefs, local stores will reopen to sell championship gear Sunday” and “Titans players share their faith on the faces” and “Set aside football; Nashville versus Kansas City.”
Suffice it to say, the Tennessean opinion page is a breath of fresh air.
Reminds me in a way of the Star before the inmates took over the asylum…
Dead on the money. No doubt, the KC Star’s fortunes would have diminished in the age of the interweb as did other print publications, but the fall would not have been so precipitous if they were not such agenda driven Progressive press pack dogs lapping up the days talking points from their “Group Think” Apparatchik leaders.
The other variable, would be, that the on line viewership would possibly be stronger based on actual “Objective” stories that didn’t demean and personally insult 1/2 of their potential audience.
I’ve been to cities that still have entertainment and business sections…metro or local news sections even.
It’s really amazing that nobody at McClatchy was clued in enough to recognize this.
Too bad Art Brisbane made the mistaken of taking the job at Knight Ridder in California, months before the shit hit the fan about being forced to put the Star up for sale and we locals got stuck with “visionaries” like Mike Fannin and Mark Zieman.
Respectfully, comparing local dailies is akin to comparing buggy whips. Darn near useless.
Ultimately, does it matter anymore which daily has more than another? We seek out our news like birds of prey seek dinner. The one-paper-fits-all model is dead and buried for anyone under the age of sixty, and plenty more of us who are over.
So how might I find out what’s going on in the world today? I’ll start with Twitter to get the latest political news from Fox, CNN, and Reuters. I decide what political slant I want rather than some publisher doing it for me. Local news comes from Twitter and Facebook, courtesy of the Star and local broadcast media. Sports comes from the Athletic, one of maybe three subscription based services I choose to pay for. Sure, it’s inconvenient to run up against paywalls, like I did this weekend trying to read the Star’s Chiefs coverage, but we adapt.
And I think Vahe Gregorian is excellent at his craft, one of the best at getting a personal edge to the story. And no, we’re not related.
Thanks.
Fair enough…
But long as you’re getting your local news – albeit indirectly – from the Star, it’s more than legit to compare it to other markets primary local news provides (i.e. newspapers) who are a) providing far more accurate, unbiased news and perspectives and b) far and away MORE news coverage, owing to the number of departments and reporters still working,.
All of that said, if you look strictly at the physical newspaper and don’t mind having the news fed to you thru highly biased writing and reporting then…go for it!
Agreed about the obvious bias in the Star’s digital incarnation. I was employed there during its Cap/Disney days. It published twice a day as a robust broadsheet that served its community with talent and temerity desired by metro audience eager to be engaged. I still have the centennial paper, and one of the Pulitzer medallions, despite the horrid tragedy that spurred it. As I remember, the KC Star at least put forth the pretense of not always turning left.
But quick read through a current news aggregator, like johncombest.com, reveals that most local publications are little more than tabloid trash; a digital mouthpiece for Leftist narrative.
“Print is dead.” – Egon Spengler
Well said, Locamotive Breath…
(Nice handle by the way…still got a CB radio?)
You are dead on about previous STAR management avoiding flagrant, all-left-all-of-the-time news and views.
Hey, I voted for Obama twice, Ralph Nader and that little Ross Perot dude – so I bat to all fields. I was guardedly for Trump in 2016 because I kinda thought so poorly of Hillary Clinton.
This time out, the Dems are making it really hard to take any of their likely candidates seriously.
Joe Biden struggles to put a sentence together and seems more like Reagan at the end of his term than someone people could reasonably expect to keep it together for even one entire term. Shoot, he may have a hard time making it thru the campaign.
So his vice presidential pick will be critical…
Say, he designates Stacey Abrams for the No. 2 slot. You know, the lady who lost the governor’s race by 50,000 votes but still argues that she won.
What if he picks me?
Scary shit