Layoffs at The Star

[lock+load]

2. the P-I was the #2 daily. it was considered a major paper and is owned by a major media conglomerate (hearst), it's just not #1 in the market. people in the industry are watching them very closely to see if they can create a model others can copy.

But they are only keeping 20 or so reporters.  That is nothing for major market dailies.  Hopefully it works, but it isn't exactly a model I would want to see the only paper in any city copy.

[Maitre D]

The post office will always exist becasue certain mail needs to be in paper form (certified, signatures, etc etc).  People also like getting a birthday card in the mail more than on email.  I don't send a lot over the mail anymore but I send enough that can't be done on a computer.

[beautyfromashes]

The post office will always exist becasue certain mail needs to be in paper form (certified, signatures, etc etc).   People also like getting a birthday card in the mail more than on email.   I don't send a lot over the mail anymore but I send enough that can't be done on a computer.

YOU'RE generation likes birthday cards.  The next generation will just send a Facebook message.  Also, I never said there would be no mail.  I'm sure FedEx and UPS will still be around.  I just don't think you will see mail carriers walking block to block. All they carry is bills and promotional (junk) mail.  These will both eventually be done by computer only.

[Maitre D]

Two casualties of the Kansas City Star’s latest layoffs and cutbacks: Local section columnists Mike Hendricks and Steve Penn.

The pair were called in last Friday and told their three columns a week would be pared to two. Worse yet, their paychecks would similarly be reduced by a third.

Penn seems to have downplayed his paycheck hit to friends, and appeared relieved to have survived being totally laid off like I was last November.

Hendricks, on the other hand, went anywhere but quietly into the night…

“Every so often, I get angry about the inequities in all this cutback crap and wish the lawyers could have stayed the hell out of it,” he vented on Facebook.

”I’d like to write a column for Wednesday that expresses how I feel about all this work stuff — sadness and survivor guilt,” read another Hendricks’ post. “But I doubt they’d let me.”

Hello…?

FYI columnist Jenee Osterheldt reportedly already tried playing that card, only to have the kibosh put on it from on high…

At another Facebook friend’s urging, Hendricks said, “At your suggestion, I’m seeing whether the editor would go for it.”

Sixteen minutes later Hendricks added: “They’re not interested.”

To which former Star restaurant critic John Martellaro commented, “Don’t you know? There’s the real world and then there’s editor-world, in which the painfully obvious goes unnoticed just so long as you don’t write about it.”

That’s just the tip of the Mike Hendricks-is-pissed-about his pay cut iceberg…

Hendricks’ wife, who blogs as Roxie the Cockeyed Optimist weighed in under the headline, “The destroyer Reveals His Form.”

“Laughing yoga takes on a whole different feel when you have just learned your income is going down by 33 percent,” she writes. “Yes. 33 percent. The Destroyer has come.”

It’s like this:  ”I was driving to the grocery store that I got the call,” Roxie continues. “Mike’s employer, the Kansas City Star, wanted him to come in. This could not be good.”

A bit of husband/wife banter preceded Hendricks’ trip downtown.

“Me,” Roxie wrote. “Oh God. You still don’t think you’ll be laid off? Him: No. I think they like me. I bring in readers…    Maybe they’re rearranging and I’ll have to work more from downtown.” 

Uh, fat chance.

“Later he called back with the grim news,” Roxie continues. “A pay cut of 33 percent. Full time to part time. No more life insurance benefit. No more vacation days. Accept it or take a buyout. But if you accept, there may not be another chance for a buyout. No promises. You have until Wednesday to decide.”

http://www.kcconfidential.com/

[trailerkid]

The real effect of the Star layoffs will be felt in NE JoCo not Kansas City. It's nice to have a paper of record, but KC could build a serious blog/twitter community that could be way more effective than Barbara Shelly and Mike Hendricks. Kids don't read newspapers and they probably won't exist outside of major US markets in 20 years.

That paper has done nothing to help this city in terms of editorial content. They are through and through white, suburban, liberal apologists with less connection to the city they serve than a JO bus. They single-handedly got Funkhouser elected and came back to retract it after the damage was done in the ultimate act of bitchassedness. The arts reporting will be missed most in my opinion, but the arts stories are probably only read by a few dozen people.

[lock+load]

Who was let go from the editorial board?  Does anyone buy the Star for the editorial page?  The internet has plenty of opinions, I'd like to see the Star focus on local news and events, and maybe some local commentary and opinion.  Get out of the market for national news and comment.  They'll never compete with the interent in that area. Allocate the resources where they'll have the biggest impact.

[KCMax]

Biz editor Chris Lester is smart enough to leave on his own

Lester takes position with KC Chamber of Commerce

[UppityCowgirl]

http://bottomlinecom.com/kcnews/wsjpoke ... affer.html

Kansas City's own Jenee Osterheldt, quoted in the Wall Street Journal. Perhaps Osterheldt's ability to draw a national spotlight on Kansas City is the reason she survived the 4th round of layoffs in less than a year.

[Jess]

It's kind of criminal that that chick still has a writing gig, in this or any economy.

[DaveKCMO]

Biz editor Chris Lester is smart enough to leave on his own

Lester takes position with KC Chamber of Commerce

interesting that this didn't raise many eyebrows. wasn't he supposed to objectively cover the business community? and now he goes to work for their #1 gang?

[chrizow]

The huge Royals "year of the fan" pop-up ads on the Star website are causing me to hate both the Royals and the Star.

[LenexatoKCMO]

The huge Royals "year of the fan" pop-up ads on the Star website are causing me to hate both the Royals and the Star.

The whole Star site in general seems to be running quite sketchy of late - and most of the problems seem to be related to the pop ups.  I guess if that is what it takes to keep them in business. . .

[AJoD]

The whole Star site in general seems to be running quite sketchy of late...

Kind of like the print version...

[knucklehead]

To which former Star restaurant critic John Martellaro commented, “Don’t you know? There’s the real world and then there’s editor-world, in which the painfully obvious goes unnoticed just so long as you don’t write about it.”

That captures the essence of the Star. There's the real world and then there is what you read in the Star.

The Star's marketing strategy is targeted to the affluent and their kids because that is who advertisers want to reach. They adopted a strategy of pandering to JOCO suburbs decades ago. This strategy has slowly eroded their credibility but they are to stuck in a rut to change.

 

[trailerkid]

The huge Royals "year of the fan" pop-up ads on the Star website are causing me to hate both the Royals and the Star.

OK...let's put this together:

Pop-up Royals advertisements deluge the kcstar.com home page.

Editorial content featuring pictures/videos of the renovations start to appear near daily on the front page.

Royals tickets anyone?

The Star would be more viable in this community if it wasn't such a lapdog to its big advertisers. Hearne said that editors would stop certain stories from running to appease big advertisers. That's NOT journalism.

[KCMax]

OK...let's put this together:

Pop-up Royals advertisements deluge the kcstar.com home page.

Editorial content featuring pictures/videos of the renovations start to appear near daily on the front page.

Royals tickets anyone?

The Star would be more viable in this community if it wasn't such a lapdog to its big advertisers. Hearne said that editors would stop certain stories from running to appease big advertisers. That's NOT journalism.

Joe Posnanski had a recent piece an his blogabout how maybe sports journalism need not be held to the same standard as regular journalism since its essentially entertainment coverage. I am much less troubled by the Star cuddling up to the Royals than I would be with them cuddling up to other large corporate interests in town (i.e. Chris Lester and his allegiances)

[trailerkid]

Joe Posnanski had a recent piece an his blogabout how maybe sports journalism need not be held to the same standard as regular journalism since its essentially entertainment coverage. I am much less troubled by the Star cuddling up to the Royals than I would be with them cuddling up to other large corporate interests in town (i.e. Chris Lester and his allegiances)

I get what you're saying but the bottom line is that the advertisers control all the content. Be it a mall, the Royals, NFM, Sprint, etc.

[LenexatoKCMO]

Joe Posnanski had a recent piece an his blogabout how maybe sports journalism need not be held to the same standard as regular journalism since its essentially entertainment coverage. I am much less troubled by the Star cuddling up to the Royals than I would be with them cuddling up to other large corporate interests in town (i.e. Chris Lester and his allegiances)

I wholeheartedly disagree with Joe Pos' conclusions about the reduced need for ethics in sports journalism.  Why should the subject matter reduce or expectation of ethics and integrity?  Unfortunately, the sports teams have learned over the last several years that they can pretty much stamp out any and all journalistic independence.  Sports organizations have unique ability to control journalists' access to facilities, players, and coaches and they increasingly use it to muscle out critical coverage. 

[lock+load]

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/s ... ily16.html

Sounds like the Star is getting ready to combine the A, Local and Business sections into one section in the next week or so.  That will make the Star a three section paper:  News, Sports, FYI. 

[aknowledgeableperson]

Growing up the Star was just 2 sections, the news in one and sports, ads, comics in the other.