I was talking to Steve Nicely, a friend and former KC Star colleague, today, and he called my attention to a two-page spread — what we call a “double truck” — in Sunday’s paper, which bore the photos of every person (or nearly every person) involved in The Star’s editorial operation.
The layout — revolving around a rectangular block with the words “Kansas City’s largest news force” — contained 164 photos.
My first reaction, upon looking at some of those photos was, “How did these people get so old-looking while I have managed to stay so youthful?”
Ha!
Actually, it was pretty scary because I realize that facial lines and lack of hair expose me, too.
My second thought was that this could be a baby step toward a much-needed promotional and marketing campaign.
Like many other major metropolitan papers, The Star has been on the decline for more than a decade. Profits are much lower, circulation is way down and the editorial staff has been sliced significantly. It appears to me, from the lack of energetic promotion of any kind, that the attitude among top managers is one of resignation to the new reality that The Star has dropped a couple of rungs from its once-vaunted position as the most comprehensive news operation in the region.
I think it’s time, though, for The Star to step forward with a new, more aggressive attitude. Even in its enervated state, The Star remains, by far, the deepest and broadest news-gathering operation in the region. It is still head and shoulders above TV, radio and the Internet in terms of local news gathering and presentation.
It’s been nearly 20 years, I believe, since The Star has conducted a professional marketing campaign. I remember that one clearly, mainly because the goal — enunciated by then-Publisher Art Brisbane — was to increase daily circulation to 300,000 by the year 2000.
“300,000 by 2000” went the internal slogan.
The campaign had several thrusts and themes — which was a mistake — and one of them was something like, “Call today and subscribe and…Bam! Your daily!” I liked that “Bam! Your Daily!” but it was never featured prominently, and the campaign was a flop.
With its brand having ebbed and inertia having taken over, I think that now would be an excellent time for a new marketing push. I would like to see publisher Mi-Ai Parrish ask her McClatchy supervisors in Sacramento to allocate $2 million for an all-out, professional marketing campaign that would blanket TV, radio and Internet.
At one time, The Star didn’t need to advertise because it was a powerhouse. But now that the media is more diffused and competition is keener, The Star should do what other companies in competitive situations do, and that is promote the hell out of itself.
You’ve got to keep the brand prominent in people’s minds. That doesn’t happen by just relying on The Kansas City Star “flag” at the top of the paper every day, and it isn’t going to happen by publishing the photos of the 164 people involved in editorial operations.
Most of the people who saw that spread are those who already are subscribing to the paper or buying it on Sunday. I doubt that the spread will result in a circulation spike.
The Star needs to get its message to residents far and wide, from Grain Valley to Olathe. That means advertising on a big scale.
There are a couple of significant obstacles to my plan, however.
First, McClatchy paid way too much for The Star and the other Knight Ridder papers in 2006 and is so deeply in debt that its leaders probably wouldn’t give two seconds’ thought to a costly marketing campaign. In fact, McClatchy might never get its head above water. It might end up selling off the parts, as some other chains have done, which could end up with The Star being bought by a company like Cerner. (That wouldn’t necessarily be bad, but it could pave the way for a company or individual with no publishing experience to convert the paper into a vehicle to promote its own interests, instead of providing a balanced news report.)
Second, during her two and a half years in Kansas City, Parrish has shown little interest, as far as I can tell, in raising the paper’s profile.
You don’t see The Star sponsoring big arts and cultural events like it used to and Parrish has shown no interest — again, as far as I can tell — in establishing herself as a civic leader. Frankly, she just doesn’t present a good, strong face for The Star the way former publishers like Brisbane and the late Jim Hale did.
I have seen her make one speech since she’s been in town. It was in January 2012 to a group of about 35 members of the “Forty Years Ago Column Club” at the Plaza III. Parrish read the speech, and at times, either during the speech or during questions afterward, leaned against a wall.
…The more I write and the more I think about this situation, the more I realize that a marketing campaign not only is unlikely to happen, it also wouldn’t work — not with this ownership and this publisher.
So, I guess The Star ought to just stick to publishing those 164 photos.
…Man, do those former colleagues of mine look old!
Of the 164, Jim, what percent of the pictured associates are say, age 35 or younger?
I’d say no more than 5 percent…just a guess.
Fresh blood needed? Is that what you’re getting at?
A component to being vibrant is simply feeling positive. The Star could use an infusion of youthful spirit. Is it the silver bullet, of course not, but if we’re trying to rebuild a link to the under 35 segment they must connect with them.
Enjoyed this, Jim, and agree with you on all counts.
Laura
(75 years old but don’t feel it–was at The Star from 24 to 62 years old)
Of those 164, Fitz, I wonder how many of them are actual reporters.
Without going over the photos one at a time, again, I would guess about 50, including news, sports and features. Editors were in there, too, of course.
And of course, my next question would be had they posted photos of every editorial staff member in early 2008 _ before the layoffs began_ how many photos would they have had? I think that I am pretty qualified to say a helluva lot more.
Two “double trucks.”
At the risk of sounding negative, I just classify my comments as realistic!
I don’t believe a new publisher, new editor, or infusion of 35 year olds will help the circulation (sales) and profitability of the KC Star. The Star is a buggy whip…unfortunately there are no buggies left!
Do you think a change in ownership and management could revive the film sales at Kodak? The vacume tube sales at General Electric? Or typewriter ribbon sales at Frieden?
A 35 year old that would be attracted to work for the Star undoubtedly would have graduated in the lowest 10% of his/her class at a sub-par college. Perhaps a mirror test should be part of the interview process!
Good imagery and analogies, John. I know The Star and other major metropolitan dailies will always be shadows of their former selves; I just think some of them, including The Star, can rebound somewhat. As it is, I don’t believe The Star, at least, is making much of an effort, on the business side, to rebound.
If I can stop giggling up my sleeve, I would take issue with your characterization of the premise that the KC Star now provides “balanced news reporting.”
Yael Abouhalkah’s politics are as predictable as a picture of Kim Kardashian in the Huffington Post. Lewis Duiguid, Eric Wesson and Jenee Osterheldt beat that dead Race Horse into the ground with what seems like literally thousands of stories about Emmit Till and the white “Menace To Society” which, if you lived in a cave and only got your news from the Star, would indicate a level of threat to the black population from whites which would parallel Jewish German fears in the 1930’s.
Local and national news is no longer filtered through a choke hold excercised in our freshly remembered past, to the land of the blind, by a fraternity of journalists, birthed from liberal academe and covered by the Emperor’s New Clothes. The Kansas City Star’s future will depend on the ability of the people marketing, running and writing to produce content that is relevant to the greatest number of customers who purchase products from target advertisers. I, like you Fitz, am less than sanguine. The old paradigm of Captive Audience = proselytization + profits is dead.
I really love this sour grape diatribe from Bill Maher.
http://www.thewrap.com/bill-maher-rips-facebook-calls-glenn-beck-matt-drudge-fox-cracker-trifecta/
His condescending, eltist attack on social media and the usual suspects is a patina for his butt-hurt whimperings over his real complaint, his loss of power. The irony of liberals in the 4th estate lamenting the egalitarian, democratic ability of we hoi polloi to discern news events for ourselves should not be lost on those of us locally concerned with our paper of record.
If the Star is to flourish, she had better work harder, learn the new rules and shed some weight, this is a fight to the finish.
Of the 164, how many are pro concealed carry?
How many think Nunnelly has had too many birthdays?
How many voted for Romney?
The Star’s editors are far too detached from their readers views.
How about some more stories on hot fuel?
Steve Everly had a national scoop with the hot fuel story, but only a few retailers, like Costco, have altered their pumps to account for the difference between hot and cold fuel.
Talk about teeing the ball up and throwing red meat to the wolves.
While the 24 hour news cycle has had its impact on newspapers I think the two factors that had more to do with the demise of the big major dailys are the demand for obscene levels of ROI and, a corollary, the failure to provide a quality journalistic product. The same newspapers that denounced the corporate world for 3% profit margins demanded 30 and 40% returns on newspapers. In the process, they cut back on the kind of investigative reports that only local newspapers can provide. But that’s only one aspect of failing to provide a good product, the other is only providing one side of the news.
When I was growing up our community had two newspapers, one nominally Democratic, the other nominally Republican. We took both. Somewhere along the line the two newspaper model got lost in the mix and all that seemed to remain was an overwhelmingly liberal model (probably a product of the Watergate era and the 60’s) that was more interested in pushing an agenda instead of providing a balanced journalistic product. To many citizens, their local newspaper seemed more like part of an occupying army than a valued local friend.
I love newspapers, I wish we had one here in Kansas City, but we don’t. The faux “news” source we have doesn’t cover the topics I’m interested in and when they do, they tend to do a horrible job. It’s not that the talent isn’t there, but for whatever reason that talent does not translate to the pages of the paper.
You mention editorial. Personally, were I to take over The Star tomorrow by days end that department would cease to exist. It’s bad enough that you have a department where the balance on the right is Steve Rose, but my greater frustration is talking with a reporter who tells me that X is dirty only to see The Star endorse X for public office. Get rid of these weasels and the reputation of your newspaper goes up overnight.
Worse yet, from a business model, why would you pay big salaries to people who can be replaced by local bloggers and then get rid of the people who provide a product that no local blogger has the time to provide? Pay 2 million dollars for a campaign? What’s the theme, “Hey we just fired our award winning journalists, but we still have Lewis Diuguid and Barb Shelly.”? Don’t like that, you can complain to our psychotic “public editor” who will immediately write yet another column on proper hyphenation while blocking you from making any pubic comment on our pages. Woo Hoo, and just when I was missing Joseph Stalin.
I understand that small town newspapers are still going strong, if so you might to look at their model. They provide stories the community wants to read. They have pictures of their local sports teams and articles about local kids. They don’t write columns telling people how stupid they are for not embracing the latest leftist fad. I’m also betting that the editor/publisher eats at the same restaurant as the local folk, not sitting down at the River Club brownosing the local bigshots like Art did. I personally always considered Brisbane to be nothing more than the spitting image of his namesake found in the novel Empire, i.e. a well paid lackey for the local establishment whilst mouthing leftist platitudes a readership offended by them.
The biggest problem now is that we’ve lost the habit of reading the newspaper. They alienated their readers just as a competing source became available and all of the PR campaigns in the world aren’t going to change it.
Off subject, but here is another instance of a college doing nothing after an accusation of Rape.
http://larrybrownsports.com/college-football/prince-shembo-sexual-battery-lizzy-seeberg/220575
I still get the daily paper thrown in my driveway–although I do wonder why it comes in a clear plasitc sleeve when there is snow on the ground. That’s bad management.
I read more online than the dead tree version and I personally think their digital site sucks. To me, the home page of a newspaper’s website should be treated as the front page of the newspaper, but I do concede the need to attract traffic so we have silly ‘stargazing’ stories littered there.
The columnists are not my cup of tea at all. Not sure why they need so many of them on staff. I would challenge them to enlighten, educate and serve the public, if they don’t want to do that, then they are gone.
The stories recently on the Maryville assault case are a reason to hope that some journalists exist there. Why are there so few instances like that?
Stories like the Maryville sexual assault and the abduction and murder in Springfield of Hailey Owens are fairly uncommon. To its credit, The Star almost always jumps on those vigorously. I was pleasantly surprised that The Star was all over the Hailey Owens case, particularly because The Star has drawn the circle so tight on its distribution area; we don’t sell any printed editions in Springfield, unless a few people take it by mail, which there would hardly be any reason to do.
I’m 35. I used to occasionally read articles on The Star’s site; however, within the past week or so, they’ve figured out that folks were bypassing their paywall via the reader button (on Apple products; there may be other ways, but that’s what I was using). They seem to have suddenly blocked that option, so I can’t read for free with my iPad anymore. No real loss; it’s pretty easy to keep up with local news without it, or I can use my laptop, which has four different browsers installed, and I suppose I could just switch between them all if there was anything I cared about reading. I hear there was a great column the other day about a massage…sounds like it included some important information.
Other than that, my only other contact with The Star is when I toss the paper to the front door of three homes on my walking route every morning when I’m out with my dog. I’d rather that seniors in my neighborhood didn’t have to walk almost to the street to get it when the weather is cold/slick/wet/whatever. They seem to be the only subscribers around, though.
I like to hear it, Andrew — throwing the paper up by your neighbors’ doors; that will make them more likely to maintain their subscriptions.
…Don’t understand how you get by without The Star, through. It’s where I get 95 percent of my local news.
I like my neighbors. If they want to subscribe, that’s great. I just don’t want them breaking a hip or something when they go out to get the paper. I bet they’d all offer to let me read the paper when they were finished if I said I would like to, but I don’t really care.
We moved here almost three years ago, and I did think about subscribing at least to the Sunday edition, maybe for a year. That first year we lived here was a pretty terrible time—not because of KC, we love this city and our neighborhood, but our loved ones back home were dealing with a large-scale disaster that happened two weeks after we finally got out of that hellhole. We went back and forth for months while still trying to get settled here, and every time we looked at the KC Star online, it seemed like it was mostly scary crime stories or (very good, I admit) coverage of that disaster, which we didn’t need to see, and we felt unsettled and a little adrift. Not that those stories shouldn’t be reported, but … I don’t know, it was a difficult time for us, plus we were lonely and it was really difficult to make friends for a long while, and it somehow seemed like the newspaper made us feel worse. I guess that doesn’t make sense. I should probably subscribe to the digital edition and give it a chance. Anyway, I’m a news junkie and we visit the local news stations’ sites frequently (we watch the weather very closely as well, using various apps and local sites) as well as a few local blogs and sites, and we seem to keep up just fine.
Is that you, Andrew — Anonymous?
You’ve got our full attention now…What is the disaster you are referring to — Hurricane Sandy? Where were you living?
Sorry, yeah, it’s me. I didn’t realize I left it blank; wasn’t trying to be mysterious. We moved to KC from Joplin, right before the tornado.
Jenniferm, The Star is certainly not a monolith and there are some very talented people there. While I thought Mike Hendricks was a crappy columnist, his recent stories have been very informative and well balanced. Everly on energy issues is another bright spot and while Parrish may not exactly be a superstar, she seems to be less of a shill for the various establishment scams than Brisbane was.
Andrew, there are still ways around the paywall that haven’t been blocked. Find a nerd somewhere and they can probably figure it out for you, or maybe Fitz will share my email with you and I’ll give you a hint. Or you can search the Reece and Nichols site for that email address.
Personally, I’ve been going to KSHB and Fox 4 for my local news lately. Ryan Kath at KSHB does some very good work and Karen Dillon from The Star went there after she was canned. Rath has a nice piece on WYCO this evening on the 6:00 news.