What a day here in our town!
We saw one of the most important positions in all of Kansas City re-filled today, and people everywhere were joyous, some almost delirious.
…Yes, folks, that’s how deeply the naming of a new publisher at The Kansas City Star can affect people.
Tony Berg, in The Star’s newsroom today
The new publisher is 38-year-old Tony Berg. That’s awfully young. But he’s from this area, and he’s had 15 years of newspaper experience, including three years in charge of advertising at the Wichita Eagle and nearly a year in the same position at The Star. Berg was born and raised in Kansas and received a bachelor’s degree in strategic communication and journalism from the University of Kansas. His wife Audrey is also a KU graduate. They have two sons, Archer and Wyatt.
Like The Star, the Eagle is owned by the beleaguered McClatchy Co., based in Sacramento, CA.
The fact that Berg is young had to be a consideration for McClatchy, which is carrying a debt of about $966 million: They don’t have to pay him nearly as much as they would an older, experienced publisher.
He succeeds Mi-Ai Parrish, who put in a strange four years as publisher — strange as in ineffectual and nearly invisible — before moving on to the Arizona Republic last year.
The Star’s report on Berg’s appointment was accompanied by video of him addressing employees in the second-floor newsroom. I’ve been to several of such gatherings, which are traditional at big newspapers nationwide when a major player is introduced — usually a new owner, publisher or editor.
(One such gathering I distinctly remember was after the Walt Disney Co. had purchased Cap Cities/ABC, whose holdings included The Star and several other newspapers. Word on the street was Disney was not the least bit interested in the newspapers, that its main target was ABC and ESPN, which was part of the deal. But when Disney C.E.O. Michael Eisner appeared in the newsroom and addressed The Star’s staff, he said Disney had no intention of selling the newspapers. A year later, the papers were up for sale and were purchased by KnightRidder, which later sold to McClatchy.)
But with the arc of newspapers in an extended descent, there was little chance of Berg making reckless proclamations or promises.
After being greeted with enthusiastic applause and some cheers, he gave a heartfelt, down-to-earth speech that had to hearten the beaten-down staff, which has been overworked and preoccupied with job security since McClatchy paid way too much for the KnightRidder papers in 2006.
Berg acknowledged the wolf at the door — the Internet — but said he believed The Star could prevail in the battle for news supremacy in Kansas City and the rest of The Star’s distribution area. As he and every other new publisher is obliged to say, he asserted that The Star’s future was bright. He then added…
“We’re in a fight, and it’s a tough fight. But it’s not unlike the fight Col. (William Rockhill) Nelson fought 135 years ago when trying to take control of the paper business here in Kansas City. The only difference today is that the fight is on the digital front. That fight has no rules. It has no regard for how long you’ve been in business. But it is a fight that we can win…We have shown audience growth at a time when people said we were going to die. And we didn’t. Our audience has never been bigger than it is today.”
At another point, his words had to make the hearts of reporters and editors soar when he alluded to a recent expose that showed Kansas City Fire Department supervisors had failed to clear firefighters from an alley at a big fire on Independence Avenue. Two firefighters who were in a “collapse zone” that should have been cleared died when the wall of a three-story building came crashing down. Berg said:
“That piece…didn’t make us many friends, but you will learn this from me: It’s not just words; I will stand behind work like that very proudly, and I will stand behind work like that every day because that is what makes us so important in the community we work in. It’s what makes us so important to the towns we represent.”
And so begins a new era at The Kansas City Star. With today’s move, it’s a time to be guardedly optimistic. A young, seemingly energetic leader is on the scene, and he understands the challenges. My best advice to him would be what it was to Mi-Ai Parrish, who ignored it:
Get involved in civic leadership. Let the Civic Council and the Chamber of Commerce know there’s a new sheriff at 18th and Grand. Raise The Star’s flag, figuratively, everywhere you go. Accept every invitation to appear on radio and TV. Elevate The Star’s profile by raising your own profile. Sell the paper as confidently and as assertively as you sold ads. Go out and kick ass; you lead the best and strongest news-gathering operation between Chicago and the West Coast.
…Oh, I forgot to mention that I heard another fairly important position in Kansas City was refilled today. Great to have Gordo back…It’s been a great day in Kansas City.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
I thought for sure, with your article title, it was going to be about Alex Gordon! That said, I hope this guy will resolve the paper delivery issues….so many people in our subdivision have called and complained (we get our “daily” paper maybe 60% of the time), or cancelled their subscription. To get a “live” person on the phone at The Star, let alone someone who really cares or will handle anything, posts about the same as my odds of winning the $500M lottery.
Hope all is well with you and yours…Happy New Year!
If you’re only getting your paper 60 percent of the time, Lisa, you have a bad carrier. I wrote a few months ago about how The Star had distanced itself from the carrier operation by hiring about 15 super-distributors, who subcontract the delivery to others, some of whom are trying to deliver newspapers in cars, not trucks.
My advice is get your carrier’ name and number, if you have to get up at 5 a.m. and flag him down in the dark. You get the best results if you can deal directly with your carrier.
Happy New Year to you, Mike, Marissa and Isaac…We need to get together!
We’ve tried that approach…trouble is we either have a new carrier or a substitute carrier most of the time! Yes, they’ve really distanced themselves from their customers. Let’s have lunch soon.
Great post, Fitz! I still love The Star for reasons like the article on the deadly fire, and the recent piece on the number of shootings by KC police officers. If not for the Star, where else would we get this level of reporting on important local issues? Kansas City needs The Star.
Thanks, Kate…In the video, it was good to see the staff fired up. They’ve been crying for leadership at the very top. I’ve always thought Fannin is sketchy as editor, although I take into consideration that one recently retired reporter whom I long admired — Mark Morris — held Fannin in high regard and said he pushed hard on investigations.
Jim:
Interesting and hopeful report on Tony Berg. But I agree with Lisa Round. People who call The Star about trying to get their deliveries started or restarted,
get nowhere when calling the paper or they can’t get the name and phone number of their carrier. There is no particular person to call for help. Calls are only answered with robot calls. If The Star wants to keep subscribers, they have to correct this problem. People are tired, frustrated and disgusted with circulation are canceling their subscriptions. It is ridiculous, unnecessary and sad. Especially when it could be corrected by someone answering the phone in circulation. No one does.
All best,
Laura
I certainly should have added that to my points of advice, Laura:
— And focus on significantly improving circulation services, including making it much easier for subscribers and others to reach live people in home delivery and customer accounts.
Jim:
If there is any way you could get the ear of Tony Berg on the huge circulation mess, the whole city would be grateful. The Star doesn’t do anything about it. It is disgraceful.
All best,
Laura
Jim,
I wrote a few months ago about my delivery issues. Using your lead, I talked to the VP of audience for the Star who said he would get back to me and never has. My delivery issues are still ongoing now. I get the paper 99% of the time, the problem is the time it arrives. Yesterday it was 930am. Today it was 815 am. Except for Mondays, the average delivery time is from 815 am to 900 am. A number of Saturdays it’s 930-10 am. I’ve taken to calling the Star automated system to report a missing paper at 840 am. I suspect with all of the late papers I reported the past four months I now have an extra month on my Star subscription.
I received a calendar insert in my paper from the current carrier at Christmas time. The carrier lives in Independence (no phone number was on the calendar) and I live near KCI Airport. No wonder the paper is late! Besides me on my block, only my neighbor next door has held onto their delivery and they’ve changed to Wednesday to Sunday.
The most absurd thing about this is the automated circulation response that “We do keep track of these things”. I wish they would just take that off because they are obviously not tracking it and doing nothing about it.
This is something the publisher needs to get into and fix ASAP.
I did notice that they are back to offering credit again for vacation stops. So there must of been a lot of people canceling for vacation stops and not coming back.
Bill
Bill, Laura and anyone else who has complaints about delivery or circulation —
My advice is send email to tberg@kcstar.com. He should already know there is a big problem. The more emails he gets, the more likely he is to make it a top priority, if it already isn’t.
I haven’t had any delivery problems, fortunately. My problem was getting my retiree discount. It took several weeks, but I think I’ve got it now. I’ll know for sure when I see it on my next credit-card statement.
I just emailed Mr. Berg with the issues and a list of dates that delivery was 8:30 am or later since early September (31 days). I’ll post if I get a reply.
He will undoubtedly send it along to Phil Schroder, the new “audience development” v.p.
I just sent Mr. Berg an email, too, urging him to devote considerable attention to the delivery problems and to make sure people with problems can reach someone at The Star — someone here in Kansas City.
Tony just called me. He thanked me for the amount of detail I included in my email. He said he would be talking to Phil and get back to me about the issue. Let’s hope he can solve for all of the subscribers.
Already on a first-name basis with the new publisher! (Just joshing you, Mr. Hirt.) But seriously, if he’s that responsive all the time and not just trying to make a good first impression, that bodes well.
Jim,
I just got a call from Jim McCall at the Star. He was letting me know he will try to get my delivery fixed. He listed off all of the people he has contacted to get this fixed including the regional coordinator. He said if the carrier can’t deliver on-time, they should not have take the route. He said it appears you have not have on-time delivery for the past 5 months and I agreed. I also told him I get the NY Times delivered and said he will try to get that fixed also. So this is extremely encouraging! A good first impression of the new publisher.
Correction on the person who called from the Star. His name was John McCall. I just received a follow-up call from Mr. Berg telling me if it is not taken care of, I am to call him directly again to get the problem fixed. I am really impressed now!
Maybe The Star could try what they just did in Boston!
http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/02/media/boston-globe-reporters-deliver-sunday/index.html
I read about that…You think we’ve got it bad here. The Globe changed delivery companies (different system than here in KC), and 10 percent of subscribers didn’t get their papers the first few days. It’s cute that reporters and editors were out delivering papers, but it’s ridiculous. Just like at The Star, Globe management undoubtedly made the change in an effort to save money. And they did so at a time when The Globe was gettng national attention from the movie Spotlight for its 2002 exposure of the extensive priest sexual-abuse scandal in Boston. (I strongly recommend the movie.)
Phenomenal movie. Agreed. I was locked in from start to finish. Did you blog about this flick and perhaps I missed it?
I have not written about it, John…I particularly loved the way reporter Michael Resendez persisted in getting access to plaintiffs’ attorney Mitchell Garabedian.
I was flabbergasted when Resemdez took advantage of a secretary turning away, then hustling down the hall to Garabedian’s private office and knocking on the door. That broke the ice. I don’t think I would have had the nerve to do that. I also got a kick out of the much-younger Resendez calling Garabedia “Mitch,” while Garabedian unfailingly referred to the reporter as “Mr. Resendez.”
I thought it was about Gordo too! I’m glad it wasn’t. Stay strong and tell the truth and the Star will continue to serve the community very competently.
Delighted to see that the new publisher referred to investigative journalism as a goal. However, while the publisher should be involved in his community there was no more shameful era for the Star than when Art Brisbane was little more than the lawn jockey at the River Club and The Star published page one articles detailing the Civic Council’s goals for Kansas City without printing word one describing who and what the Civic Council was, or why anyone should give a hoot in hell what their goals for Kansas City were.