• Home
  • About me: Jim Fitzpatrick
  • Contact

JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« Need help deciphering Tuesday’s election ballot? Here you go…
You don’t need Columbo to figure out who orchestrated the killing of Jamal Khashoggi »

Within about 14 months, two big-name City Hall reporters have moved on to other assignments

November 14, 2018 by jimmycsays

After little more than a year, the Bill Turque “era” as KC Star City Hall reporter is over.

A Star story this week said Turque, a 40-plus-year veteran of journalism, is becoming The Star’s political editor.

Succeeding him at City Hall, one of the three most important “beats” at the newspaper (along with the Jefferson City and Topeka correspondents), is 24-year-old Allison Kite, who has been with The Star for nine months. Before that, she covered Kansas politics for the Associated Press and later the Topeka Capital Journal.

Allison Kite

Bill Turque

From what I have seen, Kite is a solid, up-and-coming reporter, and I feel sure she will do well at City Hall. At the same time, it is disappointing to see Turque, whose arrival as City Hall reporter was announced with much hoopla, moving out of the limelight. (I can tell you from experience editors are important, but once you leave reporting, you’d better prepare yourself for public anonymity.)

Turque has had some ground-breaking stories, including a September story on extensive and questionable City Council travel, and he brought to The Star a deep and distinguished background. He had previously worked at The Washington Post, Newsweek and the Dallas Times Herald. He also was a familiar name to some Kansas Citians, having worked at The Star from 1977 to 1981 early in his career.

Not only was he a “big name” when he returned to Kansas City, he knocked out another big name at City Hall — Lynn Horsley, who had covered the city with distinction and determination for nearly 20 years.

After Turque’s return, The Star’s management moved Horsley to the Johnson County beat, where it appears she is now comfortable and getting accustomed to suburban reporting. (I can tell you from experience there, too, it’s a lot different than urban reporting. After I moved from the Wyandotte County bureau to the Johnson County bureau in 1995, I never could make the adjustment from being enmeshed in big-time political battles to scrounging around for “lifestyle” stories.)

Horsley’s displacement was awkward for The Star because management had hired Turque as part of a package deal and had to find a place for him. A year earlier, in 2016, The Star had hired Turque’s wife, Melinda Henneberger, to be part of the paper’s new editorial-page team, headed by Colleen McCain Nelson. I’m sure the deal was then, “Uh, yes, I’m prepared to take the job, but what about my hubby?”

Interestingly, Nelson’s hiring also had been a package deal: Her husband, Eric Nelson, was hired to lead The Star’s digital news operation.

**

Another change The Star announced in the story about Turque and Kite was that Jefferson City correspondent Jason Hancock will now cover Kansas politics as well as Missouri.

Jason Hancock

That’s a lot to bite off, and as good as Hancock is, I’m dubious about his ability to do spread his wings over Kansas and Missouri. Tapping him to handle politics in both states is another example of The Star trying to stretch its painfully reduced staff impossibly thin. It’s hard enough for one reporter to cover one big building, like City Hall, much less two states.

And, finally, The Star has thrown in the towel as far as having its own reporter covering state government out of Topeka. The paper is now shoveling that job off to Jonathan Shorman of The Wichita Eagle, another McClatchy paper.

Shorman is very good, but just as Hancock is going to have trouble extending his reach into Kansas, Shorman will find it extremely challenging to do justice to coverage of legislative developments revolving around Wyandotte, Johnson and Leavenworth counties. Residents in those counties who depend on The Star for legislative news may be sorely disappointed.

…In any event, good luck to these reporters as they try to bear up under back-breaking assignments I couldn’t have dreamed of handling when I was in my prime. I covered Jackson County government from 1971 to 1978 and City Hall from 1985 to 1995, and at both places I was one of three or four Kansas City Times and Kansas City Star reporters on those beats…I believe we also had at least two people in Jeff City and two in Topeka. My, how times have changed!

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in Uncategorized | 15 Comments

15 Responses

  1. on November 14, 2018 at 6:56 pm John D Altevogt

    You missed one detail that came out today. Hunter Woodall, arguably the worst political reporter in Kansas since Roger Myers fell off his last bar stool, having poisoned the well completely in Kansas, save as a PR man for the ultra left of the Democrat Party, has now been assigned to soil your beloved occupation on the Missouri side now.

    Shorman, on the other hand, is head, shoulders and torso above Woodall in terms not only of credibility but also writing skill. So, that’s a plus for us (and The Star) on the Kansas side. I haven’t read enough of Hancock to form an opinion of him, but again, it would be pretty impossible to be worse than Woodall.

    As for the editorial board, Berg’s experiment there is a complete failure. They have once again managed to alienate activists on both the left and the right and not because of the quality of their editorial product. I, therefore, revert to my previous position that they simply eliminate the editorial board and invest in some decent original reporting.

    Lest this be considered too negative let me send kudos to Mike Mahoney, truly the dean of political journalism in Kansas City, Nick Haines and Bryan Lowry for their work on the midterms.


  2. on November 15, 2018 at 8:58 am gayle

    Henneberger.

    Having an uncommon last name, I’ve always been sensitive to correct spelling.


    • on November 15, 2018 at 9:36 am jimmycsays

      I should have verified that. I apologize to Melinda, and I thank you, Gayle.


  3. on November 15, 2018 at 10:54 am Mark Peavy

    On the bright side, not all areas at the Star are understaffed. They have six reporters covering the Chiefs: Brooke Pryor, Lynn Worthy, Vahe Gregorian, Sam Mellinger, Blair Kerkhoff, and Pete Grathoff. And readers get thought-provoking stories like “Chiefs, NFL fans have definite opinions on Patrick Mahomes’ ketchup usage.”


    • on November 15, 2018 at 11:01 am jimmycsays

      Thank you, Mark, for calling our attention to the “bright side” of an otherwise gloomy situation. Maybe I’ll follow your lead and start trying to be more optimistic about the situation at 18th and Grand…I mean 16th and McGee.


      • on November 15, 2018 at 4:09 pm gayle

        Where?? Just doesn’t have the same ring, does it?


    • on November 15, 2018 at 7:42 pm Bob Kennedy

      One reporter for Kansas AND Missouri politics, and six reporters for the Chiefs. Am I crazy, or is something out of balance here?


    • on November 16, 2018 at 9:25 am Bill Hirt

      Despite having six writers on the Chiefs, they still have no Royals beat writer even with the MLB owner meetings this past week and the MLB winter meetings coming up the first part of December.

      And after two years, you would think they would fix their web site and automated attendant phone system so you could set up a delivery vacation stop without sitting on phone hold for 10-20 minutes.

      Tuesday I was treated when picking the Star up off the driveway of the carrier delivering another copy of Monday’s paper. Tuesday’s paper then came on Wednesday along with Wednesday’s paper. The Star still has home delivery issues – just not as bad as they were a year-year and a half ago.


      • on November 16, 2018 at 9:36 am jimmycsays

        I think we all know The Star doesn’t really have six reporters covering the Chiefs full time. Pryor and Worthy are the full-time beat writers, and the other four that Mark Peay mentioned drop in and out. The Chiefs are not the primary responsibilities of the other four.


      • on November 16, 2018 at 6:15 pm Bill Hirt

        I know they really don’t have six people covering the Chiefs. However, It still surprises me how little story output we are seeing from the two new Chiefs beat writers after games and during the week. I think in comparison to the prior single Chiefs beat writers like Terez Paylor and Adam Teicher (I hope I spelled both of their names right), there is just not quantity of stories being produced that they did. It seems a lot of times it is falling on Blair Kerkhoff to write the meaty story after the game.This would suggest the two beat writers are greener than the sports desk would really like and are going to need time to get up to speed.

        Jim I know you listen to Soren Petro. Did you hear Blair on there today discussing the KU coaching job and how disruptive it is on people like him and Jesse Newell in their personal lives waiting on when a new coach would be named. When I heard that, I thought here is a guy who is a little weary of having to cover multiple beats, the disruption associated with it, and getting assigned everything hot that comes into the sports desk. I enjoy Blair’s writing and his time on Petro. I know he is now the senior guy on the sports staff, but I would think he doesn’t need to cover everything for them.


  4. on November 15, 2018 at 4:44 pm jimmycsays

    No, it doesn’t…To be precise, the exact address is 1601 McGee.


  5. on November 15, 2018 at 5:34 pm Julius Karash

    Like the saying goes, bloom where you are planted. A lot of things ain’t like they used to be, but Kansas City Star reporters and editors are working their tails off to produce great stories, so let’s give credit where credit is due.


  6. on November 16, 2018 at 4:33 pm gayle

    Despite fervent promises their Comments feature online remains broken. How badly damaged could it be to take so long to repair? Hmmm…


    • on November 16, 2018 at 6:19 pm Bill Hirt

      Interestingly, I bought a new tablet today. I installed the Star app. Comments have now magically appeared with stories again and the latest news portion (when the app opens) actually has today’s news instead of several weeks old news like it shows on my phone and old tablet. It makes me wonder I need to delete the app on both old devices and then reinstall.


      • on November 16, 2018 at 6:45 pm jimmycsays

        Regarding your higher-up comment about Kerkhoff, yes, there’s a lot of pressure on him to deliver on several fronts. When you spread your reporters as thin as The Star has, excessive pressure is inevitable…And, as I guess you saw, Sports Illustrated broke the story about KU about to hire Les Miles, former LSU coach. I would think Jesse and Blair are pretty bummed. (I listened to some of Petro today but missed that part.)



Comments are closed.

  • Pages

    • About me: Jim Fitzpatrick
    • Contact
  • Archives

    • February 2023
    • January 2023
    • December 2022
    • November 2022
    • October 2022
    • September 2022
    • August 2022
    • July 2022
    • June 2022
    • May 2022
    • April 2022
    • March 2022
    • February 2022
    • January 2022
    • December 2021
    • November 2021
    • October 2021
    • September 2021
    • August 2021
    • July 2021
    • June 2021
    • May 2021
    • April 2021
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • March 2020
    • February 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • December 2018
    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • September 2018
    • August 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
    • December 2016
    • November 2016
    • October 2016
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
    • December 2014
    • November 2014
    • October 2014
    • September 2014
    • August 2014
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014
    • April 2014
    • March 2014
    • February 2014
    • January 2014
    • December 2013
    • November 2013
    • October 2013
    • September 2013
    • August 2013
    • July 2013
    • June 2013
    • May 2013
    • April 2013
    • March 2013
    • February 2013
    • January 2013
    • December 2012
    • November 2012
    • May 2012
    • April 2012
    • March 2012
    • February 2012
    • January 2012
    • December 2011
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • September 2011
    • August 2011
    • July 2011
    • June 2011
    • May 2011
    • April 2011
    • March 2011
    • February 2011
    • January 2011
    • December 2010
    • November 2010
    • October 2010
    • September 2010
    • August 2010
    • July 2010
    • June 2010
    • May 2010
    • April 2010
    • March 2010
  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 563 other subscribers

Blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


  • Follow Following
    • JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC
    • Join 563 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: