Well, hell, this latest development is nothing to be smug about, even though I’m not a fan of Kansas City Star President and Editor Mike Fannin.
The Star reported yesterday that Fannin, 55, of Olathe, was arrested in Johnson County Tuesday night on suspicion of DUI.
The story gave no other details, including what city the arrest took place in, other than to note that Fannin has two previous DUI convictions. Melody Webb, a spokesperson for Johnson County District Court’s criminal division, told me today the case had not yet appeared in the court’s computer system, so it probably is, or was, with the jurisdiction where the arrest took place.
One of the previous convictions was in Wyandotte County in 2006. I don’t know when or where the other one was.
So, what to make of this? Here are my thoughts and observations…
:: First, you’ve got to think that with three DUI arrests Fannin has a significant drinking problem. Maybe he quit at some point, since he apparently went many years between arrests, but to have been busted three times in the course of a lifetime for being over the limit is pretty damn telling. If not tragic, this is at least very, very challenging for Fannin personally and whatever family he has.
:: Second, this is possibly career ending. Fannin has been with The Star since 1997 and has been the editor since 2008, two years after I retired. He was named president in 2019 after then-publisher and president Tony Berg went to the Wichita Eagle either voluntarily or involuntarily. I would not be surprised to see a story within the next week announcing that Fannin was taking a leave of absence. The person who will determine Fannin’s immediate fate is probably Tony Hunter, who was named CEO of McClatchy, The Star’s owner, in 2020 after a New Jersey hedge fund took control of the company out of bankruptcy court.
:: Third, this must be terribly roiling and frustrating for The Star’s remaining 100 or so employees. Those employees have been looking over their shoulders for years, as the paper has lost readership, stature and relevance, and they have been badly managed (from my perspective) under Fannin. To wit, in an era when most major metropolitan dailies are struggling to cover breaking news and basic beats like cops, courts and local government, Fannin and Co. have had several of their most senior reporters on “detached” status, letting them spend months or years on “enterprise” stories of questionable consequence in the hope of winning Pulitzers or other major journalistic prizes. At least the employees knew, until yesterday, that McClatchy supported their top leader. Now, the question mark hanging over his head also hangs over theirs. (Footnote: A former Star reporter, who left the paper in recent years, told me Fannin “fought pretty hard to make hires” — which is not the case with many newspaper editors working for corporate owners these days.)
:: I wonder if this will delay or change McClatchy’s plan to inhabit 8,500 square feet of space in a Crown Center office building. The lease was announced last year, but I understand The Star has not yet moved in. With Fannin’s future very murky, is Melchiorre having second thoughts about the lease?
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The first person to write about this story, after The Star reported the news, was the godfather of KC bloggers, Tony Botello, proprietor of Tony’s Kansas City. In his report, Botello made a strikingly insightful comment, writing, “The Star really isn’t the paper it was years ago and there’s no reason to dwell on the misfortune of this far less important newspaper dude.”
Unfortunately, that is indeed the case. Whatever happens at The Star these days — short of going out of business — it does not rate big headlines.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
It’s strange to see you compliment Tony’s KC, whose online publication seems focused on breeding racist blogs and completely inappropriate racist comments sections.
As a rule, I don’t read it, pk, but I figured he’d have a post on this. All I said was he had an insightful sentence. Don’t read any more into it than that, please.
Fair enough. Thanks
I dunno … from today’s post about you, sounds like you all are pretty cozy…🤔
Fannin spoke earlier this year to my retired clergy group and made, I think, a favorable impression. But I still don’t like either the Sunday or Wednesday editions — often filled with soft stuff, but the editorials have often been worthy of applause. I hate to see him damaged and The Star inflicted with injuries.
As usual, Vern, you’re on the high and empathetic road.
Did he work as hard to make sure journalists didn’t get laid off as he did hiring new people hoping to win awards?
Well, that’s the flip side, isn’t it? Certainly it’s easier to push for new hires after you’ve duly complied with upper management’s directive to lay off higher-paid, longtime employees, with the goal of saving money.