Judging from the websites of The Kansas City Star and a few other McClatchy newspapers, the McClatchy chain has gone into desperation mode.
I noticed a distinct change in approach on The Star’s website about a month ago, and I checked out a few other McClatchy paper websites to see if they had adopted the same changes. They had.
Before the change, The Star and other McClatchy papers focused primarily on local stories but repeated them several times as you scrolled down the front page of the site. (The repitition is because the chain’s staffs are so depleted that they simply can’t produce enough stories to present a website that appears substantive.)
Throughout the day, fresher stories would replace older ones, but stories continued to be repeated down the front page.
Now, not as many stories are being repeated, and I have noticed two other significant changes…
- The featured stories change automatically every time a reader clicks on a story and subsequently returns to the home page. During the few seconds the page is refreshing, the reader sees a blurring of the boxes containing the featured stories. Then the page settles with new featured stories.
- Many stories being featured now are absolute schlock.
Let me give you an example…
This afternoon, the lead story on the website featured a photo of four tacos, with the headline, “There are many ways to have the perfect taco at this Kansas City, Kansas, market.”
Below that were six boxes — three rows side by side — with the other featured stories.
The top row consisted of two local stories. The headline on one said, “Black baby rhino born at the Kansas City Zoo.”
The headline on the other was, “Chiefs rookie WR Skyy Moore won’t play in finale vs. Raiders.”
The second row featured one story under the “Entertainment” banner and another under the heading “MLB.”
The headline on the MLB story was, “Royals free agent pitching targets Johnny Cueto.”
The headline on the entertainment story read, “Holly Madison says Kendra Wilkinson, Bridget Marquardt had it easier in the Playboy mansion.”
The third and final row consisted of a national story and a business story. The headline on the business story was, “Mark Cuban warns of potential new crypto scandal and fraud.”
The national story headline was, “Dark, slithering creature seen by boat captain near NC coast stirs debate. What is it?”
This photo accompanied the headline.
Now, if you ask me, the dark, slithering creature is not in North Carolina; it is in New Jersey, where Chatham Asset Management, the hedge fund that owns the McClatchy chain, is based. So, put your minds to rest, readers; there’s no need to return to The Star’s website tomorrow looking for a follow-up on the “dark, slithering creature” story. The mystery has been solved.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
I know they have a small office space somewhere down by the Plaza, but who all works out of it? Is it big enough or all of the writers and other employees to have an individual space there? The union just signed a contract and I wonder how Mr. Hedge Fund feels about that or if it’s just a charade until they shutter the place down.
I had to search high and low to find the results of the Mizzou/Arkansas basketball game. Finally found the story written by a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch!
It’s very difficult to find the basics…Sometimes they don’t exist.
After reading Mara Rose Williams’ column in the paper this morning, it seems that The Star editorial board is now down to two members: Toriano Porter and Derek Donovan. I wonder how that is going to work out.
Now, that is a concern, Mark…Thank you for calling that story to my attention. It makes me wonder if the editorial board was not a good fit for Mara. She would have been the natural person to turn to as the next opinion page editor…McClatchy is now advertising that job.
If I was applying, I would certainly want to be assured, in writing, that management intended to hire at least two more editorial writers. As it is, there is just one editorial writer now — Toriano Porter. Donovan’s main role all along has been selecting and editing the “letters to the editor.” Unless things have changed, I don’t think he provides much help on the day-to-day editorials.
Derek is a poor choice to select the Letters to the editor since he blocked so many people who called him out for his lies back when he was the alleged “Readers Rep”. If anyone at The Star has achieved Peter Principle status it is Derek several times over.
I just had to reply here. Wonder no more Jimmy. I fit fine with the editorial board but also wanted to have a broader impact on the great journalism produced by The Star. You remember when you went from writing to editing? Not that you couldn’t write, you could of course, but because you wanted to do more. Same here. And of course editorial writers will be hired just as they always have been when slots open up. Hope that helps.
Derek, God bless his extra-thin skin, is our (yours and my) favorite punching bag!
To Mara Williams — Thank you for writing. I’m glad to hear you say that your move to assistant managing editor for race and equity issues was not because of a poor fit on the ed page…You are, after all, going from opinion page writer to assistant managing editor (AME), which is a nice promotion.
Congratulations…Race and equity has the makings of a rich, new coverage area for The Star. If anyone can develop it and it out, it’s you.