Is The Star doomed?

flanagan was the first, but you’d have to expect more and more journalists getting the ax if things continue going on the way they are. I imagine it’s a lot easier and cheaper to just purchase stories from the AP than to employ a living, beathing journalist.

The downside is that we become much less informed if we’re getting all information from a singular source.

The Star is actually not doing that bad, its the parent company, McClatchy, which owns a bunch of newspapers, that is just buried in debt.

I think eventually McClatchy declares bankrupcy, sells off the Star, hopefully a local buyer purchases them, and the Star can regain its footing somewhat as it figures out how to proceed in a new economy.

that they were looking at doing a sale-leaseback of their essentially brand new printing and distribution facility downtown. That, coupled with the layoffs they’ve had recently, is not a good sign.

That building is pretty cool-looking, but something tells me it’s going to be as wise as buying a brand new, shiny horse buggy back in 1925.

classified ads were hugely important to newspapers… that revenue isn’t coming back

1. Take the hard copy version down to Sunday only, or do away with it entirely.
2. Build up the internet version as THE new KC Star.
3. Keep everything free.
4. Make your money off of the internet ads.

I like reading hard copy newspapers, but I’m a dinosaur. That information delivery device is dying. They have to either get with the 21st century or shut down.

To support an endeavor like the Star, but they could come up with creative revenue sources like raffles for Whitlock’s uneaten pizza crusts or squares games to guess his weight every week.

Also, I was going into journalism, but this turned me away. Instead, I am doomed to a life of attempting to get a Graduate degree+PhD and then teaching kids at a university, who had to blow at least $1000 (probably more like $2000 by that time) to be in my class, where I teach them off a book I wrote about a subject I hate. Also, I tend to write using strange imagery (if writing about entertainment or sports) or bitter yet fact-laced diatribes(politics) that better suits the Internet. Or MSNBC, since I’m pretty liberal.)

They need to cut their distribution down to start. I grew up 75 miles away and had the Star there for every breakfast (and my parents still do). That is ridiculous in this day and age, since I can safely assume my county does not have enough subscriptions, or people with disposable incomes to answer ads or classifieds, to justify distribution. They have the Internet in the country as well now, so if someone wants the Star they can get it from the web. I think a paper can survive on Internet ad revenue, but not at this moment, as many of you stated. However, I’m one of those who does not want the print edition eliminated, but rather scaled back to the Greater Kansas City area. Nevertheless, any suggestions that could have been made won’t save the print version of any regional newspapers. They may have had a chance to hold on for longer, but the Internet was eventually going to overtake them.

Craigslist just dealt them the blow faster than they expected I think.

small local newspaper (think The Odessan) will be fine, it’s the big boys that don’t stand a chance. much like the music industry, smaller independent companies will continue to eek out a living while major outlets falter and fail.