Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Uh oh!... problems worsen at the Kansas City Star

Via Bottom Line Communications:
How bad are things at the Kansas City Star these days? In a nutshell, they are pretty awful.

And the immediate future is not looking any brighter.

Layoffs have become a regular occurrence. The latest round included such notables as cartoonist Lee Judge, columnist Hearne Christopher, Jr., veteran editor Laura Scott and long-time sports guy Jeffrey Flanagan (story).

Sources close to the newspaper now report that October was a revenue disaster on several fronts due to cutbacks in advertising based on the poor economy and shifts in ad spending.

The recent announcement that Circuit City is closing its retail stores will reportedly cost the McClatchy-owned paper about $2 million in advertising revenue. In the past Circuit City would be making huge ad buys heading into the holiday season.

In addition, the Star is rumored to be in the process of eliminating its popular "MoneyWise" and "Travel" sections in the future. Staff cutbacks in the business area and the elimination of the paper's Travel editor are reportedly the main reasons.

It seems as if Kansas City's largest newspaper truly is on life-support. And that is truly bad news...

Hat tip: comments
.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Guess their in the tank or no wonder they want to sell their building.

Reporting on "urinals" in todays paper won't help.
The sections that bottomline says they are looking to cut are two of the best. What's going to be left????? Oh, I know "Obits".

Anonymous said...

I think "Bottomline" hit the nail on the head with the words they are on life support. Truthfully all McClatchy papers are. It is time that employees move on and choose another field. The heartbreak will just keep coming. Take the bail out money while it is still there...won't be long and it won't be offered.

Anonymous said...

Read the comments made on the report that Bottomline did today about the KC Star. "Ink"

Anonymous said...

5:25 Should be "feedback" not "comments".