Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Kansas City Star business reporter staff goes from 15 business reporters to 6

The KC Star business reporting staff is a skeleton crew:

With the recent departure of stalwart reporter Dan Margolies to Reuter's in Washington on Friday, the Kansas City Star's business reporter staff has now dwindled from 15 (actually 16 if you consider Paul Wenske a business reporter) reporters last year to just six remaining today.

The remaining six now have to cover more stories in different areas and also do stories for the Star's blog. In between the massive workloads they also have to figure out how to work in mandatory one-week furloughs which have been derisively labeled as "furcations."
FYI, I'm still looking for the ABC circulation numbers for the KC Star.
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20 comments:

Anonymous said...

If they really know anything about business they should share that knowledge with their publisher. He could use it.

Anonymous said...

Welcome to the new business department staffing. One boss - four to six reporters who are expected to put in double duty, along with working news weekend shifts, etc. Being a reporter today is like working for Walmart.

Anonymous said...

I agree. But at least at Walmart they know who the customer is and greet them accordingly.

Anonymous said...

And Walmart is making a profit by providing a product that people are willing to pay for.

Anonymous said...

The KC Star's ABC circulation is 216,226 down from 239,000+.

The Star now claims that they do not recognize anything other than year end audits, all while FALSELY claiming a daily circulation of 259,258 as their current circulation which is higher than their 2006 numbers.

http://www.mcclatchy.com/146/story/356.html

John Altevogt said...

What, The Star lying about something? What a liberal organization exploiting the working class? Who do they think they are, ACORN.

Anonymous said...

Shhhhhsh! We are exploiting bourgeoisie advertisers, not the Proletariat!

John Altevogt said...

I have been told that if you visit The Star's website 3 times in one week you are considered to be a "subscriber". I don't know if it's true, but they do boast a bunch about their online presence.

Anonymous said...

We refer furloughs to FU's.

Anonymous said...

Wow. KC now has basically the same circ as Sac Bee. That's gotta hurt in Sactown.

Anonymous said...

Hurt in Sactown? More like hurt in KC. They dropped in size from 25th to 29 or 30, passed up by papers that were losing circulation.

Anonymous said...

Had no idea KC had that much circ. Always think of KC as a rotting, midwestern city with high crime and unemployement. Guess it's not as depressed an are.

Anonymous said...

7:45 AM

In terms of area Kansas City is larger than NY City spread out well over 300 sq miles.

Your impression is rightfully derived, with the help of the KC Star, from turning the city operations and school district over to the lowest common denominator.

The fact is, Kansas City Missouri is a dying city in the same manner as Chicago, Detroit and many other enclaves of affirmative action and activist control.

It's saving grace are the outlying areas and one of the most affluent and prosperous escapes for refugees protected by the border of Kansas and Missouri where the midtown crowd has little influence or ability to wreck havoc.

The surrounding cities in the KC Metro area are the mirror image of Kansas City midtown, however on the Missouri side prosperity is limited as Kansas City MO annexes any sprout of success in order to make up for it's fleeing population.

More people actually drive from Kansas City to work now days than drive to it as the outlying area comprises approximately 1.5 million of the areas 2 million people.

Anonymous said...

In terms of media market ranking, which is done by Nielsen and is the most important revenue-based number in media, Sacramento is way ahead of Kansas City.
Sac is the No. 20 media market in the US, while KC is No. 32. Miami is McClatchy's largest media market at No. 17. Charlotte is No. 24 and also ahead of KC.

Anonymous said...

Not sure this is still true, but it was really important to be in the top 20 media markets in the US because national advertisers only made big buys in the Top 20. Sac had been as high as No. 18 at one time.

Anonymous said...

In terms of media market ranking, which is done by Nielsen and is the most important revenue-based number in media, Sacramento is way ahead of Kansas City.
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We're talking about the size of the newspaper, hence, Sac Bee, KC Star. Nielsen rankings have absolutely nothing to do with the circulation of the newspapers.

Anonymous said...

Sacramento Bee is McClatchy's flagship newspaper, hence it's the most important paper in the chain when it comes to just about everything, including all-important image. Corporate headquarters are in the Sac Bee building. The hit this paper took in circulation hurts worse than any other paper in the chain.

Anonymous said...

11:08 AM The entire McClatchy operation could easily be run by 2 people and a secretary in the basement of the nearest homeless shelter. (Remember Knight Ridder?)

Maybe from an "image" stand point the Sac Bee has some importance, but when it comes to staying in business the Sac Bee is a drain on the whole. There are three or four papers that are more crucial to the chain in every sense of the term.

Anonymous said...

The entire McClatchy operation could easily be run by 2 people and a secretary in the basement of the nearest homeless shelter.

And soon will be!

Anonymous said...

The Nielsen-measured size of the market is relevant because newspapers measure their market penetration using circulation as a percentage of the overall market. So if Sac market is larger overall than KC, then the Bee's circ should be higher as well. Of course, more precise marketing strategies may take precedence and alter that formula. Papers want a higher percentage of affluent readers and don't really pursue low-income readers...so maybe Sac does better that way...at least that's how it used to be...I think now any paper would be happy to take any reader, regardless of age or income.