06-24-2009 STAR COMICS CONTROVERSY BECOMING SADLY LAUGHABLE Outsiders might look at the current controversy over which comics the Kansas City Star should keep, and which ones should go, as really a discussion over the placement of the deck chairs on the Titanic. Of all the issues impacting the newspaper---including whether it will even survive---an argument over which comic strips will be kept and which ones might be dumped seems a bit silly. Star Readers' Rep Derek Donovan felt it necessary to write one of his longest treastises ever on the comic strip issue (LINK). The Star ostensibly is showing its fairness by asking readers to vote on which comics should stay and which ones should go. In that way the paper can say it simply followed the democratic process (and collects email addresses in the process). However, it is interesting to see how the Star explains how it selected which comics to possibly kill: "Below is a list of 10 comics that are no longer authored by their creators or are revisiting old story lines, are similar to others on The Star�s comic pages, or that we think are tired. Which ones could you live without?" Unfortunately for its older, loyal readers, as part of the survey, the newspaper wants voters to provide their gender and age range. That is code for "We want comics that appeal only to younger readers (and mostly female)."
06-24-2009 FEEDBACK "What's interesting is that Derek always claims to have this dialog with all of these readers and yet no matter how controversial the subject of his blog entries and columns is he gets very, very few responses.Same with the comic entry. "There is one comment and a response by Derek.You do the analysis."
06-25-2009 "Interestingly enough, the description of comics they are getting rid of could be used to describe the Star itself."
Copyright 2009 Bottom Line Communications. BLC is a Web News Site that analyzes media and marketing issues. Please give credit or link to www.bottomlinecom.com when using any materials. Click on the FEEDBACK tab to send any media tips/comments/thoughts/ to us. We honor all off-the-record requests and will correct/clarify any information found not to be 100% accurate.
