11-10-2008 (Link to previous employee layoffs) HEARNE CHRISTOPHER, FLANNY, LEE JUDGE GET AXE AT STAR The Kansas City Star is currently undergoing its fourth round of layoffs (terminations) this year and the cutbacks implemented today involve some of the most veteran and recognizable folks at the area's largest newspaper. One reporter referred to it as a "journalistic bloodbath" in Kansas City with about 16 out of the 50 let go from the editorial side of the paper. For an excellent commentary on the sad situation check out the State of the Line site. Reportedly officials at McClatchy Company, parent of the Star, have said many of the cutbacks can be attributed to the failure of the ill-fated RiseUp publication founded under former Publisher Art Brisbane and current Publisher Mark Zieman (see related story of RiseUp complaints from freelance writers). Heading the list of editorial employees given pink slips included Hearne Christopher, Jr., who has written one of the most read columns at the newspaper for several years. Jeffrey Flanagan, who wrote a "Top of the Mornin'" column in the Sports Department since 1996 (and most recently a blog), spent 19 years at the paper, including as a beat reporter for the University of Missouri, Kansas City Royals and as National Baseball reporter. His popular blog has already been taken down. Laura Scott, Assistant Editorial Page Editor, who spent more than 30 years with the paper, including as an editorial columnist. Lee Judge, who was nationally recognized as the Star's acerbic political cartoonist, was also given his walking papers. Judge was hired by the Star in 1981. Others reported to us include: Angela Curry ("At Your Service" columnist) Greg Clark (Indep. Bureau Chief) Les Weatherford John Shultz Tony Balandran
Monroe Dodd (former Managing Editor)
Jeanne Meyer
Mike Casey (Bus. Desk)
Kevin Hoffman (Indep.)
Stan Austin (Senior Online Editor) Allen Holder (travel editor) Kit Wagar (statehouse reporter) 11-10-2008/11:56
FEEDBACK (11-10-2008): "As a subscriber � that is, soon to be former subscriber, when it runs out at the end of the month � all I can say is, �Holy shit.�
"Thanks for the excellent reporting on the "Journalistic Bloodbath" at the Star. All I can says is, Holy S%#t! I never imagined Hearne Christopher or Lee Judge getting pick-slipped. Or Jeffrey Flanagan or Laura Scott either. "Not that Hearne's column is essential reading, but they're keeping Jenee What's-Her-Face and Pamela Spencer? Good grief! (I guess it helps to be under 30.) Oh, and raising the price of the paper too."
"I think it was time to clean house for sure. I was hoping to see a couple more names on the list. It isn't so much that I disagree with her but I believe there is no journalistic quality to her writing at all. Rhonda Chriss Lokeman not only writes very rude and slang articles but her facts are often inaccurate (journalism rule number 1) and her tone is very sarcastic. When she receives a response that was not rude nor sarcastic- her email replies are just that.
"Also, Jenea from FYI needs to figure out how to find real subject matter to write about. Her articles are ramblings of really nothing.
"I love the format of theThe Buzz but at least somewhat attempt- maybe even 25% to 75% to be somewhat balanced. Otherwise it needs to be put on the editorial page."
11-11-2008 "It'd be interesting to know exactly how they chose their victims. There's no real objective criteria. If Hearne C. or Flanagan or whoever are supposed to write, say, four columns a week and they do that, then so be it. "An investigative reporter, obviously, won't write as many stories as a beat reporter, so they can't be counting stories. Salaries? Maybe. But there were plenty of high-salaried types who were untouched. "Are they running it past lawyers to see if there are any legal problems with age-race-sex, or basing it at least partly on those things? Dunno. White males bore the brunt of the latest go-round, although white males maybe make up a majority at the paper. Or perhaps Zieman just throws darts at a dartboard, which makes about as much sense as anything else."
"Huh? They kept Cindy Hoedel, the FYI Editor who clawed her pencil up the ladder when she created that "oh so dreadful" HOME section about products and what to buy. Large shopper format with photos of ugly home accessories and boring copy about what NOT to buy for your home. Never cross her or you're never called back. "What ever happened to classy, lifestyle-driven features about people in their homes and what furnishings they use.. Hearne Christopher I will miss..he is a wonderful reporter and a great wit..he should be a keeper..not fired."
11-12-2008 "The loss of more than 1,000 years of cumulative Kansas City newspaper experience --- probably in the last six months alone --- is indeed tragic. And that�s why it�s important to not confuse name-recognition with competence.
"Please do not mourn the loss of a person whose utter contempt for fact-checking and whose penchant for disregarding deadlines resulted in a constant, years-long barrage of Page 2 corrections. Please do not denigrate the memory of the many fine journalists who have been let go from The Star by championing the memory of a two-bit hack who would be better off working at INK, save for being born 30 years too early. "Every now and then, evidently, The Star manages to accidentally lay off somebody who should have been fired for cause many years ago."
11-13-2008 "Good reporting on the KC Star layoffs, although anything close to fair journalism has not been the same in years and years at the Star. "One individual referred to European Americans as Caucasians in the comment section. Because in part that the KC Star has been asked for years to give the same respect to Euopean Americans as it does to African Americans and all other races, this blogger did not know to use the much more correctly descriptive and courteous term of European American than the Negro equivalent term of Caucasian. Sad fact. Thank you."
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