It’s no secret that McClatchy Company, the parent company of the failing Kansas City Star, is in a financial pickle.  As of this year, they retain almost $700 million in corporate debt. 

In addition to that albatross, McClatchy’s stock is plummeting.  In the last year, it has lost almost 80 percent of its value and shows no signs of recovering. 

The last 15 years have not been kind to investors.  McClatchy stopped paying dividends, did a 1 for 10 reverse split in 2016, and the stock is still at an all-time low while still being considered overvalued. 

McClatchy owns newspapers all across the United States.  Along with truly impressive names like The Fort Worth Star Telegram and The Miami Herald, the Kansas City Star is also somewhat prominent in their portfolio.  Its even more prominent decline is a staggering reflection of its parent company. 

Circulation numbers for The Star are dropping like a rock.  As of May 2019, they had barely 12,000 digital subscribers. 

Things are so bad the building housing The Star was sold.  The buyers had to agree to lease it back to the paper, though.  Save us! 

When you are failing this badly at business, good journalism is absolutely imperative.  When good journalism is replaced by agenda and bias, you may find yourself failing badly at business. 

The question to answer: is the Kansas City Star showing agenda and bias in their coverage of Tyreek Hill and his legal situation?  Furthermore, if they are, how should they be held accountable? 

In essentially every article published by The Star on this situation this year, Hill is painted as a monster.  At every opportune moment, The Star makes sure to ‘namedrop’ his 2014 incident, describing it in graphic detail, seemingly reminding any forgetful readers that a man who had said incident expunged from his record and lived a relatively incident-free life since could strike again at any moment. 

When Hill’s lawyers — and Pettlon Law is no discount public defender— provided a letter defending Hill, The Star immediately attacked its hardest evidence, doubling down on their initial editorials insisting that Hill be cut from the Chiefs. 

When Hill was fully and completely cleared of breaking his son’s arm, little recourse was given.  When fans, as they are given to do, defended him, The Star attacked the fans. 

When audio mysteriously surfaced after months that called into question whether Hill has ever, in fact, abused a single person in his entire life, the response from The Star?  To compare him to a domestic abuser who was caught on video. 

At almost every turn, The Star has decried anything that might fly in the face of their initial reports, which we now know were the result of an attempt by Crystal Espinal to frame Tyreek Hill for a crime. 

The Star’s bias not only shows in their writing, but in their public appearances.  One writer in particular demonstrated it fully on radio, describing an encounter with Hill as an event where “something just felt off,” clearly serving as more proof of his obvious guilt. 

Later, the idea that Tyreek Hill might be less literate than someone who works at The Star was used as an attack on evidence his lawyers presented as a defense. 

The resulting message they attempt to brainwash readers with: Tyreek Hill is a monster, Espinal did nothing wrong. 

But it was Espinal who weaponized a son against his father.  Imagine what might have been published if the reverse had been true. 

This kind of biased journalism is typically informed by agenda.  If there were no agenda, all information would be considered and given equal weight, as it has been by other journalists and credible public figures. 

Soren Petro, 810 Sports: “The investigation may have been centered on her…there are theories put out that she is trying to frame him…”

Nate Taylor, The Athletic: “The audio recording was misleading…Crystal Espinal was trying to get Tyreek Hill to say things that were condemning…”

Tim Grunhard, 810 Sports: “There’s victims everywhere.  We’re gonna find out who else is a victim in the coming weeks.  Whether it’s Tyreek…I don’t know…but I think there’s some other people that have been taken advantage of here.” 

When far more fair and balanced information is available from so many other sources, an environment is created where the public doesn’t want to read your newspaper and even begins to hate your newspaper.  Readers cancel subscriptions.  They find ways to read anything they want on your website without paying a dime. 

In fact, it’s appallingly easy to do this.  In order to read anything published online by The Kansas City Star, one needs only to open a story in an incognito or private browsing window on their favorite browser (here’s a helpful link). 

This is not to say every journalist at The Star is a reprehensible propaganda machine unworthy of readers.  Some have already apologized for their roles in misleading the public.  This falls in line with what writers have done at other outlets. 

But some, as we saw Friday morning, have their heels dug in.  They are “tripling” down, more interested in promoting a fantasy that Tyreek Hill sprang fully grown, fists flying, from the loins of Lucifer himself.  More interested in defending TV stations other journalists are categorizing as unethical.  And if you disagree, perhaps you are just another ignorant reader. 

Often, these fantasies are published without bylines, as is the case with multiple editorials written by “STAR EDITORIAL BOARD.” 

Such an approach contributes to a lack of trust already growing from poor reporting.  If the public doesn’t trust a paper, if the paper is publishing baseless character assassinations rather than providing balance, if the paper is attacking their readers, if the paper’s paywall is flimsier than the border at the American southwest, changes are necessary.  Both for the good of the newspaper, the community and the readers. 

What changes should be made?  Should certain writers be fired?  Should The Star have its access to the Chiefs severely restricted?  Only you, the consumer, can decide. 

To voice your concern about journalism practices at The Star:

Tony Berg, the President and Publisher of the KC Star. 

tberg@kcstar.com

tonyberg1566@hotmail.com

Dan Schaub, Corporate Director of Audience Development at McClatchy. 

dschaub@mcclatchy.com. 

Kevin McClatchy, Chairman of McClatchy. 

kmcclatchy@mcclatchy.com

kmcclatchy@mac.com. 

To voice your concern about what media are allowed access to the Chiefs:

fanexperience@chiefs.com

@Ted_Crews

As a consumer, and perhaps a disgruntled one, you have a voice.  Perhaps just one, but a babbling brook can easily become a destructive tidal wave if enough streams converge. 

Newspapers exist to serve the public, and the truth.  When they instead try to serve an agenda, and break the public’s trust, it can, should and is affecting their business.