KC Star Lays off 50

Whenever we put out a column online, we usually have to be able to defend what we write to the people who read it. Journalists don’t often have to do that…their contact with their audience is limited (often by choice). I do agree that the worst newspaper journalist is certainly better than the worst Internet blogger (mainly because literacy is a key requirement to being a journalist) but the best bloggers are as good as the best writers for any newspaper or publication. It’s mainly just a matter of access, as Primetime and Chris have noted.

But it’s too bad about Flanagan if he got let go…I do like his column.

By the way, did you know the BlogPoll (the college blogger weekly top 25) is listed on CBS Sports now?

And I do “Foreign Affairs” as well even though their online archived stuff is free, because I’ll actually re-read their magazine’s articles. In fact, I think that Foreign Affairs is the only publication I subscribe to where I get a physical copy of the publication (I don’t get the hard copy of the WSJ). I used to get Newsweek but that was just a gift from someone and I let the subscription lapse because it was such a pointless publication except for George Will’s column, and I got ESPN The Magazine because I subscribe to ESPN Insider (although I often just threw the magazine straight in the garbage because it was mainly fluff except for the fantasy tips).

These are just random thoughts/suggestions:

He could have his own sub-section on the site.

How awesome would it be if he maintained his press credentials/Chiefs access and wrote for AP?

He keeps writing the way he did before and keeps his name out there. Kind of a Free Agent signing a deal mid-season in order to “audition” for other teams.

We could pay him with 100 recommendations of his posts, every post. :) or Beer Gloves.

Most importantly, he would have a place to do what he loves and a community that supports him.

Chris, where’s my cheese? :)

If it could happen, it would be awesome. Flanny did have the only sports blog on the Star that was solely contributed to by one writer (that i know of).

He saw where his writing was going (blogs), and Flanny wrote a lot of honest, objective opinions about the Chiefs and the Royals. Pure blog material.

Unfortunately, he also chronicled the release of his press colleagues around the midwest…which was prescient.

And as he’s more of a local columnist who’s tied in with the KC community rather than a national guy, I think he’d be a good fit for what AP does. Chris’s morning updates bear some resemblence to Flanagan’s Top Of The Morning column and I think Flanagan would add a more varied perspective on things because he can hit topics that are Chiefs-related that we might not think about or have as much knowledge on. We’re as capable of watching and evaluating the games as anyone else, but we do often operate from a position of relative ignorance on a lot of what goes on off the field…a limitation that could be alleviated significantly by a guy who actually knows people to talk to if he wants to do an original story about the Chiefs.

Whether this is something he has interest in doing, I don’t know…but the plus side to working in a format like this is that he’s less constrained in what he chooses to write about and he’ll have a supportive audience built in (which is something that’s tough to develop if you move elsewhere). I read his columns daily with the Star and I’d definitely love to see them continue here.