2008 Woodie Awards
KC Star leaves empty bins
Julie Williams
Issue date: 8/17/08 Section: News
Sneaking the Kansas City Star into a long lecture period is no longer an option for Truman students.
The Star cut service to many small towns, including Kirksville, effective June 30. Residents who received daily deliveries to their front doors or picked up a copy of the Star throughout the week at local businesses now only have access to the Sunday edition. The paper also no longer will participate in the Collegiate Readership program on campus where it has been available since the Spring.
Chris Christian, vice president of audience and circulation for the Star, said in an e-mail that stories still are available to read online in an electronic edition that is set up exactly like the printed paper.
"The decision is unfortunately a matter of the expenses continuing to grow while the revenues haven't kept pace," Christian said in the e-mail. "As fuel and newsprint prices continue to soar, it is much more expensive for us to print and deliver a paper today than it has been ever before, and unfortunately we spend more delivering the paper to some areas than we make on the subscription fees."
He said just more than 5,000 customers were affected by the delivery change.
Marty Eisenberg, dean of the residential college program, said he is disappointed that the Star will disappear from the Collegiate Readership Program so soon after its arrival last spring.
"The addition was responding to student requests," he said. "It's a little sad that we had it for one semester and immediately they pulled out of this area."
Eisenberg said USA Today, who runs the Collegiate Readership Program, tried to figure out a way to keep the Star in the program but was unable to do so. He said he thinks students from the Kansas City area will feel the effects of the loss of that paper as they try to keep track of news like election coverage from a standpoint that is local to them.
As it stands, the program will return to offering only the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, USA Today and the New York Times. Junior Philip Gilmor, Student Senate treasurer, said he is unsure what changes might happen once the semester gets underway.
"We have not talked about it being that Senate is all at summer vacation," he said. "We will definitely be talking about what we're going to do about it the first few weeks."
The Truman community might not fully realize the Star's disappearance until the Collegiate Readership Program bins are stocked again after a summer of emptiness, but Kirksville residents already have dealt with the Star's absence for a month.
Brad Neely, manager of store operations at Hy-Vee, said the store used to stock 20 or 30 copies of the Star each day and would sell most of those. The store will continue to stock the Post-Dispatch, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and the Kirksville Daily Express on a daily basis and will stock the Star as well as The Des Moines Register on Sundays. Despite the change, Neely said he has heard few complaints.
"I think a lot of the people knew what was going on anyway," he said.
The Star cut service to many small towns, including Kirksville, effective June 30. Residents who received daily deliveries to their front doors or picked up a copy of the Star throughout the week at local businesses now only have access to the Sunday edition. The paper also no longer will participate in the Collegiate Readership program on campus where it has been available since the Spring.
Chris Christian, vice president of audience and circulation for the Star, said in an e-mail that stories still are available to read online in an electronic edition that is set up exactly like the printed paper.
"The decision is unfortunately a matter of the expenses continuing to grow while the revenues haven't kept pace," Christian said in the e-mail. "As fuel and newsprint prices continue to soar, it is much more expensive for us to print and deliver a paper today than it has been ever before, and unfortunately we spend more delivering the paper to some areas than we make on the subscription fees."
He said just more than 5,000 customers were affected by the delivery change.
Marty Eisenberg, dean of the residential college program, said he is disappointed that the Star will disappear from the Collegiate Readership Program so soon after its arrival last spring.
"The addition was responding to student requests," he said. "It's a little sad that we had it for one semester and immediately they pulled out of this area."
Eisenberg said USA Today, who runs the Collegiate Readership Program, tried to figure out a way to keep the Star in the program but was unable to do so. He said he thinks students from the Kansas City area will feel the effects of the loss of that paper as they try to keep track of news like election coverage from a standpoint that is local to them.
As it stands, the program will return to offering only the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, USA Today and the New York Times. Junior Philip Gilmor, Student Senate treasurer, said he is unsure what changes might happen once the semester gets underway.
"We have not talked about it being that Senate is all at summer vacation," he said. "We will definitely be talking about what we're going to do about it the first few weeks."
The Truman community might not fully realize the Star's disappearance until the Collegiate Readership Program bins are stocked again after a summer of emptiness, but Kirksville residents already have dealt with the Star's absence for a month.
Brad Neely, manager of store operations at Hy-Vee, said the store used to stock 20 or 30 copies of the Star each day and would sell most of those. The store will continue to stock the Post-Dispatch, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and the Kirksville Daily Express on a daily basis and will stock the Star as well as The Des Moines Register on Sundays. Despite the change, Neely said he has heard few complaints.
"I think a lot of the people knew what was going on anyway," he said.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
John
posted 8/17/08 @ 12:15 PM CST
The Internet is definitely changing the newspaper business and the information delivery process. By the time the Star writes it, prints it, and then delivers it to the hinterlands, it is often old news. (Continued…)
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