The KC Star needs a few bloggers like Ezra Klein

In today’s aftermath of layoffs at the KC Star, you will not read a paid journalists assessment of the situation nor a discussion about how to fix it. Check out a few city bloggers like Tony Botello and Hearne Christopher and read, if you care, their semi-celebratory pieces about the Star’s eventual demise. These two people are prolific, edgy writers but their “.com” platforms are in competition with the Star. Much of this bantering is about market share and competition.

…yes, there’s no real market anymore…

Move beyond the discussion of why the newspaper suffers. If you’re here reading, you must have some excellent perspectives. If you take the time to comment below, even in an anonymous fashion, welcome to the new journalism. Chances are, there are few younger people of the age of Ezra Klein (26), the Washington Post’s amazing blogger-in-residence. He may be part of your daily RSS feed…RSS feeds: your power to build your own paper daily.

Soon, Ezra Klein will be an app on your iPhone.

This piece may not reach the desks of the owners at McClatchy or be noticed by their investors. Writers and supervisors at the Star cannot, as employees, write openly about their company. Such is the case at any company.

Today, there were layoffs all over America…again. But unlike the silent layoffs, the Star’s dismissed make the news and their names made public. It’s a sad time all around and I don’t subscribe to celebrating loss. But perhaps we can learn from it somehow.

Back to this young writer, Ezra Klein at the Washington Post. He may be someone for the Star to study, not for his leftish political analysis but more for his in-depth examinations and his ability to summarize with keen insights, and even prophetic conclusions. He became a sought-after voice and pen (keyboard, Blackberry?) during the Health Care debates.

Klein gets out to the street and meets people. Modern connectedness allows for plenty of screen research, screen copying, but it also allows for direct posting from the Congressional cloakroom foyer, from the steps of the Capitol, in the taxi to that next interview. That’s Klein’s world.

This is a matter of youth as well. This work takes a great deal of energy.

Right now, in the RSS world of building my own newspaper, I do not feed my daily online news from the Star…yet. But I’d like to.

This is not a time for depth. That’s your job. Build your own newspaper, if you want. All you’ll receive here are screen-size tidbits. Bloggers like Ezra “get in, and get out”. They move on to the next subject, sprint after the next issue and post their latest bright idea at the coffee shop while ordering. If you’re here, you may have something to say. If you’re not here, you’re there…sitting passively in front of the TV, being fed.

You’re a journalist now…visit the Star's website, register, and comment in the blank slate "comment box". Participate in the discussion.