Constant layoffs and a brain drain from local newspapers don’t speak well for the industry’s future.
Pitch Editor C.J. Janovy has called it quits and I can’t say I blame her for wisely jumping ship to a much more secure but far more boring gig as the Director of Communications at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
What does it all mean?
Only dimwit commenters would suggest it’s merely a personal decision that doesn’t have any implications for the local newspaper industry. Obviously, this is a vote of “no confidence” from the Pitch head honcho and says a lot the fate of her dead tree rag and so many others whether she admits it or not.
Let’s start off with a bit of backstory: Did you know that Hearne hired C.J. at the Pitch for her first local big-time writing gig?
It gets even more interesting from there . . .
Her career path bounces all over Kansas City alt. mags and even leads to Denver for a little bit. I hear she started out with nothing more than an unsolicited op-ed piece and that lead to her nearly two decades of on-again, off-again writing of some rather butch articles about all things local. Personally, I always thought her writing was a bit too opinionated and shallow for somebody desperately clinging to the tired old “journalist” moniker. But I hear she can be a nurturing and helpful editor at times and I don’t doubt those first person stories. Contrary to blog lies, I never applied for a job at the Pitch, not only because I’m lazy but also because I just didn’t see myself fitting in at the place. But this closed hipster clique proved to be the perfect place for Janovy to practice her craft and at her peak she was certainly one of the most influential opinion makers in this Cowtown.
Now that she has given up on print media, this suggests some insight into the situation at the Pitch.
It’s one thing when the little rats abandon the ship, but C.J. was a higher up and her departure reveals an insider with little faith in the rag’s future. Remember, she has access to figures, projections and ad rates – the big picture. When the person behind the curtain calls it quits, that says a great deal about the future of the show. C.J. is going with the safe, boring, stable gig with a well-funded institution. And given her history for reporting on controversial subjects I think I’m safe in assuming that this dollars and sense decision offers a glimpse at the writing on the wall from the vantage of this media insider.
Tony Botello
Collective Noses
“I always thought her writing was a bit too opinionated and shallow”
– Hello Pot, meet Kettle.
JayhawkTony
Once again, another so-called “journalist” jumps ship thinking he/she can handle public relations.
ink on paper
the pitch will be electronic only by the end of the year.
newbaum turk
Love the Pitch, hope it stays.
ha ha botello pity party
The Pitch has a bigger problem than your “death of print” genie that mysteriously hasn’t come out of its bottle in THE LAST FIVE YEARS YOU’VE BEEN SAYING IT:
It’s that Ink, The Star’s rival pubby, is eating The Pitch for lunch. And breakfast. And dinner.
However, The Star will be glad to print The Pitch for them.
So pity poor Tony and leave him with his ever-present bottle and his failed dreams of making it on to either of the paper’s staffs.
And leave him with tantalizing articles like The 10 Most Endangered Newspapers in America. That article showed up last year. None of them have folded. None of them are going to fold.
Get used to it.
smartman
More woman than you can handle, more man then you’ll ever be.
just curious
Tony, did CJ ever write or approve any anti- KU Med stories? Just curious. .
craig glazer
As I wrote on this blog, the Pitch got away from ‘hot’ local stories and got into the hip-hop life style, with murder stories(urban ones) and who is the best black DJ stuff..this didn’t help, when their readers never were hip hop.
C.J. was kinda like Dick Nixon, if you were on her I hate you list and and I was, no articles, unless they were negitive on you. You knew who they didn’t like much and they did not cover the movers and shakers much. Yes I was one, cause we got sideways on one story she wrote about my Dad’s mayors campaign and wrote something that was wrong, she had to correct it. That was it for me…oh well.
The Pitch can survive but must be more mainstream with whats going on in the media. I think they are moving in that direction.
Dino
Jesus Glazer….please..please, just stop it.
We don’t care about you.
greg clazer
everyone loves me