Allow me to let you in on one of the basic tenets of journalism…
Never dive headfirst into a pool until you make sure there’s enough water in it.
But against probably any number of people’s better judgment that’s exactly what the KC Star did yesterday – in the light of day no less – when it ignored any number of warning signs and rocked with a series of outlandish quotes from an estranged family member of deceased fashion diva Kate Spade.
It all started when said source emailed in a correction after the Star misspelled one of Kate’s nicknames Which then lead to one of the craziest rants I’ve heard in a long time.
Even after one of Spade’s sisters Reta Brosnahan Saffo warned the Star she didn’t want to talk because she’d just taken drugs – a sedative – and was only comfortable communicating by email.
And what an email.
Saffo was all over the map with some of the loopiest shit imaginable.
But instead of taking Saffo’s ridiculous-sounding rants with a boulder of salt, the Star slapped a legitimate-seeming headline on it and handed her off to weepy Star wordsmith Eric Adler.
Goofy as it all sounded, Adler didn’t bother to verify any of Saffo’s outlandish claims with other family members before unleashing one of the biggest piles of yellow journalism I’ve ever seen in the local newspaper.
Fortunately for folks who take their news halfway seriously, lowly People Magazine batted cleanup for the Star to set the record straight with the following headline:
“Kate Spade’s family reportedly ‘disgusted’ with designer’s sister who says suicide ‘wasn’t unexpected.’ “
“As Saffo opened up about her sister’s struggles, she was swiftly called out by Spade’s other family members who reportedly claimed that Saffo has been estranged from Spade for several years,” People reported. ‘The family is disgusted and saddened that at this time of great sorrow, Kate’s sister who has been estranged from the entire family for more than 10 years would choose to surface with unsubstantiated comments,’ a source close to the family told People. “Her statements paint a picture of someone who didn’t know her at all.”
And I can now report as well, that People got it right; the Star got it wrong.
“She’s truly INSANE,” wrote one family member. “She’s a nut job, sadly, and the Star just ran with it. No one in the family has talked to her for years. (The Star) had to know there was something wrong with her ‘story.’ ”
The bottom line: In its desperation to bring something new to the news table, the newspaper ignored its better judgement and ran a cockamamie story that was hurtful to the entire Kate Spade family, not to mention from a source in sore need of a closer examination.
Like I said, you gotta check it.
The KC Star is shit, and has been for a long time now.
thanks for the followup.
Prego
Good work on this HC. National topic that is perfect place for KCC to shine.
Never heard of the lady. Always hate it when people murder themselves.
Please don’t glorify people who commit suicide. They hurt their family and that hurt never goes away.
i WATCHED THE LOCAL NEWS THE DAY THIS HAPPENED AND SURPRISINGLY
THIS STORY WAS NOT THAT BIG ONTHE 10PM NEWS’S.
KATE WAS WORLD FAMOUS…..AND SUICIDE IS GETTING OUT OF HAND
IN AMERICA.
MAYBE HEARNE SHOULD GET SOME UPLIFTING NEWS FOR PEOPLE LIKE
TRUMP RESIGNS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Funny guy….
But uplifting? I don’t want to send the Stomper into a tailspin!