Search Results for: mike fannin
Hearne: Back to the Movies w/ ‘TENET’ + Star Editor Mike Fannin
Let’s see, do I embarrass myself or… Oh, what the heck. After all, slime ball Kansas City Star editor Mike Fannin didn’t mind laying down a phony “tear jerker” about how his mom came to visit and the whole family … Continue reading
Posted in Hearne_Christopher
5 Comments
Hearne: KCC Reader Rides to Star Honcho Mike Fannin’s Defense
Remember when “all” used to be fair in love and war? Less so today, suggests reader Rick McCullough, who says the editor of the Kansas City Star, Mike Fannin deserves a pass based on his checkered resume, because of – wait for … Continue reading
Hearne: What Do George Brett, Bob Dole, Huckleberry Hound & Mike Fannin Have in Common?
It ain’t easy being a daily newspaper… Not around these parts. Editor Mike Fannin’s recent column pleading with locals to subscribe to the Kansas City Star got me thinking. With paid readership fading fast, online advertising producing a fraction of the dough … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
6 Comments
Hearne: Add Two DUI Convictions to Star Editor Mike Fannin’s Resume
And another one gone, and another one gone, another one bites the dust….
To the dramatic slagheap of startling revelations and allegations about Kansas City Star editor Mike Fannin unfolding over the past week, add the following:
A pair of DUI convictions, two days of slam time and three days of house arrest.
That according to Wyandotte County District Court digital records.
On April 8, 2006, court documents say, one Michael C. Fannin did operate his vehicle “while driving under the influence of alcohol” at an alleged speed of 74 miles-per-hour in a 55 mph zone, on Continue reading
Today: The Case of the Uncorrected Error & the Mike Hendricks/ Derek Donovan Tap Dance
It’s like this…
Unhappy with how the Kansas City Star blithely presented the results of a recent study about the smoking ban having no measurable effect on bars and restaurants, KC Business Rights Coalition head Bill Nigro took it to the next level.
"I called up Jessie Barker, the editor of the reporter who wrote the story," Nigro says. "And I told him all I got was like two sentences in there about making people go outside like animals to smoke and how now people werre outside drunk and unattended to."
Nigro’s quotes were accurate, but were asides in a 20 minute presentation citing examples of small businesses hurt by the ban.
Long story short, the editor agreed to have columnist Mike Hendricks call him and do a followup story.
Here’s where it gets ugly…
Tony: Mark Zieman Confronts Contradictions Amid Fannin/Whitlock Kerfuffle
For the record, I think the most damning allegation against Kansas City Star Editor Mike Fannin was a sordid tale of non-sexual man kissing that not even the media allowed Jason Whitlock to complete.
For this social faux pas noted by Whitlock, I’m pretty sure the only “punishment” required is a weekend pass to one of those “Iron John” seminars where middle-aged men partake in primal scream therapy and complain about their fathers.
However, among newsies at the Star there are a great many complaints about more serious stuff starting with a list of Fannin’s wrongs on KCC that directly call for a judgment from Kansas City Star Publisher Mark Zieman.
Unfortunately, Zieman doesn’t exactly have the moral high ground when it comes to personnel issues. Let’s examine why, shall we?
Continue reading
Hearne: Jason Whitlock Gets His You-Know-What in a Racism/Sexism Ringer
From the penthouse to the you-know-what house in two short years…
When former Star sports columnist Jason Whitlock imploded his way out of Kansas City two years back, he went out in style. Kinda. By taking a huge public dump on the local newspaper and outing his boss – Star editor Mike Fannin – for allegedly dipping his pen in the company ink.
Nevermind that few at the Star disagreed.
Today: Justice Was Served; The Sad Sum Up in the Death of Brian Euston
Kudos to Star reporter Mark Morris for his reporting on the Brian Euston trial…
From the get-go coverage of this case was canted towards the deserved sympathy for Euston’s grieving family. It wasn’t their fault their son had been recklessly drunk and obnoxious at the exact wrong time in the exact wrong place. Having consumed nearly five times the legal limit of booze to drive, Euston had managed to navigate himself into harm’s way where he got in Stanford Griswold and his girlfriend’s faces resulting in him getting a punch to the mouth.
However instead of a fat lip and a hangover – as Griswold’s lawyer said in the trial – because of Euston’s being "massively intoxicated" (as Morris describes him), he fell backward, hit his head on the curb and later died.
Very sad, but let’s get back to Griswold…
There’s little doubt that because of TV news coverage, sympathy for the family and that Griswold was black and Euston white, the court of public opinion was stacked against Griswold. It didn’t help that he had an assault conviction, but heck, so does Star editor Mike Fannin.
Now let’s cut to the chase…
Hearne: And the New Publisher of the Kansas City Star is…
From the Idaho Statesman – the Idaho Statesman? – Mi-Ai Parrish!
That’s right. Forget about the dude part. Blessed mother of god, they hired a hottie!
The $64 million question: will touchy-feely Star editor Mike Fannin be able to resist keeping his mitts off of her?
Hearne: KC Star Sportsbabe 68 Lands New Job, Jettisons Former ‘Friends’
Turns out there is life after the Kansas City Star...
Even for folks who leave under a cloud. Take the case of former sports editor Holly Lawton aka Sportsbabe 68 on Twitter. Lawton’s sudden and unexplained resignation from the newspaper last summer went down amidst a growing controversy that culminated with sports scribe Jason Whitlock leaving the paper.
But not before Whitlock made it perfectly clear in a radio and television interview that he and other Star staffers were convinced Lawton and bad boy Star editor Mike Fannin were involved in an "inappropriate relationship."
Lawton’s abrupt bailing from a high dollar position at the Star to go job hunting in the worst recession in decades added to the mystery.
Turns out Sportsbabe 68 is staying in sports.
Kinda. She’s landed a job at ad agency VML, her Facebook page says.
Hearne: Sports Babe 68 Flees the Scene at 18th & Grand
Just like that, now former Kansas City Star sports editor Holly Lawton has quietly left the newspaper.
"The new guy came in right after Christmas and Holly stayed for a week," says a source. "So she was here last week but not this."
Lawton – whose Twitter name was Sports Babe 68 – was widely believed by Star staffers to have been romantically involved with her boss, Star editor (and former sports section head) Mike Fannin. A belief aired publicly last summer by departing Star sports scribe Jason Whitlock.
Glazer: Jason’s Whitlock’s Fantasy Paycheck
Well sports fans, the time has come to face up to the truth...
Jason Whitlock’s radio and television interview about making $2.1 million was basically untrue. Yes, the stuff about the Kansas City Star likely was for real. But the Star took no action against its editor who in the end effectively dumped Jason. So the editoir’s bad acts were basically kicked to the curb. Undoubtedly Star editor Mike Fannin has been under the gun, however no for-public-consumption action has been,taken to this point.
610 Sports host Nick Wright‘s long interview with Jason late last summerwas watchedand/or lsitened to by thousands of KC sports fans.
What we were left with was that Jason quit due to poor treatment and he was going to make big time bank with Fox Sports.
Hearne: Star Layoffs/Cutbacks Today, This Week?
More cutbacks, layoffs and/or unpaid furloughs are expected at the Kansas City Star...
Possibly this week. Since the layoffs tend to come at the beginning of pay periods, one of which starts this week. The Labor Day holiday threw things off by at least one day, since Monday was a holiday.
KC Confidential first reported rumors of more layoffs last month on August 10.
Interestingly, embattled Star editor Mike Fannin was MIA all last week. Continue reading
Hearne: Star Editor Missing in Action as Layoffs Loom
Will Kansas City Star editor Mike Fannin live to tell the story?
First Fannin took a three-hour radio and cable TV drubbing at the hands of former sports scribe Jason Whitlock. Whitlock painted a picture of Fannin as a party boy who had been having an “inappropriate relationship” with his immediate subordinate, Star sports editor Holly Lawton (a.k.a. sportsbabe68 on Twitter).
Coincidentally, Lawton abruptly resigned just prior to the three-month Whitlock “vacation” saga reaching full boil. Continue reading
Hearne: Will Whitlock’s Stunning Expose Cost Star Editor His Job?
Should Kansas City Star publisher Mark Zieman have taken embattled editor Mike Fannin’s advice two years ago to not hire him?
Statements about Fannin made Friday on local radio and television by recently resigned Continue reading
Rumors of More Layoffs at Kansas City Star on the Rise
For weeks the scuttlebutt at the Kansas City Star was that more layoffs were on the way, possibly in January…
And now that the time has come the talk in the newsroom is that the cuts will be involuntary and involve as many as seven journalists.
You may recall last summer that Star editor Mike Fannin came roaring back into the office in the middle of his vacation to work out the terms for what was thought by newsies would be a major round of involuntary cuts. Instead the Star implemented a voluntary separation program and dinged staffers with mandatory unpaid one week furloughs.
The plan: “..to put Continue reading
Hearne on the Street: Star to Shrink Paychecks, Paper?
[caption id="attachment_700" align="aligncenter" width="495" caption="No that's not me down there in the bunny suit, and no that's not Star editor Mike Fannin manning the scythe"]
[/caption]
[/caption]
It’s a jungle out there…
Doesn’t matter where you work, but for my former stablemates at the Kansas City Star, the hand wringing doesn’t get much worse. The entire newsroom was braced for a blood curdling Friday the 13th chainsaw paycheck massacre.
Never happened.
That said, the timing was right as Friday was pay day and past Continue reading
Hearne: Times, Ethics Have Changed at KC Star
It’s been forever since I’ve laid waste to the KC Star… After my arguably storied career there, I spent considerable time pointing out its many deficiencies. Then again, it’s not like I didn’t launch my public writing career at The … Continue reading
Posted in Hearne_Christopher, Uncategorized
5 Comments
Hearne: Tale of Two Cities Dying Newspapers
Thumbing through Wednesday’s Arizona Republic I found myself a bit stunned… For starters, the Republic is based in Phoenix which is five times the size of Tucson and more than double Greater Kansas City. And that kinda math matters. That … Continue reading
Posted in Hearne_Christopher
8 Comments
Hearne: KC Homecoming, Tourism Scrum
Guess who’s coming to dinner, for the first time in two years? You got it…moi! I’ll be driving my tricked-out 2020 Honda Civic Si there in a couple days. So save a little snow and ice for me, will ya? As I … Continue reading
Posted in Hearne_Christopher
16 Comments
