If there is one “journalist” currently employed by The Star who embodies the panicked, unprepared and melancholy decline of dead tree media it is columnist Mike Hendricks.
I’ve tried repeatedly to capture his essence with several witty nicknames but I’ve never before seen a Johnson County dweller so completely embody the term: Douche.
Lately, Hendricks has gone off the deep end in the twilight of his career and his actions and e-mails have been far more entertaining than his writing.
Let’s take a look.
Of course we can’t forget that the last time Hendricks reached the national spotlight it was for his supreme arrogance while looking for an entry level PR job. It was tragic and sad and thoroughly entertaining but it was just the beginning of his downward spiral that’s moving at an even faster rate than the decline of his soon-to-be former employer.
Hendricks also has a veggie book he authored with his wife. The book has something to do with gardening which just might be the low point in any other career that wasn’t so embarrassing.
Hey, I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention a dumbass bonfire in his backyard wherein Star coworkers were invited to see a tiny bit of JoCo ablaze in what had to be one of the weirdest gatherings of Kansas City Area newspaper people that didn’t end in mass layoffs.
Believe it or not, it gets worse.
In the latest show of a “journalist” gone mad, Hendricks writes a passionate response to the fact that I caught him swagger jackin me. Check out his missive in a response to a rather smart Bottom Line Communications report noting that his liberal bias in Kansas City’s largest daily paper was jeopardizing an important local charity.
“My only comment is this: To the issue of whether I borrowed someone else’s idea for the Stigall column, I would ask that you check the timestamp on my email to the mayor’s office, which I’ve posted on Prime Buzz. There you’ll see that I was making inquiries about this subject the day before anyone else posted on the topic.
“Unlike some bloggers, some reporting goes into my columns, which means I may not always be the first to stick something up on the Internet. But I feel obligated to offer the subjects of my columns fair notice of my intentions and an opportunity to respond. That takes time. But in my business, it’s called professionalism. Mike Hendricks.”
Leave it to a dead tree Kansas City Star reporter to make a virtue out of getting scooped and being incredibly slow.
So now Hendricks is defending his honor against an Internet attack. I don’t know what he’s going to do for a final act but I’m pretty sure it won’t involve blogging given that he gave up his online efforts because nobody would read his tripe without the benefit major news organization behind him.
Whatever happens we know that Hendricks is sharing the plight of so many Johnson County denizens who might be just a little bit frustrated at the state of their career and job instability during the The Great Recession. I can only hope the rest of the worried workers residing in Golden Ghetto aren’t such insufferable and humorless jerks.
Tony Botello
Rinkydink
shh! no one reads this blog
whatevs
Mike’s last defense.
Brent
How in the world does Mike H still work at the Star? Even for a paper that epitomizes the things that are wrong with todays dead tree new model, he is one that makes it look even worse…
bog
Here’s the deal. Hendricks is bad but relying on people like Tony and Hearne and McTavish for news would be much, much worse.
Not A Fan
Not a fan of Tony or Mike, but what the fuck is Hendricks supposed to reply with?
1. You accuse him of plagiarizing, which I’m going to guess in his business is a pretty serious accusation which you should defend yourself against.
2. When he says “Look at the time stamps.” You mock him for responding to you.
3. You then say he lacks a sense of humor because he defended himself against your accusation.
He’s a complete fucking hack. So what does that make you?
yawn
He
smartman
Goodnight Tonya, goodnight Hearne, goodnight Mike, goodnight Roxie, goodnight John Boy.
Call, fax or email your Senators and Representives and demand immediate deportation of all illegal immigrants.
Kyle Rohde
Tony, for once I gotta agree with Hendricks. He was being an actual journalist and verifying information before publishing it; why don’t you tell us what sources you verified anything with so we can fairly judge?
hearne
Hey Kyle,
FYI, it wasn’t a verification issue. There was no question for the past two weeks that Stigall had the gig. Neither one of these columns were breaking news stories. Hendricks merely wanted to give Funkhouser and/or Stigall the chance to respond to his criticism.
Here’s the deal; when someone is writing an opinion column – like both Hendricks and Tony were – they are not bound to get a response. If a substantial amount of reporting is involved in the column and let’s say specific allegations are made for the first time, it is considered good form in journalism to try to reach and/or get a comment from the subject, ah, taking the hit.
That said, it is still very common for columnists (and bloggers) to tee off on someone or something in the news and air their opinions sans comments. Both approaches are considered legit. You don’t see a lot of comment gathering in the Star’s unsigned editorials. Not in any number of locally and nationally written columns.
Tony doesn’t need to air his sources that Stigall was emceeing the event because there’s a whole PR company full of people (not to mention Stigall) that have been working to get this information out the past three or so weeks. These are merely observations by both writers.
tired to tony
Doesn’t matter BOYCOTT TONY!
Spare Us
Hearne, is Tony not capable of defending himself? Since you’re down to having to answer for him, why not also address Tony’s juvenile perspective and his lack of writing ability?
MasterBlaster
Hearne, is Tony not capable of defending himself? Since you
Hearne Christopher
Now we look into the miserable existence that is Hearne Christoppher. Laid off. Divorced. Cursed with spiky hair.
Harrison Papil
tony calling someone a “Douche”… my irony meter just exploded.