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 it – Ernest Hemingway!

That’s right, in response to my column noting that Fannin – had recently been promoted to president (the current equivalent of publisher) at KC’s newspaper 0f record.

To be fair, perhaps it is a bit prudish of me to hold Fannin accountable for indiscretions ranging from assault, multiple DUIs and what passes for sexual harassment…as in having an affair with a married subordinate who worked directly under him (don’t take that the wrong way, unless you want to) in the Star’s sports department and left, divorce bound, under a cloud

So here’s Rick’s take  on Fannin, as offered up for KCC’s comments section:

“Unless someone was killed or seriously hurt, two DUI’s should not be a disqualifier. He’s a newspaper man, not a school bus driver or airline pilot. Think Hemmingway (sic) was a tee-totaler when he briefly worked at the paper? Or is that just another historical footnote.

The affair is fair game.”

Interesting take, Rick…

Maybe it’s me, but anybody else out there think of Fannin as the Ernest Hemingway type?

And yes, Hemingway’s brief, six month turn at the Star at age 17 was little more than a “historical footnote.”

Still, I’m gonna inch out on a limb here and play devil’s advocate.

For starters Papa – as Hemingway liked to be called – was barely a cub reporter during his six months at the Star.  More to the point, in history he’s remembered more as a war correspondent and novelist.

Unlike Fannin, a sports dude who shimmied his way up the corporate ladder, inching his way into a position that no way Knight Ridder management would have elevated him. And incidentally, that’s from the horse’s mouth.

As for Fannin not driving a school bus – or piloting a puddle jumper – the way things are going at the newspaper, those twin DUI convictions could prove problematic where his future career path is concerned.

I won’t bore you or bog you down with other unseemly Fannin details.

The bottom line, as I see it:

Being the publisher/president of a respected organization such as the Star (used to be, anyway), is something held in high regard by civic leaders, politicians, persons of note and the general public.

Jim Hale and Art Brisbane, for example.

Zieman was a big step down from the aforementioned, and Fannin much worse.

So yeah, we live in a different world journalistically – even by far looser, columnist standards. And it would be one thing if Fannin and McClatchy had made some decisive, imaginative moves and improvements, rather than continuing a pattern of over promising and under delivering. While serving up basically the same-old, same-old.

Which leaves readers stuck with an uninspiring leader, force feeding daily doses of Donald Trump and Republicans suck stories, to people who mostly just want to stay abreast of local news.