The Missouri Political News Service would like to thank the Jurassic decision makers over at the Kansas City Star for discontinuing theirfree K.C. Buzz blog last week. Not only are you one less blog for us to compete with to a broader audience, but you also demonstrate like “Baghdad” Tony Messenger, that you really have no clue on how the new media really operates. Hey Tony, another smell the coffee moment for you. Here’s an excerpt from an article detailing the pending layoffs and resignation of the managing editor of theSan Francisco Chronicle:

Rosenthal’s departure comes two weeks after the Chronicle announced a 25 percent reduction in newsroom staff, affecting all levels of editorial employees.

Management told the union it plans to eliminate 80 union and 20 management positions, out of a newsroom staff of about 400, unless the cuts could be made through buyouts and retirement incentives within 30 days.

Publisher Frank Vega said the measure was part of “continuing belt-tightening” to stem financial losses at the paper, which like other newspapers across the country is grappling with plunging print readership and the loss of advertising dollars to the Web.

We have two question for the decision makers at the KC Star. One, with Fired Up Missouri, The Missouri Pulse, The Source, Pub Def, and MOPNS – all blogs with access to inside information and operatives – why on Earth would readers pay a subscription fee to Prime Buzz, when they can get basically the same information from us for free? And two, how do you expect to increase your web advertising revenue, which is based on readership, when you’re limiting access? Very few websites make money from subscriptions, it is not the best business model for the Internet- information is too readily available. You make money with the advertising revenue generated by your site’s popularity. But who are we, we’re just bloggers.

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