"We get compliments from readers who appreciate what we're doing and criticisms from racists who don't. Some call us the Black Star. Those are calls I'm happy to get."
Mark Zieman, editor (now publisher), Kansas City Star Columbia Journalism Review, May 1998
The KC Star is accused of sticker racism.
SUMMARY: Maybe it will now be known as "Sticker Racism," but the Kansas City Star's Readers' Representative Derek Donovan was compelled to respond to charges that his newspaper was racist for putting an advertising sticker that covered part of a front-page photo of Barack Obama. 06-05-2008
The newsroom doesn't know when sticky-note ads are coming I've already heard from several readers this morning who are upset at a sticky-note ad at the top of Page A-1 of today's paper. The ad covers a photo of Barack Obama at the top of the page in some papers (though I'm sure not all, as the photo is slightly to the left of the center line, where the ads are supposed to be placed). Look -- I understand people who object to the sticky ads in general, though they're also very popular with a lot of advertisers. However, I have to say that I'm awfully frustrated -- and saddened, really -- by the accusation of racism in this case, by several readers who have alleged The Star did it on purpose to obscure Obama's picture. The Star has been placing sticky-note ads since 2003, and they're widely used in the newspaper industry these days. The newsroom, which is the sole entity responsible for the content of Page A-1, has absolutely no idea when a sticky note will be coming the next day. And in fact, most of the stickies run in only part of the metropolitan area. The city is divided into ten advertising "zones," and advertisers can choose to run their ads in any number of them. The top of Page A-1 is the most prime piece of real estate in the whole paper. A lot of people -- some in the newsroom included -- don't like the ads. But advertisers find them effective, and the whole idea behind them is that they're meant to be removed. Again, I understand some readers object to them. But going to racism here -- when Barack Obama has appeared on Page A-1 in over 180 stories and photos in the last two years alone -- is really an enormous stretch. Again, the editors who designed the page were as surprised as anyone to see the sticker this morning.
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