If you’ve tried to read the newspaper’s Web site, KansasCity.com, in the last week then you know something is different. Starting Oct. 2, KansasCity.com began requiring users to register in order to see news, features, opinion, sports and other non-advertising content.
If you choose not to register, you still can see the home page, classifieds, Cars.com, CareerBuilder, real estate or the shopping services. But because many people call up KansasCity.com for The Star’s breaking news, traffic and sports, this change is a big one.
Even Star employees have to register. On Oct. 2, I tried to view a national news story and was met with the login page. Oh, bother, I thought, and many of you will, too. However, it’s free, fast and painless, and soon I was surfing along. You shouldn’t have to log in more than once a day. If you are having trouble, it might be your Internet browser. KansasCity.com’s customer service representatives might be able to help. You can reach them at (816) 234-7900.
It’s a brief process. You’re asked for an e-mail address and a password you want to use. Then you must include your name, address, gender, year of birth and subscription preferences. You might balk at providing some personal information, but the folks at KansasCity.com have put a privacy notice high on the page, which tells users: We never share your personal information with third parties without your explicit permission. You won’t receive communication from anyone other than KansasCity.com or The Kansas City Star as a result of registering with us.
To read the Dallas Morning News, you have to click through two pages. And the Los Angeles Times requires you to provide your income information. Ouch. That’s a little private, isn’t it? The New York Times doesn’t ask for personal information, such as address or even your name, but you must provide an income range and job title.The Star is the first of Knight Ridder’s largest newspapers to go to free registration, followed soon by the Charlotte Observer. The other larger papers will include the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Miami Herald and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Those newspapers are not scheduled for this year, however.
Is it worth the registration? If you are a newbie to the Internet, you’ll probably find it inconvenient. More experienced surfers know that registering for sites is becoming more and more common. And the technically savvy will spend their time trying to get around the registration. If you choose not to register, you can always pick up a copy of the paper. But using many of KansasCity.com’s tools, such as the searchable archive and links to other Web sites, may be worth it to you.
Apparently many of you think so. Since Oct. 2, more than 40,000 users have signed up. I’m taking the time to write about the Web site because in addition to being readers’ representative for The Star, I’m also a representative for readers of KansasCity.com. It makes sense as more daily newspapers operate Web sites, the content on their sites must be held accountable to the same reader concerns as in their printed products.
The Web site of the American Journalism Review lists links to 1,024 daily newspaper sites, and 1,179 non-daily newspaper sites. Many of the sites simply republish material from their papers. But many also include original material, either editorial or advertising. A question arises: Who is vetting concerns about what is online?
This is important. And it means more than confirming your frustrations about why the Web seems so slow at noon on a weekday, or why a page won’t load.
For technical help, calling KansasCity.com’s customer service line is the best bet. When it comes to content, write or call me and the readers’ representative team.
Beginning today, there will be link to a readers’ representative page on the home page (go to KansasCity.com and look in the left-hand column under news). On this page will be an FAQ (frequently asked questions) and an archive of past columns. There will also be a feedback link for you to more easily ask questions.
When announcing my position last summer to The Star’s newsroom staff, editor Mark Zieman wrote, And through a more visible presence on our Web site, (Walker) can take on the additional responsibility of representing users of our online content.
According to Star studies, more than a million adults in the 11-county Kansas City metropolitan statistical area have Internet access for their personal use that’s 77 percent of KC adults. KansasCity.com is the most-used local news Web source, according to the leading Internet media usage tracking services.
I’ll deal with more online issues in upcoming columns, such as how advertising affects online content, the increase in breaking news, efforts to post more up-to-date sports scores and information, etc.
