The newspaper needs to find columnists who can provide a strong local connection. Find somebody who can write authoritatively about Joplin sports, whether it be a man or a woman. Find somebody who can write everyday or at least two or three times a week, about stories that concern the Joplin area. Signature columnists build a strong local identity for a newspaper and build readership.
Mike O'Brien and Sarah Overstreet -- great writers, both -- ought to take a break and recharge. Linda Leicht is soft, so soft. And Brian Lewis wastes perfectly good Sunday space. Out of all of 'em, Michael Brothers is the only vibrant local voice in the pages of the News-Leader.
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Forget the weaknesses of The News-Needer's columnists and opinion writers for a second, and focus instead on the even more pathetic state of their basic news product. Or maybe it was just me who felt embarrassed and disappointed by Saturday's edition, topped across the front page with an "inside" story about Roy Blunt...that was written by reporters from the Kansas City Star, and which ran in the Star earlier in the week. It doesn't get much more lazy or ineffectual than that, when the alleged flagship paper of a Congressman's home district has to rely on real journalists employed by a newspaper 200 miles away (in another Congressional district) to dig deep and dissect his rise to power for their readers. The News-Later should OWN the Blunt story; it shouldn't be renting it from out-of-towners. Sad, it is.
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