The Press: Case Against the Star

"The only justified monopoly," the founder of the Kansas City (Mo.) Star was fond of saying, "is the monopoly of excellence." By trying to practice this maxim advocated by Founder William Rockhill Nelson, the 72-year-old evening Star (circ. 361,226), together with its morning edition, the Times (353,202), has built a monopoly reaching into 96% of all Kansas City homes, and stretching into communities on both the Kansas and the Missouri sides of the Missouri River. Like the county clerk's office, the Star has become such a public institution that it dutifully prints news...

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