Ms. Pennington, last week, your paper laid off Eric Mink. When he was your paper’s radio and television critic, he was regarded by many in the broadcast and newspaper industry as one of the top 5 critics in the country.

His columns were “must read.” It’s pretty obvious how much clout he had when Sue Kawalerski called him a mean spirited little man. Eric really dialed into what listeners and viewers were thinking and wanting to know.

Now we’re reduced to you writing about Larry Connors taking time off, the reason why he’s off, and his hairline. No wonder business at the paper is bad. No one in the business has ever told me your articles are must read like Eric’s. It’s because what you write has little bite or impact.

Truthfully, items like this are embarassing. There’s a better way to make a living in journalism.

Yet you read it, Scott.

Wow…I just read someone’s comments about how the tv and radio critic was a “must read.” That’s just sad. With all that is going wrong with our economy and with our country and other countries at war the tv and radio critic was a must read? Let’s put things into perspective here and realize that this section of the paper/website is entertainment and moreover is a blog. This particular journalist commented on the return of a fixture on St. Louis television news that many people had questioned where he had gone. This wasn’t the first time she wrote about him…she’s just following up on a story from few days ago. I guess the lesson to be learned…lighten up a bit. Also, I’ve yet to find a critic that has ANY impact at all on anything that affects my overall daily life with any significance. This isn’t said to offend Ms. Pennington because her insight into the television arena always serves its purpose for me…entertainment.

Scott you are way off base. This is a blog. People care becasue they watch Larry everyday and consider him a small part of their daily activities. Gail I bet you got more clicks for your Larry Connors blog then your Breaking Bad blog. Scott your comments on stltoday are usually off base but this one is completely wrong.

Haha, I was just converting old home video from VHS to DVD last night, and one of the tapes was of a KMOV newscast probably 20 years ago or more with Julius and Larry, and they both had full heads of dark hair.

Scott Simon is a troll by every definition of the word!

Larry Conners being out and returning with a new “look” is a TV news item like it or not. That is because he is a public figure. You would be asking Gail why she ignored his baldness if she didn’t mention it.

It is not really a large news item, even in broadcasting. Eric Mink was a must read when he was a Radio/TV critic back in the 1980’s. He was highly regarded enough that he went to New York to work for the Daily News for several years before returning to St. Louis.

It is sad that we don’t have insightful coverage of the media in this market by the only daily newspaper. I doubt that it is really the columnist’s fault. Blame the editors and Lee enterprises and prior to them Pulitizer.

Those entities have made the decisions to shrink the daily paper, dumb it down and change the focus of coverage. My guess is they made those decisions because the market has changed (read internet, 24-hour cable news channels, etc.).

I wonder what would happen if the content level raised just a little? Would there possibly be more readers and more advertisers? Am I dreaming? Maybe.

Scott be nice your comments are not appreciated. You are usually wrong but today you are super wrong. Just leave Gail alone, she does an excellent job.

Eric Mink was let go from the Post-Dispatch?! Are you kidding?! I hadn’t heard that.

I WAS going to cancel my subscription - now I’ll have to reconsider! There IS hope at that fabled institution on Tucker Boulevard!

I’ll bite: What are the definitions of “troll”? Would they include, for example, “a person who hijacks discussions to launch personal attacks”?