Media Monitor: May 23

Strib, then and now: “Then: national news. Now: guns and babies.” That’s how Tim Girhing summed up a comparison of five days’ worth of Star Tribune front pages with those printed on the same days a decade ago.
His findings, published in Minnesota Monthly, include a switch to question-based headlines (15 now, two then), fewer front-page national news stories (six now, 17 then), and a tenfold spike in consumer news.

Don Shelby on art appreciation: According to WCCO anchor Don Shelby, when visitors to contemporary art museums see abstract paintings by artists like Mark Rothko, they remark “I could paint that,” reports the anonymous writer of the Minnesota Daily column “Holla Backlash.” Whereas, when visitors look at art at the Uptown Art Fair, Shelby says, “Nobody walks by a Conquistador or Elvis painted on black velvet and says, ‘I could do that.’” Adding insult to injury, Shelby then went on to make his own painting — in five minutes — and sold it for more than $1,200, with proceeds going to charity.

No work, but pay’s OK: While she can’t start work for the Star Tribune, former Pioneer Press executive Jennifer Parratt can take home a salary, a judge ruled Monday. Parratt, like boss Par Ridder, is accused of breaking a non-compete agreement with the Pioneer Press that barred her from taking a job like her Strib position for one year.

Health journalism survey: The four-year-old University of Minnesota’s Health Journalism master’s program is looking for opinions from journalists, writes the Star Tribune Guild. For journalists only, the survey will be used to help improve the program.

North News on Pulse: As the Star Tribune focuses on renewed local reporting, one of the publishers already on that turf sounds off. Kerry Ashmore of the Minneapolis community papers North News and the Northeaster laments the demise of the alt-weekly Pulse. “[W]e worry that the competition for weekly readers between City Pages and the Star Tribune (Vita.Mn) isn’t the kind of competition that’s likely to provide the greatest benefit to Twin Cities residents,” Whitmore writes. “Both are owned by very large (compared with Pulse) corporations; and in large corporations, readers tend to take a seat far behind shareholders and management when the corporations’s resources are allocated. Papers such as Pulse and the one you are holding  [...] are able to stay closer to clients and readers and respond quickly to their concerns. Pulse’s demise means we have one fewer non-corporate voice out there, and that can’t be a good thing.”

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