Big Question Answered: Strib’s Eric Black to Join Minnesota Monitor and Start a Blog
Tuesday, June 05, 2007 at 7:00 am
- 22 Comments
Just days after he announced he’ll be taking a Star Tribune buyout, veteran reporter and blogger Eric Black can answer a big question about his future — what he’ll be doing next. He’s been hired to blog for Minnesota Monitor and other sites run by its parent organization, the Center for Independent Media, and he’ll be launching his own blog in July.
Black, a 30-year Star Tribune reporter, launched the blog The Big Question in December 2005 and quickly gained a strong following, at one point generating more than 200,000 page views in a single day. In February, he brought on Doug Tice, Star Tribune team leader for politics and government, to blog from a conservative perspective. In an interview Monday, Tice called the blog “a great success” and said that “in terms of bread-and-butter public affairs journalism, it’s by far the most advanced success the paper has in its online service.”
Now Black will be bringing his insights and reporting talent to Minnesota Monitor and its sister sites, Colorado Confidential and the just-launched Iowa Independent. Like Minnesota Monitor’s other bloggers, he’ll operate his own site as well, cross-posting to both.
“Minnesota Monitor is a very promising part of a very promising new model and I’m excited to be joining up,” Black said. “My quest for the next period of my writing life is to seek the sweet spot between traditional journalism and blogging that gets the best combination of the reporting and verification discipline of the old with the energy, immediacy, honesty and candor of the new. MNMON and the rest of the Center for Independent Media’s network is searching for a similar sweet spot. I hope to help them seek it and get my new partners’ help in seeking it myself.”
CIM President David Bennahum sees Black’s hiring as part of a larger trend in journalism — as mainstream papers cut staff, online reporting continues to grow. “Online journalism will be the place that traditional print reporters naturally move to over the course of the next few decades,” he said. “We’re on the cutting edge of this change. Bringing Eric on board is exciting news for the Center for Independent Media and its sites. While there are national blogs who have hired ‘mainstream media’ reporters to write on national issues for its online journalism sites, we believe that our model of local coverage is a first of its kind in the United States.”
Black expressed gratitude to his longtime colleagues at the Star Tribune. “I depart with a million more good memories than bad,” he said. “Many friends and esteemed colleagues are staying with the paper, and I wish them the best heading into a tough period for newspapers in general and the Strib in particular.”
Tice acknowledged the rough road ahead and complimented his colleague.
“We’re losing a lot of great people,” he said, “and many of those losses are regretted around the newsroom and by management — but I think none more than Eric, both because of his professional and personal qualities, but not least because of The Big Question and the success he’s made of it.”
Related: A Big Question Mark
22 Comments
Comment posted June 5, 2007 @ 8:59 am
Smart move That is one huge smart move by Minnesota Monitor.
Comment posted June 5, 2007 @ 10:36 am
Congratulations! This is excellent, excellent news. Eric will be good for you, and you will be good for Eric.
Comment posted June 5, 2007 @ 10:52 am
Good for the MNMon… …because Black IS a great reporter.
But I think it’s interesting that in his interview with Hugh Hewitt last year, Black rankled at the notion of the European model of journalism – where outlets and journalists are up-front about their biases, but otherwise try to report fairly and completely about stories – and defended the putative American model (where all reporters and papers are, or claim to be, “objective”).
I’d be interested in hearing from Black if this move – to an outlet whose reason to exist is overtly and smotheringly partisan – signals a change of heart; did Hugh convince him? :-)
Or is this a pragmatic move (gotta pay the mortgage)?
The world awaits.
Comment posted June 5, 2007 @ 12:45 pm
“overtly and smotheringly partisan”? Say what? Explain, please. Is this site filled with leftwing vitriol? Is the reporting in this story flawed? Coming from you, Berg, this ought to be good.
Comment posted June 5, 2007 @ 4:03 pm
who ordered the leftwing vitriol? “You Can’t Be Anti-Gay and Pro-Family”
Do you really need more examples?
Comment posted June 5, 2007 @ 4:11 pm
well you may teach hate to your family, but there is no way I’d consider that “Pro-Family”
“You Can’t Be Anti-Gay and Pro-Family” is a fully logical and moderate position to take. Hate is not a family value in any book I’ve read.
Comment posted June 5, 2007 @ 4:49 pm
well duh is a fully logical and moderate position to take.
That’s the thing about leftwing vitriol, to left wingers it seems so moderate
Comment posted June 5, 2007 @ 5:09 pm
bonnie rubin Eric Black and I started at the Strib at about the same time (1977) and I always admired his reporting and graceful turn of a phrase. Moreover, I was fortunate enough to have him as a close friend during my eight years there.
Congratulations, Eric, for embracing a new opportunity and landing on your feet at a time when neither is easy…
Bonnie Miller Rubin
Chicago Tribune
Comment posted June 7, 2007 @ 7:14 pm
MBerg hasn’t claimed to be unbiased You miss the glaring difference billt. MBerg has never claimed to be unbiased. The MinnMon “reporters” are most certainly biased, despite how much they claim otherwise.
Comment posted June 9, 2007 @ 11:45 pm
Berg doesn’t do “reporting” – he does rants If you read his blog, Berg rants, he does not report. He also was part of the effort to “punk” Minnesota Monitor.
Fecke put it well when he responded:
“No, for all your griping, my failure as a reporter was trusting a liar, and those who helped him lie. And that is indeed my failure, and one I will learn from. And I will know next time I talk to you, or Andy, or indeed anyone on the right side of the aisle, that the odds you are telling the truth are negligible. Indeed, were I a reader of your blog anymore, that’s the lesson I’d take as well.
I don’t like being lied to, Mitch, but readers like being lied to even less. My apology will be going up on MinMon tomorrow, for passing through your lies as fact. I’ll await your apology, but I won’t expect it.”
The reporters at Minn Mon do not claim to be unbiased, and they do some legitimate reporting. I haven’t seen good investigative reporting by Minnesota Monitor (which is more time consuming to do). I’d hope to see that in the future. Michael Brodkorb – on his one person, MDE also does some reporting on that blog. An example of this is when he covered the Ciressi press conference. He was the only blogger there.
I heard at the GOP State Central Committee that Bill Cooper is interested in helping to finance a right wing version of Minn Mon.
Comment posted June 17, 2007 @ 3:24 pm
So hate really IS a family value for righties like you? Thanks for admitting it!
Comment posted June 5, 2007 @ 3:59 am
Smart move That is one huge smart move by Minnesota Monitor.
Comment posted June 5, 2007 @ 5:36 am
Congratulations! This is excellent, excellent news. Eric will be good for you, and you will be good for Eric.
Comment posted June 5, 2007 @ 5:52 am
Good for the MNMon… …because Black IS a great reporter.
But I think it's interesting that in his interview with Hugh Hewitt last year, Black rankled at the notion of the European model of journalism – where outlets and journalists are up-front about their biases, but otherwise try to report fairly and completely about stories – and defended the putative American model (where all reporters and papers are, or claim to be, “objective”).
I'd be interested in hearing from Black if this move – to an outlet whose reason to exist is overtly and smotheringly partisan – signals a change of heart; did Hugh convince him? :-)
Or is this a pragmatic move (gotta pay the mortgage)?
The world awaits.
Comment posted June 5, 2007 @ 7:45 am
“overtly and smotheringly partisan”? Say what? Explain, please. Is this site filled with leftwing vitriol? Is the reporting in this story flawed? Coming from you, Berg, this ought to be good.
Comment posted June 5, 2007 @ 11:03 am
who ordered the leftwing vitriol? “You Can't Be Anti-Gay and Pro-Family”
Do you really need more examples?
Comment posted June 5, 2007 @ 11:11 am
well you may teach hate to your family, but there is no way I'd consider that “Pro-Family”
“You Can't Be Anti-Gay and Pro-Family” is a fully logical and moderate position to take. Hate is not a family value in any book I've read.
Comment posted June 5, 2007 @ 11:49 am
well duh is a fully logical and moderate position to take.
That's the thing about leftwing vitriol, to left wingers it seems so moderate
Comment posted June 5, 2007 @ 12:09 pm
bonnie rubin Eric Black and I started at the Strib at about the same time (1977) and I always admired his reporting and graceful turn of a phrase. Moreover, I was fortunate enough to have him as a close friend during my eight years there.
Congratulations, Eric, for embracing a new opportunity and landing on your feet at a time when neither is easy…
Bonnie Miller Rubin
Chicago Tribune
Comment posted June 7, 2007 @ 2:14 pm
MBerg hasn't claimed to be unbiased You miss the glaring difference billt. MBerg has never claimed to be unbiased. The MinnMon “reporters” are most certainly biased, despite how much they claim otherwise.
Comment posted June 9, 2007 @ 6:45 pm
Berg doesn't do “reporting” – he does rants If you read his blog, Berg rants, he does not report. He also was part of the effort to “punk” Minnesota Monitor.
Fecke put it well when he responded:
“No, for all your griping, my failure as a reporter was trusting a liar, and those who helped him lie. And that is indeed my failure, and one I will learn from. And I will know next time I talk to you, or Andy, or indeed anyone on the right side of the aisle, that the odds you are telling the truth are negligible. Indeed, were I a reader of your blog anymore, that's the lesson I'd take as well.
I don't like being lied to, Mitch, but readers like being lied to even less. My apology will be going up on MinMon tomorrow, for passing through your lies as fact. I'll await your apology, but I won't expect it.”
The reporters at Minn Mon do not claim to be unbiased, and they do some legitimate reporting. I haven't seen good investigative reporting by Minnesota Monitor (which is more time consuming to do). I'd hope to see that in the future. Michael Brodkorb – on his one person, MDE also does some reporting on that blog. An example of this is when he covered the Ciressi press conference. He was the only blogger there.
I heard at the GOP State Central Committee that Bill Cooper is interested in helping to finance a right wing version of Minn Mon.
Comment posted June 17, 2007 @ 10:24 am
So hate really IS a family value for righties like you? Thanks for admitting it!
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