More on 35W Media — and a KSTP Firing

Who’s to blame? As Eric Black writes, blame is the game on both sides of the aisle as Republicans accuse Democrats of politicizing the 35W collapse. Star Tribune columnist Nick Coleman‘s comments generated the most heat. “Both political parties have tried to govern on the cheap,” he wrote, “and both have dithered and dallied and spent public wealth on stadiums while scrimping on the basics.”

But other voices are either countering or concurring with his stance. Mpls.St.Paul magazine’s Adam Platt writes, “This gang that is running the state is simply contemptuous of government, period. Their modus operandi is to starve government of all but its core function of public safety, on the premise that the public sector uses its taxing power irresponsibly, largely to redistribute income from those who work to those who don’t.” A Pioneer Press editorial, on the other hand, states, “[W]e do not accept the idea that Pawlenty and the no-new-taxes Republicans are to blame. The governor never denied that more transportation spending is needed. He favored borrowing over new taxes.”

On Fox News conservative William Kristol seemed to blame no one by characterizing the collapse — as James “Sometimes Things Fall Down” Lileks did — as just a fluke: “I don’t think this symbolizes any great failure of our infrastructure. Once every 25 years some bridge falls down unexpectedly due to engineering problems, and it is unfortunate, obviously, but the idea that the whole country is crumbling is not, I think, credible.”

You can guess who the Rev. Fred “God Hates Fags” Phelps blames.

Bridge down, traffic up: As the Twin Cities dailies report record web traffic in the days following the collapse, national media, too, is announcing a surge in site traffic. MSNBC says it had one of its highest traffic days on Thursday, logging 82 million page views and 11 million video downloads. And in case you forgot how focused the media was on the Twin Cities, here are the covers of the top 50 American papers on August 2.

Media Monitor continues…Former editor injured: According to Editor & Publisher, the former managing editor of the Faribault, Minn., Daily News was injured in the 35W collapse and is in critical condition. Minnetonka resident Garrett Ebling, 32, broke his leg and bones in his face and suffers from internal injuries.

Understatement: The headline of an AP story that ran in the Albuquerque Tribune: “Minneapolis bridge collapse bad timing for victims.”

Berg booted at KSTP: “Fresh from critical acclaim for its around-the-clock coverage of the I-35W bridge disaster, KSTP-TV fired news director Chris Berg today,” just as The Rake’s Brian Lambert predicted.

Got a tip for Media Monitor? E-mail us your media news.