Ridder Makes 2007 “Weird News” and “Civic Villains” Lists

It was an “unsettling and downright bizarre” year in the newspaper industry, writes Editor & Publisher’s Mark Fitzgerald. Along with the likes of Maury Povich (who, with wife Connie Chung, started a paper in their Montana town) and Conrad Black (the Canadian media mogul jailed on fraud charges) on Fitzgerald’s Top Six Weird Newspaper Stories of the Year is our own Par Ridder, also a recent nominee as “top civic villain” by The Daily Mole.

Headlined “Par Ridder’s Memo To Self: Try Really Hard To Look Like A Moron,” Fitzgerald says the ethically challenged former Star Tribune publisher starred in the tale of “another rich kid gone weird”:

In a jaw-dropping sequence of events, Par quit as publisher of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, which MediaNews had acquired when Knight Ridder was sold off while being run by his father, Tony Ridder. In violation of a non-compete agreement he later said he had been released from, Par not only hopped across the river to join the rival Minneapolis Star Tribune, but he recruited some other top Pioneer Press executives, and allegedly shared the confidential contents of his Pi-Press laptop with his new Strib colleagues.

It was big enough story that Joe Strupp ranked its fifth on his list. Measured by sheer weirdness, though, the goings on in the Twin Cities clearly earned the number one position on my list.

There’s so much nuttiness you don’t know where to start. There was Par’s testimony that when he pledged, on his way out the door, not to poach any PiPress executives, he meant that he would not try to lure anyone away THAT DAY. And then there was his response to the Pioneer Press’ demands that he immediately return a computer hard drive loaded with confidential business information. Par claimed that he thought they were just mad he had taken a $50 hard drive, and offered to buy them a new one.

But nothing topped the strange notes to himself that emerged as evidence in the MediaNews Group lawsuit.

Apparently he meant to prepare himself for the inevitable media inquiries when he left the Pioneer Press for what he cleverly called “X newspaper.”

Suppose, Par must have been thinking, someone asks me what my interests are, or they want a little up-close and personal anectdote. (All quotes are untouched by a copy editor, just like the original.)

“What are your interests

–”I make time to read 4 papers a day
–”I have 3 kids.
–”I love to run. I go to the gym or run every day.
–”Work takes a lot of hours

“OR

–”I met my wife at math camp, one struck out at band camp.
–”On Friday nights I like watching almanac … live
–”We’re raising three little newspaper readers.”

Or suppose The Wall Street Journal wanted to know about his business philosophy:

“How do you get change? In order to get EE engagement you need transparency. You need to treat them like adults and kill the parent/child relationship.”

Yikes, calling Dr. Freud! Stat!

And then, finally, there’s some simply inexplicable Deep Thoughts:

“Low point
Emily, cord, stop reading romenesko”

“High point
Staying in the Twin Cities”

So true, Par, so true.