Media Monitor

U.S. Rep. John Kline knows his buttons. As a Marine, he stayed at the side of Presidents Reagan and Carter, carrying the satchel known as the “nuclear football” that holds the how-to kit for pressing the most fearsome button of all. Now he’s once again the go-to guy, carrying the ball for Republicans who want [...]

Community papers can’t catch a break: As the Minneapolis paper formerly known at The Bridge shuts down — even, apparently, online — a paper that stopped publishing two years finds itself on the receiving end of a lawsuit. Also, to sidestep mayhem at health care forums, local social media experts are trying a more civil exchange online.

Word is Martha Stewart is calling up the Twine Museum in Darwin, Minn., to express interest in our fair state’s world-record, 9-ton twineball. Plus, Power Line swipes Tomorrow, a graphic designer visually rebuts GOP “obfuscation,” and more.

As a bankruptcy court gives the nod for the Star Tribune’s reorganization plan — which will lighten the paper’s debt load and shuffle its board — the paper lures Pioneer Press political reporter Rachel Stassen-Berger across the river. This, plus a possibly Freudian typo, inside.

As Business North looks at the Twin Cities’ model for nonprofit news, Chipotle teams up with Minneapolis’ River Road Entertainment and Magnolia Pictures to offer a free screening of the documentary Food, Inc. Plus: a new 9 p.m. newscast comes to town.

As Campbell Mithun picks up a coveted Silver Pencil at New York’s One Show, a group of 27 ad agencies are collaborating to rebrand Minneapolis as a the “City of Advertising.” Plus, the local angle on the Times’ story on missing Somali youth.

Minnesota Public Radio rolls out its new integrated news page under the MPRnewsQ brand, prompting questions about the “Q.” Former KARE anchor Rick Kupchella launches a healthcare reform PR project, with a key Republican as his partner. And Fargo’s Roxana Saberi calls for the release of her former cellmate in Iran.

Identical shots of Sunday’s implosion of Minneapolis’ Lowry Avenue bridge grace the covers of both dailies… just a day before both papers run the same New York Times story on Iran on their covers. Plus, Fargo’s Roxana Saberi inks a book deal, and the Examiner(s) examined, inside.

With finalists for the Pulitzer Prizes being announced today, local contenders MnIndy and MinnPost wait with bated breath. And the weekly American Jewish World, hit by the downturn in print news advertising, switches to biweekly production. This and more inside.

A week after losing his KSTP AM show, Dave Thompson is throwing his hat in the ring to become state GOP chair. Chris Cillizza’s best-state-based blogs list came out at the Washington Post today, and Minnesota has more featured blogs than any other state. And a traffic milestone for MinnPost. All this, plus some naughty humor from Roger Ebert, inside.