Pioneer Press

Updated: Shortly after the Star Tribune reported that the faith-based Riverview Community Bank had been shut down by the state, we — like others — noticed that the paper’s online report deleted a reference to Mary Kiffmeyer, the former Secretary of State and current state representative who has close ties to the bank.

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.

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.

The rapid devolution of print journalism gets regularly lamented for all the right reasons — among them the losses of investigative voices, institutional memories and checks on the powerful. A less-noted side-effect is cities’ loss of revenue from recycling newsprint.

William Dean Singleton, CEO of Media News, the St. Paul Pioneer Press’ parent company, says online pay models for news are the wave of the future. And in a new interview, he notes that the St. Paul paper is among his most profitable  properties using what he calls the “Media News model.”

I just about spit out my leftover cheese garlic grits while reading today’s coverage of the Kentucky Derby in the Pioneer Press.
The problems start with the byline. The article was apparently written by Mark Blaudschun, of the heretofore unknown “Boston Glove.” Then there’s Join in the Dance, who finished in the middle of the pack, [...]

The Pioneer Press’ Rachel E. Stassen-Berger is Minnesota’s town crier for the disputed U.S. Senate election. On March 21, she marked the 46th anniversary of the final day in the state’s last big recount. Yesterday she called out the time by which Minnesota might get its second senator (five weeks from now, at the earliest). [...]

The Star Tribune may be financially bankrupt but it’s not out of ideas for how to make the news pay. The front page of Sunday’s print edition trumpeted a “Star Tribune Exclusive — only in your Sunday paper.” Indeed, to read the investigative piece about the chaos left by a construction financier’s bankruptcy, you had [...]

There’s been a lot of ridiculous rhetoric spewed regarding Sara Jane Olson — the former Symbionese Liberation Army member who just finished serving a seven year prison sentence. No matter your thoughts on her crimes, the fact that she’ll serve her parole in Minnesota is simply routine bureaucratic procedure. No amount of chest-puffing on the [...]

Former Sen. Norm Coleman in an interview with SIRIUS XM Radio’s Andrew Wilkow raised the specter of chucking the results of the Nov. 4 election to hold a runoff election to decide whether he or Al Franken will be Minnesota’s second senator. But in doing so, he seemed to be confused about the local mediascape:
You [...]