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Star Tribune scrubs Kiffmeyer’s name from stories on faith-based bank closure

By Paul Schmelzer | 10.26.09 | 12:35 pm

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.

Media Monitor: Defunct community paper sued; health care forum goes online

By Paul Schmelzer | 08.12.09 | 11:40 am

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.

Media Monitor: Seeing double on daily covers

By Paul Schmelzer | 06.23.09 | 11:40 am

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.

Newspapers’ decline hurts city’s bottom line

By Chris Steller | 06.11.09 | 7:49 pm

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.

PiPress owner: St. Paul paper is best-seller of e-editions, but second papers won’t survive

By Paul Schmelzer | 05.26.09 | 3:07 pm

William Dean SingletonWilliam 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…

How many mint juleps were consumed while editing this story?

By Paul Demko | 05.03.09 | 10:21 am

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…

Franken, Coleman sides swap stances (again) in Senate-seat dispute

By Chris Steller | 03.31.09 | 12:11 pm

cryerThe 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…

Star Tribune keeps exposé offline

By Chris Steller | 03.23.09 | 5:02 pm

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…

Attention, T-Paw: Sara Jane Olson is not Osama Bin Laden

By Paul Demko | 03.18.09 | 10:10 am

SLA OlsonThere’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…

Coleman cites ‘one of the second largest papers’ in state to push runoff

By Paul Schmelzer | 02.26.09 | 9:43 am

coleman-speaks-still-handFormer 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