If it is Friday, it must mean that there is another left-wing newspaper that is either going out of business, or in Chapter 11 bankrupcy land.
The latest in the list is the certifiably left-wing Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
It was recently owned by the very left-leaning McClatchy news group, but they made a complicated deal to buy a slew of newspapers and in the process had to shed some. So, McClatchy sold the Star-Tribune to the Avista Capital Partners in 2007.
And, as noted over at HotAir by Ed Morrissey, Avista has done a bang-up job.
The problems started many a moon ago under the McClatchy reign at the Star-Tribune.
The Star-Tribune alienated many a non-political sports section reader during the late 1980s. Why you may ask? Well, in the linescores for the previous days games, the sports team nickname is in bold print, the score and the complete score. But, some smart-aleck sports editor decided that they would no longer do that time-honored practice. Why? Because of those pesky Indian names. You know, like the Atlanta Braves, the Cleveland Indians, the Washington Redskins, and so on, and so on. That pesky sports editor did not want to offend the Native American readership of the Star-Tribune. And, his conscience is cleansed. Maybe he went to a sweat lodge before making his decision.
So, political correctness creeped into the sports section.
The news section, well it is not any better.
Like many other newspapers, the Star-Tribune uses extensivly from other news sources. Besides the Associated Press, the other news source of choice is the Los Angeles Times. Of course there is the McClatchy News Service, but they are no longer a McClatchy newspaper.
And, the op-ed section is the worst and the worser as far as the newspaper opinions and the columns that they run.
Eventually, like so many other newspapers that cater to a wide audience, a lot of readers feel that they are not really getting news. You know, the who, what, when, why and how. But a lot of "analysis" that is cover for opinion.
The Star-Tribune is the largest newspaper in Minnesota and is sold all over the state. And, a lot of the state is not exactly in sync with the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul. They are the moderate to conservative suburbs and the rural areas. Sure, the Star-Tribune will always have some kind of readership. But, it is getting narrower and narrower. And, one assumes, more liberal and more liberal. For it seems to cater to that group of readers and or potential readers.
It is one thing if there is a competition with another newspaper that the Star-Tribune could have the liberal reading market as a niche. But, it is the only newspaper in Minneapolis. And it also has a wider audience than the St. Paul Pioneer-Press-which is now owned by McClatchy. So, one would think that they would really try harder to play it down the middle. But, they do not.
For every story that any newspaper could run about the break-up of illegal alien families when the federal government finally decides to enforce the law, would it not be good to run an article or series about the real financial costs of illegal immigration? Or the cost in the criminal courts of the United States? Or what about when there is a controversial issue involving Islamics. When a US Air flight from Minneapolis to Phoenix was disrupted by several Islamics that were acting suspiciously and taken off the flight last year. Do you think that the Star-Tribune covered that down the middle?
It is newspapers like the Star-Tribune that give the reputation that Minnesota is the Massachusetts of the Midwest. The reality is that there are the Twin Cities and the rest of the state. And, the rest of the state is not all that left-of-center.
Again, until these newspapers wake up, get in the 21st century and learn to adapt, they will keep going the route of the Tribune company, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and now the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
Will I have another newspaper to report on bitting the dust next Friday?
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