The sight of Roger Parkinson, the sharp-edged former publisher of the Star Tribune, strolling through the newsroom yesterday inspired dozens of tongues to cluck the same two words, “interim publisher.”
The innocent explanation for Parkinson’s appearance is that he was in town from Toronto as part of his duties with the local Humphrey Institute and he simply wanted to stop in and say hello to old friends. But, as several people remarked to me, “he had to have a sense of the moment”, meaning Parkinson the old newspaper boss who was legendary for fine-toothing everything but the classifieds, must have known that with the paper’s current leader, Par Ridder, operating under a cloud of litigation, speculation would immediately fly that he — a guy who can find his way from the parking garage to the cafeteria without asking directions — was in the building to get a read on his next assignment.
A well-placed source strongly doubts that scenario, but adds, “Who really knows?”
Parkinson is currently Chairman of the Board of the University of Toronto Press. An employee at Parkinson’s office has promised to pass this question on.
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