Month: June 2007

With all the attention on various executive fiascos and staff reductions at the Star Tribune, the situation at the Pioneer Press has received relatively little coverage lately. My apologies there. But last night saw a brief (one-hour) and reasonably cordial opening round of contract negotiations between the Newspaper Guild and new owner, MediaNews, headed by Denver tycoon, Dean Singleton.

In visits to St. Paul since buying the paper from McClatchy last year Singleton — when he wasn’t fielding questions about what Par Ridder did or didn’t steal as he jumped over to the Star Tribune — made no secret that he was going seriously impact if not wages, his employees’ benefit packages, starting with a freeze on pensions.

The Guild has a post up on its website laying out the specific issues to be fought over this summer. The post it includes an eloquent opening statement from Jim Ragsdale, a former reporter, for a long time at the capitol, and now the sole inhabitant of the Pioneer Press editorial department.

In the statement Ragsdale says this:

“The people before you, and the people we represent, are hardy survivors of these dramatic changes. We’ve been through waves of cutbacks. Decades of experience have been lost. A large part of our corporate personality is gone. We grieved those losses … and moved on. And we have chosen to stay and fight for a newspaper we believe in. Just like (MediaNews) is fighting for the newspaper we all believe in.

“We have already paid a price for our company’s decision to make itself smaller.

“Many of us are doing several jobs or have been moved to previously unfamiliar turf. That’s a challenge we’ve willingly taken on. I’m the lone editorial writer in an office that had five writers a few years ago. I’m doing the work of several people. I love my job and am proud of what we have done. I alone have helped the company save hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in salary and benefits. My salary and benefits have not improved.”

Ragsdale is right, of course. But it is hard to see where the Guild has any leverage at all with Singleton. With the very murky, deep background entanglements MediaNews and (Star Tribune owner) Avista have over the Par Ridder law suit, Avista’s short-term interest in newspaper ownership in Minnesota and the increasing likelihood of a merger of the two papers, (where Singleton could just as easily gain overall ownership as anyone else), every indication is that the Guild will have to take even further hits to its compensation package.

Caught on the way into work this morning and asked if the Guild was prepared to stand adamant on any specific issue, or if everything was up for negotiation, (I didn’t have the heart to use the word, “concession”), Ragsdale said, “Look, all we want is a fair and valid contract. We don’t pretend these are great times. And we see in some of their demands, [like removing a dozen or so “Team Leaders” from the Guild], things they’ve wanted to do for a long time. But at this point nobody has seen their finances. So its hard to say what their situation really is.”

The next negotiating session will probably come after the 4th of July holiday.

Oh, in case you haven’t got the time to click through to Ragsdale’s full statement. Here’s another choice bit, as Ragsdale began by commending MediaNews for its aggressive pursuit of young Ridder.

“We’d like to begin with the Par Ridder case,” said Ragsdale, “which was an important event for us. We thank you for standing up for the Pioneer Press after Par’s defection and thefts and lies. This legal battle could turn out to be one of our newspaper’s finest moments.”

To say Par Ridder left few friends and fewer admirers in St. Paul would be a significant understatement.

I’m just not betting that Singleton and MediaNews will leave town — whenever they do — with any more than Ridder.

In a memorable quote to City Pages’ Paul Demko, Star Tribune editor Nancy Barnes tried to explain the rationale behind mobilizing troops toward the suburbs, Bloomington in particular.

Demko wrote: “Editor Barnes concedes that ‘it’s been a difficult week,’ but says her mission remains the same: more online, more in-depth coverage like the paper’s 3M investigation, and more feet on the ground in communities outside Minneapolis. ‘Bloomington is the fifth-largest city in the state…we don’t cover Bloomington,’ Barnes says. ‘People who live outside of Minneapolis have to see coverage of their communities.’

On the face of it it’s hard to disagree. There are something like 85,000 people in Bloomington. There’s got to be a story or two worth telling. And obviously if you’re going to stand your diminished newsroom on its head conscripting reporters from all manner of other beats to send them to the leafy ‘burbs, the assumption is that you’re going to do it right and really provide constant, thorough coverage of … Minnesota’s fifth biggest city.

The one mistake you’re for sure not going to make is just talking the talk without walking the walk. I mean, since this is critical, we know there is going to be a battalion of reporters combing the streets and courts and offices of The Fifth Biggest City, showing those punk-ass Sun papers (and their small business advertisers) how the game is played in the big leagues.

Right?

Right?

Cut to: A short phone conversation with Star Tribune reporter, Mary Jane Smetanka, best known for the last 11 years she’s spent covering higher education.

Me: Mary Jane, Brian Lambert over at The Rake. I’ve been following the goings on over at your place.

Smetanka: I know.

Me: Yeah, and you know how it goes, one thing leads to another. I just want check something out.

Smetanka: OK.

Me: Is it true that you are the new Bloomington reporter?

Smtanka: Yes, it is.

Me: Is it also true that you are the new Edina reporter?

Smetanka: Yes, it is.

Me: Is it true that you are also the “Aging” reporter?

Smetanka: Yes, it is.

Me: And are you the only reporter so far assigned to Bloomington and Edina?

Smetanka: Yes, I am.

As with all these Strib items, I have sent Strib editors Nancy Barnes and Scott Gillespie e-mails asking for their response to the question of the moment.

Here is my e-mail on this one:

“Nancy, Scott:

“Today … I’m told that one reporter has been assigned to cover Bloomington, Edina and Aging. Is that accurate? Will more reporters be added soon, as in the next couple months? If not, doesn’t strike you as ironic considering your stated mission to better cover the larger suburbs?

“Also, will there be any change in CJ’s job description? Is the cast of columnists set? Will Coleman, Kersten and CJ continue doing what they have been doing?”

As always, if either Barnes or Gillespie chooses to respond, I’ll attach their comments here.

But until then we are left with the irony of one reporter — admittedly a veteran — assigned to not one, not two, but THREE beats of some significance. Smetanka is a 23-year Strib pro and will no doubt produce quality copy. But, come on, if you’re serious about people outside Minneapolis, (even a block outside Minneapolis), seeing coverage of their communities, are we really supposed to believe that one reporter can provide anything close to thorough coverage of two large first-ring suburbs with a combined population of 135,000 AND cover “Aging”, too?

In the interests of community journalism, I hereby promise to toss Smetanka every scoop I come across while prowling the dark, dangerous and scandal-ridden streets of Edina. Why just yesterday, while sipping a latte and reading the new film schedule in the window of the Edina Theater, I saw a vandal in a late model Saab enter the city from Minneapolis at speeds in excess of the posted limit and flick a cigarette on the pavement.

That’s gotta be worth 10″ of copy. The Edina cops may have security cam video.

Oh … that CJ stuff? I’m not sure. I’ve left a couple calls for the Twin Cities’ gossip maven, but oddly, our girl seems to be dodging me.