Author: Brian Lambert

Like the ice sheets of Greenland, the American newspaper industry appears to be collapsing faster than the worst pessimists thought possible. Recently the Wall Street Journal ran a story in which Avista Capital Partners, the investment firm that has owned the Star Tribune since early March, conceded that its half-billion-dollar Minnesota toy is producing cash…

Thanks to a friend with HBO On-Demand I finally saw The Sopranos finale. I watched it yesterday, ten days or 10,000 news cycles and alternating waves of outrage, acclaim and, (see Bill and Hillary’s variation), iconic parody later. A week and a half ago, when I realized I wasn’t going to “share the moment” with…

Strib Publisher Par Ridder confirmed the four-out-of-a-possible-five block real estate sale to the Vikings with the following memo. Do note all the fraternally united, brothers-in-arms “team” verbiage; “we,” “our,” “us.” . . . Our real estate deal with the Vikings by Par Ridder, Publisher and CEO June 20, 2007 – “It’s official. We have a…

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…

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…

Commenting on my previous post about the Avista-Zygi Wilf real estate deal(s) and the importance of high transparency on the part of the Strib as it reports and comments on the story, “bart” asks the following: “What’s the basis of the charge that Avista currently or will direct positive coverage of the potential stadium? Is…