Brian Lambert Sunday night I had had enough of Imus. It wasn’t quite, “Get me back to Anna Nicole,” but the pile-on was complete … in terms of Imus. As I’ve said previously the whole episode is fascinating for the sense of cultural tipping point it brings. Worse things have said by worse chronic offenders. But several … Read more
Dane Smith, the Star Tribune’s capital guy for umpteen-God-million years — that’s a joke — has traded up to a job as president of his former boss, Joel Kramer’s non-profit, Growth and Justice think tank. I quote the release here: Hello friends and colleagues, We invite you to join us in welcoming Dane Smith as … Read more
St. Paul Pioneer Press union chairman issued this note today regarding ex-publisher Par Ridder’s system for squeezing ad execs. Obviously Ridder’s successor, Fred Mott, was willing to play along. 21-year veteran terminated after two years on so-called ‘PIP’ Fri, April 13, 2007 at 12:56 Longtime advertising account executive Larry Olson was fired today — after … Read more
I suspect I’m not alone in believing there are at least two elephant-in-the-room-sized topics the Star Tribune’s in-house, salaried, reader representative/ombudsman, Kate Parry, could have moved on Sunday rather than a fusty dissection of ethical overreaching in the Eric Black-Doug Tice blog, “The Big Question”. But that’s just me, I guess. I mean, Parry’s own … Read more
The following circulated through the Star Tribune newsroom last Friday on its way to Gov. Pawlenty: Dear Guild members, You might be interested in this description of how Star Tribune management is treating our brothers and sisters in the Advertising Operations Department. There will be more information on this soon. Respectfully, Unit officers Dear Governor … Read more
Unlike your average legal filing, the complaint Dean Singleton’s Media News Group has dropped on Par Ridder and Avista Capital Partners is a damned good read. Maybe that’s because Singleton has hired a former Star Tribune reporter, Dan Oberdorfer, to bring the case against the new owners and operators of his old paper. The complaint … Read more
The buzz from 425 Portland the past two days has been about Avista suits in the building. Every good newspaper drone assumes this can only mean (more) bad news. (Has any corporate officer EVER come to town with good news? “Profits are up! 20% bonuses for all salaried employees!” or, “Great work! Drinks on us!” … Read more
Gary Kamiya at Salon has as thorough an indictment and theory for how all levels of the mainstream American press screwed up after 9/11 and before the invasion of Iraq. It’s a long-ish read, but both cogent and provocative. The mainstream press — your local newspaper, the local TV news and all the national outlets … Read more
The upside to every one of these Don Imus-style broadcast faux pas is the “national dialogue” we get for a few days afterward. Everyone reports and weighs in, usually expressing dismay at the blunder and/or condemnation at the commonplace nature of this kind of stuff. It’ll disappear with the next Anna Nicole DNA report, but … Read more
I’d like to hope there is something precedent-setting in CBS Radio and MSNBC suspending veteran talk jock Don Imus for two weeks … (with or without pay, I’m not sure.) What with the current administration’s 3-to-2 advantage on the FCC we’ve sat through three fairly ridiculous years since Janet Jackson’s “boobgate” at the 2004 Super … Read more