The Rake Magazine

Author: Brian Lambert

  • Who Has The "Wide Stance" Beat?

    Not that it quite rivals the Wall Street Journal stealing a Pulitzer Prize out from under the local dailies’ nose with Bill McGuire’s United Health back-dating scam, but it’s a little embarrassing to miss a U.S. Senator — Larry Craig, aka “The Militia Senator” and “The Right and Honorable Senator of the Aryan Nation”, not to mention one of the far right’s High Priests of Gun Worship and Family Values — soliciting anonymous gay sex right there in our own airport.

    WCCO TV’s Jason DeRusha over on MnSpeak.com offers this explanation why no one in town caught the Craig arrest back June or the court action earlier this month:

    “1. Airport Police are a pain in the neck… and extremely secretive. Even yesterday, no one would come back to the office to send us the report or give us the mug shot. “They close at 4 p.m.” is what I was told.

    “2. Because airport police is separate from Minneapolis Police, or the Sheriff’s office, media would have to go to the airport to request reports. The arrest information doesn’t leave their property, and as the charge was a minor charge, I don’t think it even went to the county attorney. It was like a ticket.

    “3. No one locally would raise an eyebrow about a “disorderly conduct” at the airport for a guy named Larry Craig even if they saw the report’s front page.

    “4. The plea deal at the courthouse happened the week after the bridge collapse. So the usual suspects who would have tipped someone off, were too busy with other things to even concentrate on this.

    Someone nationally had to tip off Roll Call, the Capitol Hill Newspaper. That’s who broke the story.”

    »» Submitted by »»» jderusha at 7:44 AM on August 28.

    Earlier today I called the Star Tribune’s dogged Minneapolis reporter Rochelle Olson, surprised that she of all people hadn’t caught that one. “The name alone wouldn’t have meant anything to me,” she said. “Believe me, I wish I had. But I didn’t. Are you going to rip me?”

    No. I’ve missed WAY too many good stories to lob stones over this, which as I say, isn’t quite on the same level as a billionaire ripping off shareholders and contributing to the outrageous cost of health care in this country. But since Olson has just about everything else in Minneapolis to cover, thanks to Avista/Par “right-sizing”, it is worth wondering aloud how maybe if the big paper did have more bodies working city government and cop beats, downtown and out with MAC, they might have had a source who would have tipped them to this particular “Larry Craig” flashing the card of a U.S. Senator after getting yanked out of toilet stall. A cop tipster was about the only way a local reporter would have gotten the story last June.

    Meanwhile, I gotta ask, what gives with these guys? I mean Republican Congressman Mark Foley and the pages, McCain’s Florida guy Republican Bob Allen soliciting gay sex in a public restroom because he was frightened of black guys in the vicinity, uber-evangelical proselytizer Ted Haggard (wild guess — Republican) buying meth … meth! … and banging a gay body builder, Jeff Gannon credentialed by the White House as a reporter for Talon (virtual) press (wha?) and later revealed to have worked with a gay escort service, the chairman of the Clark County Republican Party out in Vegas fellating some kid while he slept, and now Larry “Wide Stance” Craig tapping feet in Minnesota, as well as Deputy Secretary of State Randall Tobias and his romps with a D.C. escort service and Republican Louisiana Sen. David Vitter and the –female — hookers. (Do those last two guys get a pass for just nailing women?)

    I mean, can we just agree that from this point forward any politician or evangelist who declares themselves pro-family values and makes a huge, vote-getting, money-making scene about ripping gay marriage decrying the slippery slope from gayness to turtle sex is in effect acknowledging both their own closeted homosexuality and an affinity for a little clandestine quick-and-dirty, probably in a noisy john, with meth and without?

    It is so far beyond easy satire, Jon Stewart’s gotta be stumped.

    By the way, check out these characters reenacting Sen. Wide Stance’s Lindbergh Terminal shtick.

    Why didn’t Shelby and Vascellaro do this?

    Also, Glenn Greenwald at Salon has a terrific “then and now” with right-wing bloggers and pundits excoriating, Mike Rogers, the guy who blogged about Wide Stance last October … and what they are saying today. His post comes with every imaginable link to all things Wide and Stancey.

  • Kramer Speaks …

    Everyone’s criteria for a valuable on-line news site is different. Mine requires that professional writers are able to produce BETTER copy than they were able or allowed to do within the heavily-mediated institutional voice of daily newspapers. Otherwise, what’s the point? This attitude assumes that dullness and blandness afflicts daily journalism as much as piratical ownership and craigslist.

    Joel Kramer, the former Strib editor and publisher, now launching the non-profit on-line “paper”, MinnPost.com, was fielding a stream of calls this morning. “But you got me now,” he said, “so go ahead.”

    OK. What license are you suggesting to the writers coming on board that’ll make them better than they were in print?

    “Well, I think it is a constant refrain from writers that they’re looking forward to doing better work. We intend to produce stories that are clearly edgier and display more courage and at the same time more informality.”

    And what about the license for language?
    “We won’t be using curse words.” No cussing? Shit.

    Kramer cleared up a few misperceptions — some of them fomented by this site. Among them is the MPR question. The answer there is, “No. We have no equity or business relationship with MPR, or with anyone else. We did approach The Rake, but that was when were looking at a for-profit model. When we decided to go non-profit, those discussions ended.”

    Still, Kramer describes MinnPost.com’s audience, (that’s the official name), as a “news-intense audience deeply steeped in the values of traditional journalism but open to the more free-wheeling aspects of the web. More to the point, they are readers who use multiple news sources every day.” He says whoever told me he foresaw an audience of “100,000 to 200,000” heard wrong. He says he sees the potential audience, “in the hundreds of thousands”.

    “And we are,” he says, “totally focused on that audience.”

    Still, my curiosity was always that this “news-intense” audience more or less mirrors MPR’s radio audience, and the “membership” aspect of Kramer’s financial model — where readers will be encouraged to show their support by writing checks — looked to be trespassing a bit on MPR’s turf.

    “Well, I certainly wouldn’t describe it as trespassing,” he replied. “I mean, you could just as well say we were trespassing on the Star Tribune or the Pioneer Press.”

    Ok, OK, loaded choice of words. But “news intense and … membership”. But no MPR business alliance/partnership?

    No. I guess. What he says he is examining are “content partnerships” where MinnPost.com and a partner might “publish the best work from each other’s site.” He says he sees ways, “Our audience will overlap with other organizations.”

    I asked if the $250,000 coming from the Cowles family accompanies an understanding that additional funds will come with the passing of quarters and fiscal years? The answer was, “No. The donors we’ve listed were asked only for a one-time commitment. The Knight Foundation was particularly pleased that our intention is to be self-sustaining, through sponsorships, advertising and memberships. We might get a national grant from time to time for investigative reporting or something. We will certainly be applying.”

    Rumors of the fee structure for writers he says were also wrong, but $200/week for two blog posts and $600 for stories either cherry-picked from the most intriguing blog-post or assigned by MinnPost.com editors sounds an awful lot like what the rumor mill was spinning.

    Kramer did say that, “Not every name on this morning’s list will be a poster,” and that commentary, beyond the voice of the blogger/poster, will be drawn “from the community”, but, “there won’t be commentary every day.” Writers, he says, will not be under any exclusivity constraints.

    The presence of John Camp, the Pulitzer Prize-winning former PiPresser and best-selling crime novelist gives the site some national marquee weight. And Politics in Minnesota publisher, Sarah Janecek, gives MinnPost at least one contributor to the right of Dennis Kucinich.

    Kramer says he’s open to the higher-tech gew-gaws of audio and video, but suspects that end of MinnPost.com will not be functional when the site debuts later this fall. (That’s a hoped-for start, BTW). He says he is already getting calls from other writers offering their services and is actively looking for younger writers.

    “We hope to do a lot of things,” he says. “I’m just not sure we’ll be able to do them all the first year.”

    I mention an oft-repeated concern around town as he worked toward his announcement. Namely that if he screws this up, if MinnPost.com doesn’t offer something appreciably better than the two dailies and/or doesn’t draw traffic sufficient to sustain itself within three or four years, it could have the effect of discouraging other investors in trying it again. I mean, not to lay on the pressure, but that’s what people are saying.

    “Well, it’s always pretty much the same thing, isn’t it? No risk, no reward. There are a lot of things we have to get right and we’re working pretty hard to see that we do just that.”

    Meanwhile, watching from the balcony is former City Pages editor, Steve Perry. Perry is working toward a for-profit site that would appeal to at least the faction of the “news-intense” audience that wants steady, rolling analysis on news of the day — in the vernacular of sophisticated people — and interaction with each other. Perry’s reputation will draw a different type of writer than those at the top of Kramer’s list.

    Paul Schmelzer at Minnesota Monitor did an interview with Perry last week.

  • Kramer's Announcement

    In its entirety:

    INTERNET-BASED DAILY NEWS ENTERPRISE TO BE LAUNCHED THIS YEAR

    MINNEAPOLIS, August 27, 2007
    MinnPost.com — an internet-based daily providing news and insight for Twin Cities and Minnesota readers — will launch later this year.

    Joel Kramer, CEO and editor, announced that he has raised $1.1 million in startup funds for the not-for-profit enterprise. Four local families have contributed a combined $850,000, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, based in Miami, announced a donation of $250,000.

    “Communities need news every way they can get it,” said Eric Newton, vice president of Knight Foundation’s journalism program. “What makes this experiment interesting are its non-profit model and the willingness of such a broad spectrum of the community to give money and time to this effort.”

    MinnPost.com will offer exclusive front-page news stories as well as
    “posts,” a new format in which professional journalists engage in an
    informal conversation with readers about what they’re learning and what to make of it. Posts will be a bit like blogs, but unlike many blogs, they will be built around original reporting — not just opinions or links to other people’s work.

    MinnPost.com, which will publish Monday through Friday, also will offer daily roundups providing perspective on metro, state, national and international news, stories from selected content partners (currently under discussion), commentary from community leaders and experts, and comment from and involvement of readers. MinnPost will be nonpartisan, and all opinion pieces will be signed.

    More than 20 Twin Cities journalists, including Pulitzer Prize-winning
    Pioneer Press reporter and best-selling novelist John Camp and former Star Tribune columnist Doug Grow, have already committed to contributing regularly to MinnPost.com, according to managing editor Roger Buoen, former deputy managing editor of the Star Tribune.

    In addition to Kramer and Buoen, MinnPost editors will web editor Corey Anderson, former online managing editor of City Pages; news editors Don Effenberger and Casey Selix, both former editors at the Pioneer Press; and MinnPost in Print editor Beth Thibodeau, formerly an editor at the Star Tribune.

    “MinnPost.com is all about substantive news for Minnesotans who are
    intensely interested in the world around them and want more insight and analysis than they’re getting from their media choices today,” said Kramer, who served as editor of the Star Tribune in the 1980s and as publisher and president in the 1990s. “It will combine the best of traditional journalism with new forms of newsgathering and storytelling made possible by the Internet. MinnPost.com will emphasize original, high-quality content five days a week, plus carefully chosen work from other sources. You can read it online, or in a printable newspaper format, MinnPost in Print.”

    The 25 journalists who have agreed so far to contribute to MinnPost are:

  • Judy Arginteanu, former editor and reporter for the Pioneer Press and Star Tribune, will report about the arts and other topics.

  • Brady Averill, who has covered the Minnesota congressional delegation for the Star Tribune, will write about a variety of topics.

  • Dave Beal, a former business editor and columnist for the Pioneer Press, will write about business and the economy.

  • Steve Berg, who has worked as a Washington Bureau reporter, national correspondent, and editorial writer for the Star Tribune, will report on urban design, transportation, and national politics.

  • Judith Yates Borger, who has written for The New York Times, Star Tribune, and Pioneer Press, will report on legal affairs, science, and other subjects.

  • Cynthia Boyd, a former reporter and columnist for the Pioneer Press, will write on education, health, social issues, and other topics.

  • David Brauer, Minnesota Public Radio’s media analyst, local magazine writer, former City Pages reporter and Southwest (Mpls.) Journal editor, will cover media, Minneapolis City Hall, and Hennepin County politics.

  • John Camp is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and best-selling
    novelist who writes under the pen name John Sandford. He won a Pulitzer in 1986 for a series of stories in the Pioneer Press — collectively titled Life on the Land: An American Farm Family — about a Minnesota farm family’s struggles during the Midwest farm crisis. He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1980 for a series of articles on Native American culture. He is also well known for numerous popular detective novels and thrillers. He will report and write on a variety of topics.

  • Steve Date, a teacher and photographer working on a documentary film about a West Virginia coal mining town, will do video blogs on a variety of topics.

  • Delma Francis, who has worked as an editor or reporter at the Lexington Herald, Courier-Journal and Louisville Times, Hartford Courant, Richmond Times-Dispatch and Star Tribune, will report on education, health care, and other topics.

  • Doug Grow, a former sports columnist for the Minneapolis Star and metro columnist for the Star Tribune, will write about public affairs, state politics, and other topics.

  • Kay Harvey, a former reporter and editor for the Pioneer Press, will report on aging, demographics, gender, and psychology.

  • Beth Hawkins, former reporter and editor for City Pages, will write about criminal justice, schools, and other topics.

  • David Hawley, a former arts critic and reporter at the Pioneer Press and author of a half-dozen plays and two nonfiction books, will write about the arts and other subjects.

  • Chris Ison, an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication, former editor and reporter at the Star Tribune, and winner of a Pulitzer Prize in 1990 for articles about a string of arsons in St. Paul, will write occasionally on a variety of topics.

  • Sarah Janecek, publisher of Politics In Minnesota, will write about public affairs and politics.

  • Joe Kimball, a former columnist and reporter for the Star Tribune, will report on St. Paul City Hall and Ramsey County politics.

  • Linda Mack, who formerly wrote about architecture for the Star Tribune, will cover architecture.

  • Mike Mosedale, who has written for City Pages and newspapers in Connecticut, Wisconsin, and California, will report on the environment, Indian affairs, and other topics.

  • Greg Patterson, former reporter for the Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and Star Tribune, will report on race and diversity and business-related topics.

  • Steve Scott, formerly religion editor and writer for the St. Paul Pioneer Press and a past visiting scholar in religion journalism at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, will cover religion.

  • Casey Selix, former assistant business editor and reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, will write about nonprofits, the arts, women, and other topics.

  • Carla Solberg, who has written for Minneapolis/St. Paul Business, Twin Cities Business, and Upsize Business, will report on local business developments, the health care industry, and other topics.

  • Jay Weiner, who has covered sports and other topics for the Star Tribune, will report on sports and public policy, outdoors and the environment, and religion.

  • Bob Whereatt, former political reporter for the Star Tribune, will write about public affairs and state government.

    • Some of these journalists will do regular posts, some will write front-page stories, and some will do both. Additional contributors are expected to be named later.

    “This is a tough time for newspapers,” Kramer said. “Declining advertising revenue has led to substantial cuts in staff and news space, and serious, ambitious news coverage has suffered. But this creates a real opportunity, too, because so many outstanding journalists have left Twin Cities newspapers, and they and a variety of talented free-lancers are eager to bring their talents and experience to MinnPost.”

    In addition to the website, MinnPost in Print will be a quick-read but thoughtful daily newspaper published Monday through Friday in 8.5 x 11 format, printable on home and office computers and expected to be available in high-traffic locations over the lunch hour.

    MinnPost has raised $850,000 in startup donations so far from four couples — Sage and John Cowles, Vicki and David Cox, Laurie and Joel Kramer, and Terry Saario and Lee Lynch.

    Lee Lynch has been elected first chair of the board of MinnPost. Other board members are John Cowles, David Cox, Joel Kramer, Kathleen Hansen, professor of journalism at the University of Minnesota and director of the Minnesota Journalism Center, John Satorius, an attorney with Frederikson & Byron, and Patrick Irestone, CEO of Meritide, a software firm in Roseville.

    Kramer said he will seek additional foundation support to help finance MinnPost’s early years, but that the plan is to become self-sufficient eventually, based on two main revenue sources: sponsorship/advertising and member donations. “We believe a lot of Minnesotans will support this kind of high-quality journalism,” Kramer said. He invited people to visit the website, www.MinnPost.com, to learn more and keep up with progress toward the launch.

    MinnPost is currently looking to hire a leader for the business side of the organization and a sponsorship/advertising director, Kramer said.

    The MinnPost.com website is being developed by Clockwork, a firm in Northeast Minneapolis. MinnPost’s office will be in Southeast Minneapolis.

    Additional information and reaction to follow.

  • How They Do It In San Diego

    I am not offended if none of you are as interested in what ex-Strib publisher Joel Kramer will announce next week as the scurvy brother/sisterhood of newspaper wretches and I are. We are praying for a second coming of the written word, and hold out hope that the Denny Heckers, TCFs and Targets of the world will soon lavish Kramer et al with advertising that allows us to resume our grand, elitist lifestyles. The one with three lunches a week at Chipotle, happy hour at Bunny’s and new tires for the ’98 Corolla.

    Until then … I had an interesting chat this morning with Scott Lewis, co-editor of voiceofsandiego.org , the two and a half year-old non-profit on-line news”paper” that Kramer has mentioned as something of a model for his venture.

    Lewis, 30, was riding in his car when we spoke. The key bits of information — for those of us dreaming of barbacoa burritos — is that Voice of San Diego does indeed have a full-time staff of nine … with annual salaries ranging from $25,000 to $40,000. Both Lewis and his co-editor, Andy Donohue, 29 (or so Lewis believes), also write copy. The site has “one photo/video guy” and “one education/web guy” in addition to five full-time writers.

    Here are photos of the good-looking staff.

    Lewis comes off as a pretty bright guy. He talks about the value of good editing, story coaching and a lot of vital skills that sour bastards like me sneer at. He says Donohue and he took over in November ’05, after a rocky first half year under other leadership. Somewhere along the line they quickly gave up on the idea of free-lancing out all their reporting — and established investigative and enterprise reporting as editorial mission goals one and two. They ditched the idea of free-lancers because of all the quality control issues you get in to, although, Lewis says, occasionally they’ll still dial someone up, “but the most we can throw at them is $150-$200.”

    He says their annual budget is $560,000 and that they’ve had something like 700 individual donors. “Every time we ask for money we get checks from everywhere from $35 to $100,000,” but their well-being is still largely dependant on one guy, a San Diego venture capitalist named Buzz Woolley who co-founded the site. There’s some ad support in PBS-style underwriting fashion, Lewis says, where pages are “sponsored by Lexus of San Diego” and a trickle of traditional display ads, but mainly its Woolley’s money that makes it go.

    Lewis says they occasionally consider expanding out into sure-fire traffic drivers like sports and entertainment, but invariably their board reins them back, reminding them that their core mission is filling a void in aggressive coverage San Diego institutions that the major paper — the frankly woeful San Diego Union Tribune — has ignored. (The city of San Diego’s near bankruptcy was the big story they rode hard in their launch phase.)

    Based on what I know about Kramer’s plan — starting with his desire to use established journalists and not high-energy kids — there are some clear differences.

    We’ll shall see what Monday brings.

  • MPR & Taxpayer Dough

    (UPDATED WITH RESPONSE FROM MPR)
    As certain as the cycle of the sun and stars is the question of how much money Minnesota Public Radio gets in state subsidies … and why.

    The issue bobbed up again in the context of Joel Kramer’s to-be-announced on-line news site. Thanks to Julie Dinger in the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library at the Capitol I can offer this
    for those of you interested in how much Bill Kling receives/snookered the Capitol Hill turnips out of this past year:

    Subd. 6.Public Broadcasting
    (a) $6,650,000 is for grants to noncommercial
    television stations to assist with the continued
    conversion to a digital broadcast signal as
    mandated by the federal government. This
    appropriation must be used to assist each
    station to complete its digital production
    facilities and interconnect with other
    Minnesota public television stations. In
    order to qualify for these grants, a station
    must meet the criteria established for grants
    in Minnesota Statutes, section 129D.12,
    subdivision 2.


    (b) $2,000,000 is for grants to Minnesota
    Public Radio to assist with conversion to a
    digital broadcast signal.

    (c) $2,461,000 the first year and $1,161,000
    the second year are for matching grants for
    public television.
    (d) $200,000 the first year and $200,000
    the second year are for public television
    equipment grants. Equipment or matching
    grant allocations shall be made after
    considering the recommendations of the
    Minnesota Public Television Association.
    (e) $17,000 the first year and $17,000 the
    second year are for grants to the Twin Cities
    regional cable channel.
    (f) $413,000 in fiscal year 2008 and $287,000
    in fiscal year 2009 are for community service
    grants to public educational radio stations.
    (g) $400,000 in fiscal year 2008 and $100,000
    in fiscal year 2009 are for equipment grants
    to public educational radio stations.
    (h) The grants in paragraphs (f) and (g)
    must be allocated after considering the
    recommendations of the Association of
    Minnesota Public Educational Radio Stations
    under Minnesota Statutes, section 129D.14.

    (i) $830,000 the first year and $190,000
    the second year are for equipment grants to
    Minnesota Public Radio, Inc.

    (j) Any unencumbered balance remaining the
    first year for grants to public television or
    radio stations does not cancel and is available
    for the second

    As it is explained to me, the one-time $2 million is for upgrading MPR to all-digital transmission, which, as you can see is something that state has been assisting all public broadcasters in doing. The $830,000 figure is another one-time grant, this time for equipment, and the $190,000 figure is more or less MPR’s normal annual equipment subsidy.

    (I’ve asked MPR for a breakdown of what exactly costs $2 million and how that is different from a one-time $830K for new equipment? When they respond, I’ll add it to this post.)

    So, MPR’s take looks pretty fat this biennium. $3.02 million. Or, spun a different way, something like … 28 cents … for every man, woman and child in Minnesota … EVERY DAMNED YEAR!!!!! Well this year and next, I mean. But never mind! I am outraged, dammit! This is beyond Halliburton! Where’s the special prosecutor?

    After that it drops back into single pennies.

    [For those lacking an ear for facetiousness, I’m making a joke here. 28 cents … a year … come on. Would you even stop to pick that up if you saw it on the ground?]

    Good lobbying help is one way that you keep your hand in the mix when the state starts doling out cash and I admit I missed the part where former Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson has now registered as an MPR lobbyist.

    As I’ve been saying in the “comments” section, in an ideal world the State would consider funding credible start-up news ventures like those proposed by Joel Kramer and former City Pages editor, Steve Perry. Likewise, considering MPR’s extraordinary financial success you might think someone would be making a more effective argument to fund non-MPR public radio operations more and MPR less.

    But the reality is that no matter how much its blood enemies and frequent consumers, like myself, kvetch and squall about what they don’t do and how precious an attitude they take toward provocative stories, the public at large regards MPR as … well worth the comparatively modest money they get out of our pockets.

    I mean, a couple months ago I blew the equivalent of almost 15 years of my share of MPR subsidies on one copy of the National Review. And that thing burst into flames right in my hand.

    MPR spokeswoman, Christina Schmitt, replied Thursday morning, saying:

    Hi Brian,

    Thank you for being patient. State funding to MPR is used for capital purposes only; to extend, improve and maintain service outside the Twin Cities area, where the population is less dense and capital fundraising is more difficult. For example, MPR used recently appropriated State funding to install new signals in Hinckley and infrastructure improvements in Duluth, St Peter, Rochester, Worthington, Bemidji and Brainerd. The most recent appropriation will be used entirely for capital projects in greater Minnesota, including the construction of a new station to serve the Roseau / Warroad area of the state.

    In the 2007 legislative session, MPR received a one-time appropriation of $2 million for its digital conversion project. During the 2002-2003 biennium, the State of Minnesota provided a special appropriation of $7.8 million to public television for digital conversion. Though on a station-by-station basis, digital conversion for radio is less expensive than that for television, there are more public radio stations. We estimate the total cost of digital conversion for MPR stations alone will be about $6.9 million.

    MPR provides important public services to Minnesota in addition to offering multiple channels of public radio service to almost all residents. MPR is the backbone to the State’s Emergency Alert System (EAS), providing the EAS signal to all other broadcasters, including radio, television and cable stations in Minnesota. MPR also serves as the backbone to the State’s AMBER Alert System, the child abduction warning system. In addition, MPR provides the Radio Talking Book to the blind and visually impaired across all of Minnesota on subcarriers of MPR stations, which is produced by Minnesota State Services for the Blind.

  • Joel Kramer Set to Announce Online Newspaper on Monday

    Next Monday appears to be the date for former Star Tribune editor and publisher Joel Kramer to reveal his plans for the launch of a professionally edited and reported online newspaper. From his vacation home in Montana, Kramer, who knows the tricks of the information-peddling trade, is not offering any new details beyond what has already leaked since his meeting here last week with likely editors and writers.

    Kramer did confirm what has been known. Namely, that he has hired former Star Tribune deputy managing editor Roger Buoen. He also confirmed he has hired long-time St. Paul Pioneer Press editor Don Effenberger. Asked about the estimate of $850,000 on his fund-raising to date, Kramer confirmed that figure, adding, “More.”

    Beyond that, Kramer declined to spoil his own unveiling.

    What we do know is that Kramer has gone from a non-profit business model to a for-profit and back now to non-profit. At one point, he had a tentative deal to partner with The Rake owners Tom Bartel and Kris Henning. In fact, he approached Bartel and Henning with an interest in buying The Rake outright, but apparently backed off that idea rather quickly.

    Kramer’s plan, I’m told by sources who asked not to be identified, includes some kind of partnering arrangement with various local publishing entities, possibly including the community journalism site, TC Daily Planet, The Rake, and Minnesota Public Radio. (Rake publisher Bartel says he hasn’t spoken with Kramer in the last month.)

    The MPR angle, which Kramer would not confirm, is intriguing if only because Kramer apparently still favors some kind of membership model a la public broadcasting. His pitch to the dozen and a half former Twin Cities newspaper journalists at his condo last week mentioned aiming the online paper at a potential audience of 100,000 to 200,000 avid news consumers, which essentially describes MPR’s audience.

    If Kramer has indeed cut a deal with MPR and MPR president Bill Kling, my first two questions are whether Kling is providing any start-up capital or resources, and why? Kling’s name has not been mentioned among Kramer’s primary investors. More to the point, the MPR-like audience of 100,000 to 200,000 avid news consumers already has MPR’s website, so what additional features is Kramer planning to offer, particularly if his staff of reporters/content-providers are all freelancers?

    Kramer’s desire to launch a serious news site has been the topic of considerable discussion among the cities’ journalists in recent months, many of whom are currently seeking new opportunities, after several rounds of buyouts at both daily papers. Moreover, the frustration with what some regard as the self-limiting ethos of daily newspapers has people hoping Kramer is open to the freer tone and technological possibilities — podcasts, video, etc. — of an online news service.

    In his pitch last week, Kramer mentioned voiceofsandiego.org as one example of what he hopes he/they can pull off. “I think he said he hoped we could do something better,” said someone who was present.

    The general reaction from several of those in attendance was one of eagerness for the game. Their lingering questions revolved around how well Kramer is preparing for those supplementary tech factors — audio and video reporting; whether he has or can draw in enough conservative writers to provide a healthy balance to whatever commentary he plans to offer (if you know any righties who aren’t fact-averse and can hold a reader’s attention for five minutes, have them contact Kramer after next Monday); and if he can pull off something fresher and more interesting than either daily is currently offering?

    By all indications, Kramer will not be offering mortgage-paying wages, at least at the start. But the impression I get is that many current and former newspaper writers regard daily online journalism as an inevitability and like the idea of being part of a pioneering concept enough that they’ll work very cheap … for a while.

  • Moyers on Rove

    As counterpoints to mainstream thinking goes, it doesn’t get much starker than Bill Moyers’ take on Karl Rove’s career and record in this past Friday’s edition of “Bill Moyers’ Journal”.

    Note the particular point Moyers makes on Rove’s exploitation of religion and religious bigotry for naked political effect and ask yourself why if, A. Moyers is correct, and it seems no secret that he is, then B. Why haven’t other pundits and political analysts mentioned the same thing? (Moyers mentions the recent “revelation” that Rove regards himself as an agnostic).

    The exploitation of religious superstition and religious bigotry for political gain has to rank as one the most cynical and dangerous stratagems in human history, and yet supposedly worldly mainstream reporters and pundits either ignore it, in Rove’s case, or roll it all together as part of a fair and balanced tribute to Rove’s tactical “genius”.

    Do you sense a combination of fear and pandering?

  • Hillary Owes Rush and Sean

    It was desperate this morning west of the Dry Dock and south of Superior. No coffee! A few beans of de-caf were not going to make it happen, and the likelihood that I was soon going to be stripping off my clothes, painting my warrior-like body barn red with linseed oil and go shrieking off through the woods was pretty damned high until … way back in a corner of the cupboard I found what had to have been a 10 year-old jar of “instant cappuccino” powder … that had hardened to the consistency of lava.

    Apply boiling water. Good enough. What’s on the tube? Oh look, another debate forum. This time the Democrats down at Drake, with George Stephanopoulos doing the moderating.

    I can see why Barack Obama says he’s drawing a line at any more of these things. As much as I get a kick out of Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel (and Bill Richardson and Chris Dodd and Joe Biden) firing off a few good, “What have I got to lose?” lines, they ain’t going to happen, and it really is time to start moving on. (Remember, this nomination thing is going to be wrapped up by mid-February, at least for the Democrats.)

    While I remain an Edwards guy, the Hillary supremacy is truly something to behold. How and why is she so far ahead of everyone else? Didn’t we all think she had impossibly high “negatives”? I mean, there was Karl Rove on The Rush Limbaugh Show, reminding us of exactly that just a couple days ago.

    Of course, as Clinton joked this morning, how could she NOT have high negatives after what has been going on in this country for the last 20 years? Twenty years is just about exactly as long as both the Clintons and Limbaugh have been on the national stage.

    There is a great irony underlying Hillary’s current and apparently solid and growing popularity, and it ain’t just old-style party hacks taking fat checks from Big Pharma. As much as anything else it is that Hillary Clinton isn’t now and most likely never has been anything close to the shrewish, ball-busting harridan that Limbaugh, Hannity, Hewitt, Savage, Medved, O’Reilly, Ingraham, Liddy, yadda yadda and yadda yadda some more have always portrayed her. Not even close.

    Their bullshit earned them good ratings for nearly two decades. But it may be coming back to bite them.

    As Hillary makes the usual campaign appearances and does this relentless debate/forum shtick, we are finding that the caricature of her created by the “vast right-wing conspiracy” has had the effect of setting her bar for likeability so low it comes as a startling surprise to almost everyone — especially those who haven’t paid a lot of attention to her beyond what they hear on the radio — that she is invariably gracious, in addition to being composed and well-versed in the machinery of both politics and diplomacy. It is a variation on the low expectation game. After 15 solid years of nothing but “Hillary the Bitch,” the Hillary the average voter is seeing bears no resemblance … whatsoever.

    I think Edwards still has it right about how to re-set the rules of the game for the American dream, (although, come on John, tell us how you expect to LEGISLATE billions of dollars of profits out of the hands of the HMOs?), but if this thing stays on the track it is on, and Hillary and Bubba return to the White House, they might consider sending Rush and Sean and all their sycophants thank you cards.

  • City Pages Snaps a Towel at Al Franken

    In a world where everyone, especially celebrities are free roaming targets for everyone with a cellphone camera, Al Franken ought to be thankful City Pages’ newshounds don’t have his workout routine up on YouTube. Maybe tomorrow.

    City Pages posted a tiddy by writer Ben Westhoff describing Franken’s goofball antics in his condo work-out room. Reaction ensued. Now, CP editor, Kevin Hoffman, has added a comment defending, one assumes, his decision to run the piece.

    From the comments I gather the piece hasn’t played all that well with Friends of Al and/or more sober-minded news consumers.

    As a person-in-the-public-eye of long-standing I gotta believe Franken is used to this sort of thing. And if he isn’t, God help him if doesn’t start getting used to it. Every politician today is one click of a YouTube upload away from a “macaca meltdown”.

    The City Pages thing is a silly little “gotcha” item, probably of greater risk to City Pages’ currently re-coagulating reputation than Franken’s. (If Steve Perry were dead he’d be churning.) But when you’re a celebrity/senate candidate you’re fair game for damned near anything anyone wants to show or tell about you.

    That said, isn’t there a code of something about work-out behavior and gawking or telling tales of grunting, sweating, whatever? Isn’t it understood among, um, people of quality that what happens in the gym stays in the gym?

    I’m in no position to chastise anyone else for engaging in sophomoric silliness. Rather, my beef with this incident is with the underlying suggestion/assertion from both Westhoff and Hoffman that Franken — a career cut-up — is engaged in some kind of contrived struggle to transform his true self into a serious-minded student of political issues. Clearly, Franken is working, maybe too hard, at impressing Minnesota voters with his command of serious topics. But it is something else to insinuate that he is, you know, maybe, uh, faking it.

    If anything, Franken’s radio show floundered because he wasn’t funny or goofy enough. Too often he had his policy wonk dial yanked past 11. Some of that may have been for show. But anyone who listened understood the guy had done his homework. Put another way, anyone who thinks he doesn’t know what he’s talking about when he wades in to Iraq or health care or whatever isn’t paying attention.

    Beyond that, I think there’s an argument to be made that Franken the candidate has to find a balance between the glib, wise-cracking smart-ass most of us enjoyed, and a guy who strikes us as knowledgeable and committed enough to drive more enlightened policies through the U.S. Senate than Norm Coleman. That shouldn’t be too tough. Not among the Twin Cities literati, at least.

    Speaking as an elitist liberal who’d vote for my hydrangea bush before Norm Coleman — WAY too much rubber stamp work, Normie — my advice to Franken is to loosen up on the stump a bit more. These past seven years have been one long, sick joke. Laughter, whether rueful or mocking, can only be cathartic.

  • Strib-Watch: The Whacking Continues …

    You’ve all heard of the half-dozen sweet old ladies at the Star Tribune switchboard let go in … what was that? Round 5? of “right-sizing” (TM: Par Ridder) … then came the end of what was no doubt an outrageously expensive deal paying mentally handicapped people to run errands around the building.

    Today’s instant-whackings (they’re gone a week from today) include five of eight tech shop (IT) employees and ten building maintenance employees.

    Avista Capital Partners continues to fight for the full employment and splendid compensation of Mr. Ridder.

    Here is today’s death knell memo from Strib Guild officers:

    THE CUTS CONTINUE: Reports from other unions at the Strib

    You see them often — eight savvy techs who help solve computer and other technical problems in the newsroom and elsewhere. Those eight IT workers are members of our CWA local (but not our Star Tribune Guild unit). (Erik Crane may be the IT we see most often in the newsroom.)

    Our union learned this week that the publisher is eliminating five of the techs’ jobs. They have until noon Aug. 24 to apply for buyouts similar to those taken recently by newsroom departees. Both those applying and those who may face layoffs if there aren’t enough volunteers will learn their jobs’ fate that very afternoon, and those departing will leave by early September.

    Two of their jobs are protected under their contract, and the company apparently will hang onto a third position.

    Having been through the cutback mill, we feel for them. And we’re also wondering: Who will we call when tech problems pop up, as they surely will? The answer is unclear.

    THEN THERE ARE THE JANITORS…

    More cutbacks are also coming in Building Services, we have learned. The company is shooting for 10 buyouts from among the group of Strib maintenance workers represented by the SEIU union. Our friends the janitors tell us that if the company doesn’t get that many buyouts, it is considering forcing people to go part-time, which could mean loss of their benefits.

    We feel for them. And again, we wonder — who will do the work if people and hours are cut? We’re checking into reports that some of our fellow Strib unions have been told they’ll be doing their own cleaning after the maintenance cutbacks, and are protesting with grievances.

    Which leads us to ask, rhetorically at least: What next?

    Your unit officers