Deborah Rybak (UPDATED 10/22) I am not without a sense of humor (anybody see the Ambiguously Gay Duo/Minneapolis police spoof on SNL Saturday?) and I am a big, big fan of the Jon Stewart-Stephen Colbert week-nightly comedy hour on Comedy Central. So why don’t I find this recent “I’m running for president as both a Democrat/Republican in … Read more
The tentative deal between the Pioneer Press’s newspaper guild and Dean Singleton’s MediaNews doesn’t look so hot at first glance — the guild agreed to a pension freeze, a one-time vacation concession and significant changes to its medical and disability plans in return for a paltry two to three percent raise. [The entire agreement is … Read more
This just in: Dean Singleton’s PiPress and the newspaper guild have a tentative deal. Here’s the memo: October 18, 2007 Guild, Pioneer Press reach tentative agreement on 4-year contract After three days of intensive, off-the-record talks, the Guild and the Saint Paul Pioneer Press reached agreement late Wednesday on a four-year contract covering 340 employees. … Read more
It’s been quiet, too quiet on the local TV news front, so thought I’d check in at KSTP and WCCO to see what’s cooking with the stations’ respective searches for replacements to news directors Chris Berg (let go in early August) and Jeff Kiernan (resigned in early September). The responses were as different as the … Read more
Friday was the last day that the Star Tribune offered readers with beefs the name and number of a real person who would listen to them. Here’s the new procedure, as described under the headline “Have a Concern?” as it ran in Saturday’s paper. “The Star Tribune is committed to correcting errors that appear in … Read more
Andrew Zimmern loved the chance to talk on his WFMP radio show about subjects other than food, but in the end, his burgeoning success at the Travel Channel forced him to give it up, he said in an interview Thursday. When the radio show launched on 107.1 FM four months ago, he said, “the Travel … Read more
Got a call this evening from El Kayak, a.k.a. Lambert, as he stood outside the Pink Taco in Vegas, socks still damp from his Lake Powell adventure paddle. My colleague, however, was not all wet when it came to his scoop about fast rising cable TV star Andrew Zimmern, who is expected to announce during … Read more
Ex-Stribber wanted to know why, if there are now two of us blogging, why there aren’t daily posts. As mentioned previously, my colleague Mr. Lambert is off kayaking in the wilds of Utah and is blameless. I was first out of town and am now deluged with out-of-town guests who want to see every piece … Read more
One of our correspondents the other day bemoaned our Strib coverage as appealing to “about 500 readers” and asked that we please write about something else. I hear you, brother (though I think the 500 number is WAY too high). I left the Strib because I didn’t want to think about it all the time … Read more
I was covering the Larry Craig hearing for most of yesterday and, though I tried to keep the site refreshed by posting comments, memos and such, I didn’t have a chance to read through the entries until late last nigiht. They made me smile. There were posts from some of the media people I respect … Read more