Be sure to catch me at the Coon Rapids Home Center next week
I couldn’t really decide how to start this entry. I thought of, “If I were the editor of the Star Tribune…”, but that’s too scary even to contemplate. I thought of “I wish they had an editor at the Strib instead of a brand manager.” But finally I decided to go with, “The Star Tribune is a poor excuse for cutting down trees.”
Let’s look at today’s edition and see if you agree. The top of the front page is, literally, a fish story. Yup, you live in a major metropolitan area–an area that attracts and keeps top businesses because of its level of culture and education levels–and the top of the front page is: “Whoopee, we still have the biggest fish on record.”
OK, they did have a story (written by the Washington Post) next to it on the Iran controversy, but c’mon.
The story right under the breaking fish scoop was a heart-render ripped from the pages (no, make that TV screen) of the crap that passes for news every night at 10 p.m. Yup, it’s another person facing adversity with the help of caring friends, family, public programs and caring corporations. It is news? Is it a story? Maybe. Maybe it belongs on the Sunday feature pages. Probably, it’s on the front page because the brand manager thinks it will bring a little tear and remind us “There, but for the grace of God…” Don’t they have Katherine Kersten for that crap?
Turning to the metro section, we learn that a meeting with Superintendent Thandiwe Peebles and the School Board has been….well, cancelled. In the Strib’s defense, they have done a pretty good job of pointing out Peebles’ problems in the past. Too bad they didn’t get on her before she got here…like finding out her behavior in her last job or that she didn’t really meet the legal licensing requirements for the job or that her degree was from a cereal box.
But what I’m really gassed about is the huge photo of Norm Coleman marching with the Martin Luther King parade. If you check the Strib rate card, you’ll see that space would cost several thousand dollars to purchase…and what is a big picture of Norm with the MLKers if not an ad? Does the fact that a politician shamelessly allies himself with popular causes qualify as news? What’s next? Can we expect to see Norm cutting the ribbon at hardware store openings?
(Perhaps I’d give the Strib a pass on that if they explained that the shot of Norm with his mouth opening was him trying to explain how he voted for the new bankruptcy law which makes it even easier for the credit card companies and check cashing store fronts which prey on the poor to keep someone underfoot forever. Try to reconcile that one with the ideals of Dr. King.)
Just for contrast, compare the Strib’s superficial coverage of MLK Day with that of the Wall Street Journal, who used the occasion of Martin Luther King Day to remind us that his work is far from over. The front page yesterday of the most conservative paper in the land was a feature on how the city of Atlanta had screwed black cops out of their retirement pay. That’s journalism.
But alas, you have to pay to subscribe to wsj.com to read the story. But, unlike the free online version of the Strib, you get something for your money.
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