Note to "media types:" Your power by using sexual innuedno to get the "prized audience" isn’t working so well…anymore! I have been spending a lot of time lately doing research on what people read and why. There are a few important areas that seem to bug the future of this country and the ones who […]
If I were king of the fore-e-e-est
February 4, 2008 by
I hope you all noticed the bold initiative of the Star Tribune, as expressed on their editorial page on Sunday. Yup, they put their heads together, snorted and wheezed with the Herculean effort, pressed hard on their temples to concentrate the intellect, and made their endorsement regarding tomorrow’s "Super Tuesday" nationwide primaries and caucuses. And […]
Lost Files of the Star Trib Readers' Rep
December 28, 2007 by
Sunday morning’s aren’t nearly as much fun anymore. Not long ago I’d heft the Strib off the doorstep, chuck out the ads, the news and the sports and dig right into my favorite column, "The Readers’ Representative." Having worked for a decade and a half at a daily newspaper, I miss hearing first hand the […]
What Will Dan Barreiro Do?
November 19, 2007 by
You want to feel a cone of silence? Call around to KFAN and KSTP and ask what’s up with Dan Barreiro? You gotta hope the U.S. spy satellite program has security this tight. As has been reported here and by Judd Zulgad over at the Strib, Barreiro is at that rare moment in a broadcaster’s […]
Randy, The Reader's Rep …
November 17, 2007 by
(A semi-regular Q&A with "Randy" the new Star Tribune Reader’s Representative, most frequently found on the corner stool at the Dry Dock roadhouse, in the shadow of the big microwave tower, Chaffey, Wisconsin.) Randy, Your Reader’s Rep: Dang but stuff piles up. I come back from baitin’ a few bear traps, havin’ a couple beers […]
Last Night's Debate: Bite Me, Wolf.
November 16, 2007 by
Now that we’ve more or less cleared up that "illegal immigrants with driver licenses" issue, the line I was pleading for one of the Democrats to throw back last night was, "Wolf, do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound? Do you ever get tired of this ‘gotcha’ crap?" Something like that probably would […]
The TV Writers Strike: Reverb into Newsrooms?
November 15, 2007 by
The average couch tuber probably isn’t tracking this TV writers strike too much. Not beyond fretting over an early end to Heroes and no new Daily Shows. Beyond that the affected "workers," a lot of smart-ass Bimmer-driving West L.A. espresso sippers, are never going to win an outpouring of empathy from the people who obsessively […]
Startribune.com Readers: Very Sticky Eyeballs
November 14, 2007 by
Holy eyeballs Batman! The latest newspaper website readership numbers were released today by Nielsen Online (and printed on the Editor and Publisher website) and startribune.com placed third (behind the Arizona Republic and New York Times websites) in the amount of time readers spent on the site. Readers in October spent an average of 27 minutes, 40 […]
Banana Republic Fades into the Sunset
November 14, 2007 by
Damn! Over here I keep a list of great story ideas and names of people I’ve really got to get around to catching up with, just to see what their story is today. Like MPR’s Bill Kling. Like all the guys who played in The Warheads years ago. And like Kirk Anderson, the former cartoonist […]
Politics in Minnesota: MnDOT Suffering Under Strib Attack
November 12, 2007 by
Whoa. Sarah Janecek’s Politics in Minnesota newsletter sure lobbed one into the Strib newsroom late Friday. In a Weekly Report item entitled “MnDOT Under Seige: The Star Tribune’s Agenda,” Janecek writes that MnDOT personnel are getting pretty fed up with certain pushy, expletive-spewing Strib reporters. According to an email sent by a MnDOT mucky-muck to […]