Strib going financially -- and ethically -- bankrupt?

Starting with NY Post on Sunday, three days of stories now about Mpls Star Tribune being in fiscal straits, due to private-equity firm that bought the newspaper being in over its head in debt (about $400M of the $500M to buy the paper was borrowed). The Strib's stories seem to be providing major spin, driven by the brass. So with latest link on Romenesko site to Tuesday's coverage, there was this note of feedback (on Romenesko, not the Strib's site):

Strib's censorship
Posted by Walter Abbott III 5/6/2008 8:07:10 AM
Actually the most interesting part of the story was this comment posted this morning....
Will the Star Tribune censor...
...these comments, too? In their first story over the weekend eight people left comments. When they weren't going in the Star Tribunes favor they were deleted and no more comments were allowed.
-- posted by Average_Joe on May 6, 08 at 6:15 am

So someone at Strib -- upper management or scared news types -- is whacking comments that criticize the paper. Nice. That's sure a swell way to build trust and allegiance in the folks who are migrating to Internet sources of information, in part because of its interactivity. (BTW, I'm not "Average Joe." Hardly anything average about me.)

 

Hey, I just batted 1.000!

 

Links?

 

damn! this is one of those things where the people there are probably the last to know. good luck all.

 

Here ya go, Slappy:

http://www.poynter.org/article_feedback/article_feedback_list.asp?user=&id=142859

Oh, and now this, too:

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2008/05/how_bad_is_it_f.php

In the second one...

A business journalist floats the possibility that Star Tribune owner Avista Capital Partners leaked the "brink of bankruptcy" story to the New York Post in advance of trying to sell the paper. Jeff Shaw writes: "It's possible that the firm has decided to sell and is using this story to fuel perception that the paper can be had for a bargain-basement price. Another source, a former CEO, said the timing of the story suggests it's a tool to use in upcoming labor negotiations."

 

Sucks, but I'm not surprised.

The Strib's coverage is but a shadow of what it once was and their zoned editions have alienated the rest of the state. There's one reason for the subscription drop. They used to be the best at covering outstate Minnesota and gave people outside of the Twin Cities a reason to subscribe. Now we're stuck with an oversupply of tired columnists and world news. And can someone tell me what happened to a once readable opinion section?

I stopped being interested in the Strib after their redesign and the following buyouts (I was pissed when Chuck Haga left.)

Newspapers in Minnesota are struggling all over the place right now. The chain company I previously worked for recently forced out eight photographers (one per shop) by reclassifying their full-time jobs to 20-hour a week part-time jobs.

Things aren't all doom and gloom at my current shop, but our advertising is struggling and it only seems like a matter of time before some drastic changes happen.

Everyone seems to be on edge, but isn't that everywhere right now?