Kouba Does Strib
By Mitch Berg
Jeff Kouba on the changes at the Strib:
Conservatives care about news, and bias in newsrooms, because we recognize the importance of a free press. I don’t want the Strib to disappear, I value a strong local paper. I want a local paper that isn’t the publishing arm of the DFL. I want a local paper that finds the stories I never could, and is home to quality writing.
There is much I enjoy about the Strib. I enjoy their theater and music and dance critics. I like the sports pages. In short, I value the local focus Hugh Hewitt says will be necessary for newspapers in a changing media landscape.
That’s a key point – one missed by rage-o-holics like Nick Coleman and Garrison Keillor; most of us have nothing intrinsically against newspapers or their reporters.
Merely the blinkered, smug political bias that all too many (but by no means all) newspaper reporters, columnists and editors have.
Some of us, indeed, roil with anger in noting that the Strib has the tools for its own salvation already on board, in the likes of Eric Black, Doug Tice, Lileks (for now) and whomever decided to hire Katherine Kersten, but chooses to ignore them in favor of an ever-more-noxious status quo. They’re “staying” the wrong course.
But a paper that equates local focus with turning Lileks into a brand new J-school graduate doesn’t know where it’s going, and that’s not a good sign.
Jim Boyd a lousy leader?
Who’da thunk it?
May 8th, 2007 at 6:44 pm
After reading Lilek’s hilarious play-by-play of last night’s 24 I have absolutely no worries regarding his future. I also have little doubt regarding the Red Star’s future.
May 9th, 2007 at 9:23 am
Much like the public school system, the Strib will have to completely collapse before any real change can occur. The liberal cancer, coupled with decades of mediocrity, have resulted in a terminal diagnosis.
Dance huh? So you’re a big fan of Twyla Tharp and Alvin Ailey?
May 9th, 2007 at 9:35 am
I didn’t explain the dance comment, but for me it’s an example of how a local paper, and good writers, can be effective. I haven’t been a fan of dance. I’ve kind of lumped it in with modern art, which I usually loathe. Some twiggy dancer bending over in contortions supposedly representing man’s struggle against Evil Corporations doesn’t interest me.
But, the dance reviews have pulled me in, and got me interested in how these talented, athletic dancers try to tell a story, how they are creating a kind of art, how they think, etc… I’ve become interested as much in the process as in the product.
Other sections of the paper, whether business or travel or arts etc… have done the same. I regularly find things of interest there.
So, I separate all that out from the Red Star’s editorial bent, and if the Strib could become a must read chronicle of the local scene (and Lileks’ unique way of looking at history, in postcards and photos or whatever, could be a great resource) they might find their way through this brave new media world.