{"id":4001,"date":"2009-01-16T07:06:01","date_gmt":"2009-01-16T12:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=4001"},"modified":"2009-01-16T07:06:01","modified_gmt":"2009-01-16T12:06:01","slug":"whooooosh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=4001","title":{"rendered":"Whooooosh"},"content":{"rendered":"

Strib files for bankruptcy:<\/a><\/p>\n

The filing comes less than two years after Avista Capital Partners, a private equity group, purchased the paper for $530 million.<\/p>\n

It was widely expected after the paper missed multiple payments to its lenders. The Star Tribune in its filing lists assets of $493.2 million and liabilities of $661.1 million.<\/p>\n

The news was first reported on the Star Tribune’s Web site and confirmed by publisher Chris Harte.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Mr. Harte said, “We intend to use the Chapter 11 process to make this great Twin Cities institution stronger, leaner and more efficient.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It could, at least in the short term, do just that.<\/p>\n

In the longer run?\u00a0 Hard to say.\u00a0 More on Monday.<\/p>\n

Speaking of the long run:\u00a0 The newsroom union doesn’t think in it:<\/p>\n

In response to the filing, the guild representing the paper’s newsroom employees issued a statement in which it criticized Avista for its management of the paper in the wake of a series of concessions by the union.<\/p>\n

“It’s unfortunate that a New York-based private equity company has put the Twin Cities largest source of news and information at risk,” said Graydon Royce, co-chair of the Star Tribune unit of the guild.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well, to be fair, even a Minneapolis-based family business would have had a tough time making a go of the Strib <\/em>in this market.<\/p>\n

So what can the Strib <\/em>spin off to make money?:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Make it official:\u00a0 Sell the Minnesota Poll to the Minnesoros “Independent”<\/em>, forming an all-lefty-propaganda mill.<\/li>\n
  2. Spin off the sports section.<\/li>\n
  3. And Vita.Mn.<\/li>\n
  4. Sell tickets for the chance to pelt Chris Riemenschneider wtih rocks and garbage.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The Strib’s <\/em>lawyers will no doubt appreciate more ideas; please submit below.<\/p>\n

    And let’s not indulge in too much schadenfreud<\/em>:\u00a0 there are quite a few good people at the Strib.\u00a0 While the paper’s editorial fealty to the loony left – via Nick Coleman, Lori Sturdevant, the “Minnesota Poll” and a million puzzlingly-daft editorial stances – were a few extra barnacles on the anchor that sank the paper, I don’t wish unemployment on anyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Strib files for bankruptcy: The filing comes less than two years after Avista Capital Partners, a private equity group, purchased the paper for $530 million. It was widely expected after the paper missed multiple payments to its lenders. The Star Tribune in its filing lists assets of $493.2 million and liabilities of $661.1 million. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4001\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}