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MNSpeak: Talk
Insider's Dilemma
The examples of pitiful management inside the Star Tribune are abundant.
Consider a business that's prime goal is to tell stories and sell the space next to those stories to turn a buck. How do you do that when experienced sales reps are leaving in droves because starting salaries are plummeting, raises dont keep up with cost of living and health care benefits - like old sutures - keep getting snipped.
Clearly Keith Moyer doesn't want to work at the Star Tribune anymore. Has he been pushed out? Who really cares? The element to focus on is the fact that he's running for the hills before the new owners can start making decisions. Makes you wonder.
Clearly the creative team isnt excited about the future of the Star Tribune. From the defunct internal Ad Agency, to creative tools that were brand new in 1999, to the organization of a new union designed to represent just the creatives. Makes you wonder.
Clearly the circulation department doesnt want to work at the Star Tribune. Why else would you knowingly make decisions that would intentionally shrink the circulation of the areas largest newspaper? Makes you wonder.
Clearly the sales staff doesnt want to work at the Star Tribune. In a company that prides itself on 20 and 40 year experienced employees, the sales staff is leaving in droves. Why would you stay when your customers are mad at you because you roll out the Cackly contracting system effectively doubling and tripling the advertising costs of small to medium sized companies. And year after year, you demand more from your sales reps and then gladly cut their salaries effectively creating a mini-depression within your own employee base. Makes you wonder.
You'll be interested to know that the genius behind the Cackly contracting system was forced out of the Star Tribune and now works for her sister.
You'll be interested to know that most of the news you should want to read, will never get printed!! Why? Two words - auto dealers.
So Keith, you're in good company with many other current and former Star Tribune employees who dont want to work for you or the current Star Tribune.
Here's to hoping that:
- all the McClatchy-ites depart because the new owner, if smart, will fire you anyway
- the news room grows a pair of balls and starts telling real news that impact citizens of Minnesota
- the new owners are the best thing to happen to the Star Tribune and the Twin Cities.
PS To whomever is surveying the Star Tribune property for whatever ballpark or skyscraper opportunity, do it when the employees aren't around. Surveying the land is about as tacky as measuring a dying man for his coffin while he lays in the hospital.
29 Reader Comments
Wow.
Perfect. This is the reason why MnSpeak exists.
Double "wow"
I'm a longtime Strib subscriber -- can't stand the Pi Press and its constant neighborhood-bashing, basic fact errors, oddball editorials, etc. And yet I'm ready to pitch the Strib even though I think its St. Paul coverage is better overall.
I hate losing the world news that will go by the boards when the old Knight-Ridder-McClatchy-whatever news service goes away. I dislike paying for a smaller and thinner paper each day. I can't stand the wbe site and its surprise ads.
And I get tired of these attempts to be trendy. "Withering glance" is absolutely painful to read.
Just cover news, people!
They may as well not open doors at 425 Portland Av. -- the morale is so low folks can just slither beneath them. . .
Two words - auto dealers.
I knew Denny Hecker and his infernal ads had something to do with it!
Not sure how many responses this will post will get, but ranks up there with my all time favorites.
I love unfounded allegations!
Hug a disgrunted employee today!
I concur. This kind of sh*t is what keeps me reading Mnspeak, day after day.
That, and Max.
Here's to hoping that:
- the news room grows a pair of balls and starts telling real news that impact citizens of Minnesota
- the new owners are the best thing to happen to the Star Tribune and the Twin Cities.
Yep...good luck with that. Let us know how it goes.
Heh.
I hear City Pages has some openings.
So, this was clearly written by an ad salesperson with no understanding of what's going on in the newsroom. Hiring tons of reporters? Umm ... when did that happen again? There's basically been a hiring freeze in effect since the redesign, and even those people they hired for the new redesign jobs were often moved around from other positions, which then were not filled. Lots of jobs are even now sitting vacant while others work more to pick up the slack.
Can we please be done with the tiresome rants about the paper not covering "real news"? This is about as original as complaining that lawyers are slick or that doctors play too much golf. And you expect people to believe that there have actually been times when a real-live newsroom employee's judgment was affected by car dealerships who have lots of ads in the paper? Whoever wrote this hasn't spent much time with news people, because all the news people I know would sooner quit than work in a place where Denny Hecker tells you what to write.
Oh how the Strib laughed at City Pages' troubles, and then laughed harder at the PiPress' woes. "It'll never happen to us..."
I work in the Strib advertising design & production area. The writer does sound like a disgruntled sales rep with no real knowledge of the newsroom or understanding of upper management changes.
Much of the original post is correct. We're losing a lot of good people. My department has seen almost a dozen good production artists, designers and art directors leave over the past year.
Here's what I don't get: Why the hand-wringing? You're in advertising. Quit taking yourself so seriously. You're unhappy with your job? Go sell something else. Hell, there's good money in pharmaceuticals. The people I know have found good positions because of their experience gained at StarTribune. Update your resume and make some calls.
I can understand when newsroom employees express concern about changes in the company affecting their ability to cover the news. But this is ridiculous.
"You'll be interested to know that most of the news you should want to read, will never get printed!! Why? Two words - auto dealers."
- - -
Any clue as to the driver behind this one? All that comes to my mind is that the "Denny Hecker divorce" Court of Appeals opinion, which was really entertaining, never made the news, but then I'm sort of parochial about what I like to read.
(shrugs)
W/e
strib dps -
If you were proud of being a part of supporting what you think is a cornerstone of our democracy and you think that it has become fish wrap and unworthy of reading then you'd take it seriously. Otherwise you're just selling a piece of paper with no value.
domenic -
If depthrot feels that way, he/she should do something about it. Work to make some change from the inside. Posting an inflated "commentary" does nothing to make StarTribune better or improve working conditions for depthrot or anyone else.
But I doubt that's the impetus for depthrot's post. Do you hear a lot of ad sales people talk about "supporting a cornerstone of our democracy"? I don't. I hear them talk about incremental revenue, sales quotas and commissions.
Just a quick note: I work in the Strib newsroom, and I have neither seen nor heard of one person laughing at the recent history of our competition.
Most people here realize that competition is good for readers. If nothing else it's good motivation. But everyone realizes that there are human beings working for the competition. As we see events unfolding in our industry -- even close to home -- the reaction is often sadness mixed with fear.
It's that whole "There but for the grace..." thing.
Just wanted to dispel any notion of mass schadenfreude going on in here.
Thanks.
Actually it doesn't really 'make me wonder' much at all.
Look at it this way:
Maybe "Withering Glance" is what will save this paper.
Does anyone but a Strib employee care about this? Why not a post about the recent layoffs at Boston Scientific? This is one news source of many. I can't think of a single reason to part with my 50 cents for a copy.
A wise man: This isn't just about the insular working world of the local media. This is about money, greed, the control of information, what constitutes as news these days, and how we receive the "news."
You would have to be pretty naive - aka, fresh from the journalism dept. at the U of M - to NOT believe that those that pay a big bundle of the papers' bills - aka, auto dealers - have the power to compromise the news even just a little bit. I suppose you would also expound back and forth that drug companies have no effect on our government representatives whatsoever.
And by the way, I love Withering Glance, and I write an email to the paper every week telling them so. I've also decided that every time bud jr. makes a comment mocking it, I'm going to write another email to the paper about how great I think the column is. Power to the people!
Hah! You think working for the Strib is bad? Try working for a "community paper." I had the privlege of working at a community paper just south of the cities, what a joke. Poverty wages, pitiful insurance, a 401k that was laughable, and a ridiculously corrupt administration had me out of there in a year. In fact, the entire staff had turned over in about a year, in all departments. The owner had the balls to brag about the wages he paid.
To dps,
You've never worked in sales have you?! All we ever heard and had shoved in our faces was sales quotas and incremental revenue. Our base was not a lot and commissions were how I/we survived. I use to be proud that I worked for the StarTribune and thought it was a solid paper. But after 13 years and saw how management treated all employees I resigned. My best to those who are still hanging in there!
withering glance withering glance
amber likes it so we haven't a chance
its all about gays and shoes and anal
oh why should we moan over something so banal?
OK, I'm not the biggest Withering Glances fan, although I think it's sometimes cute.
But I do have to give credit to Rick Nelson's other Strib work. I think he's one of the most underrated food critics in town. He's fun to read and not anywhere near as annoyingly egocentric as some of his competition. He is, quite easily, one of my favorite things about the Strib. (Plus, from the few times I've met him, he seems like a really nice guy, too.)
Also, I do think it refreshing to hear some gay voices coming out of a features department. As most newspaper insiders will tell you, there are very few gays working in that part of the paper -- all the big homos are in sports.
Dear Butt Throb, oh sorry, Deep Throt, sounds like your editorials were edited a liitle to much for your liking, just another pathetic disgruntled wanna- be that doesn't have the balls to tell someone to their face what they think. You hide behind a shroud of a blog that you know Keith is likely to read and you think your cheap shots will have an effect on him? I'm not sure what your point is, I don't work for the Strib, but I've know Keith Moyer since he's been in the Twin Cities and he's a stand up guy.
You people are in a tough industry right now, trying to nfind direction for a dinosaur media outlet that is being trampled by the Internet (this blog case in point) The VP you were complaining about who's meager photo journalistic experience should not qualify him for his position has spearheaded the "online" end of the Strib and (if you really knew anything about the inner workings of your own company you'd know THIS) has made it a complete success!
Although I don't work there, I know the kind of person Keith Moyer is, and I know his door is always open to those who have concerns, and those who have the balls to bring them to light.
Then there are NUTLESS WONDERS, like yourself, who probably have trouble finding your own little pecker in your pants when you have to take a leak!
I could go on, I find my own writing far more entertaining than yours, (and you do it for a living), but I think I've exposed you enough, crawl back under your desk, take another nap, suck the Company for a few more dollars, a few more comp'd lunches, parking passes, press passes, backstage passes, Viking's, Twin's, Wolves tickets etc. then waste some more time writing in a blog complaining about problems you don't have the guts or will to try to fix yourself.
As for Keith, I don't think he'll be losing much sleep over the likes of you, he's never been concerned much with LOSERS, just WINNERS.
Have a great retirement Keith!
Sledgehammer-
I could not agree with you more. Keith is a fantastic leader who can and will enjoy is retirement.
Can someone please explain the "auto dealer" reference? Seriously...why are they so important and how do they affect news coverage? I can guess given their ad prevalence, but is it more than that? I'd love someone to explain it cogently, please. Thank you...whoever you will be.
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