The Minnesota Star Tribune, which is already getting a lot of attention for its outstanding coverage of ICE’s violent and indiscriminate rampage through Minneapolis and St. Paul, has unveiled some ideas that ought to be considered by every large regional newspaper in the country.
Granted, newspapers owned by corporations and hedge funds aren’t likely to emulate these common-sense ideas, even though they might boost revenue in the long run. But there are still some independent dailies such as The Boston Globe and The Philadelphia Inquirer, as well as a few high-quality chains such as Hearst and Advance, that could learn from the Star Tribune.
The Strib is one of the projects that Ellen Clegg and I highlight in our book, “What Works in Community News.” The changes were announced in a press release on Friday. They include:
► An end to the paywall for live blogs covering breaking news, which will ensure that “its public service journalism is accessible to all.” The Strib’s free live-blog coverage of the ICE occupation has been essential. Moreover, Minnesota residents whose first exposure to the paper’s journalism was through the live blog might be enticed into buying a subscription.
► Unlimited gift links so that subscribers can share articles with friends. The press release doesn’t specify whether those links will be shareable on social media as well, but that is the standard practice at most papers that offer gift links. This is another forward-looking move that will give non-readers a chance to sample the Strib’s coverage and decide whether they want to become paying customers. The Globe, to cite one contrary example, lets you email a gift link to friends, but it’s kludgy and it doesn’t work on social. The Strib’s approach sounds like it will be cleaner and more intuitive.
► A family-plan digital subscription with up to four unique log-ins, offered at a slightly higher price than an individual subscription. The New York Times does this, but I’m not aware of other papers that do it.
► A nonprofit fund that can accept tax-deductible donations to support the Star Tribune’s journalism. (The Local News Fund was started in 2024, but it was re-announced Friday.) Some might object to this; the Strib, like the Globe, is a for-profit owned by a billionaire. But those billionaires have invested a considerable amount of resources into their papers, which are marginally profitable at best. If you accept the proposition that even a billionaire owner shouldn’t be expected to run their paper at a loss, then this is a good way to support high-quality regional news coverage.
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Interesting, positive, innovative, forward-looking developments. I haven’t quite made sense, if I ever will, of the model of billionaires acting as white knights – am I being too charitable in that description, given Bezos and the Blocks? Should billionaires be obligated to operate newspapers at a loss? Some could argue “to each according to his need, from each according to his ability to pay,” but overall that’s rather shaky.
A non-profit accepting tax-deductible donations? Yeah, in a way that’s tax policy, hence public support, let’s see how it plays out, whether it not only pays the bills, but funds the incisive, insightful, well-researched journalism we need.
Are the Blocks billionaires? They’ve been around for many decades, and I thought they were representatives of an earlier model, when people got rich from owning newspapers.