As I wrote on Monday evening, Liz Collin is the Emmy-winning former reporter and news anchor at the Minnesota affiliate of CBS News. When Liz announced that she was leaving the station a month ago, it was big news. The Star Tribune story reporting her departure was the most-read story that day.
On Monday Alpha News announced that Liz was working for the site. The announcement was coincident with the release of Liz’s video report on the Twin Cities carjacking spree for Alpha News.
On Monday I doubted that the Star Tribune would see Liz’s joining Alpha as a big a story as her leaving CBS Minnesota, but I was wrong. Music reporter [?] Chris Riemenschneider covered Liz’s joining Alpha in “Former WCCO-TV reporter Liz Collin joins conservative site Alpha News.” The Star Tribune doesn’t see itself or CBS as a left-wing organ, but it must assure that outlets like Power Line and Alpha News are pegged on the political spectrum. As I write this morning, Riemenschneider’s story on Liz is the Star Tribune’s most-read.
Liz explained to Riemenschneider: “There’s a lot happening in Minnesota right now. Reporters need to be covering that and bring more things to the surface, and I feel like I wasn’t allowed to do that in the last couple years. The last couple years I have been very limited in what I was allowed to cover, and I was suspended from my anchoring post that I held for a dozen years at WCCO. So I felt compelled to explore some other opportunities.”
Liz has not publicized the reason for her exit from WCCO/CBS Minnesota. Riemenschndeider added this:
Collin’s husband, Kroll, was the former president of the Minneapolis Police Officers Federation, and a lightning rod for critics of police abuse in Minneapolis before he announced his retirement in January 2021. Calls for Kroll’s resignation increased following George Floyd’s murder in May 2020.
Collin declined to answer questions Tuesday about Kroll, saying, “Women can actually have their career in this day and age. This story is about me, not my husband.”
And let us not forget this:
In August 2020, more than 100 Black Lives Matter protesters gathered outside the couple’s home, where they smashed piñata effigies of them. During those chaotic months, Collin was not involved in stories related to law enforcement or protests at WCCO, where she worked for 14 years.
Was Liz “involved in stories related to law enforcement” after “those chaotic months”? I will have to check with her and get back to you on that. [UPDATE: No, she was not. I followed up with Liz in the adjacent post here.]
If Liz were a different kind of person — a Star Tribune kind of person, perhaps — I think she might be crying sexism and political persecution of an updated McCarthyite kind, but with far more justice than Star Tribune heroes decry their victimization. Liz’s story presents as a case study of the mainstream media at work.
Liz appeared midway through the second hour on Justice & Drew yesterday morning. I have embedded the second hour below. Liz unburdens herself a little about her treatment by WCCO in the course of the interview. I recommend it for those interested in the story behind the story.
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