Posted on June 24, 2026 by Bill Glahn in Fake News, Media Bias

Retraction

The Minneapolis Star Tribune suffers a humiliating setback over a TMZ-style hit piece. A  TV news anchor for the local NBC affiliate, Julie Nelson, and her husband were injured in a boating accident across the border last week in Wisconsin.

Here at Power Line, we wish them both a speedy recovery.

The Star Tribune saw the incident as an opportunity to go after a local rival, publishing a story on Tuesday, under the false headline,

Intoxication by husband of KARE 11’s Julie Nelson suspected in Wisconsin boat crash, officials say

The husband of KARE 11 news anchor Julie Nelson is suspected of being drunk while operating a pontoon that crashed in Wisconsin, injuring both of them, state officials said Monday.
 
The article itself is no longer available, having been fully retracted by the Star Tribune. It turns out that (Wisconsin)  “state officials” said no such thing. The “quotes” appear to have been entirely fabricated by the Star Tribune as they explain in their retraction announcement.
 
No matter, the damage has already been done as other outlets picked up on the Star Tribune‘s falsehoods, The retraction reports that quotes and statements were attributed to not one but two (2) officials of the Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources that, apparently, only existed in the minds of the unnamed reporter(s).
 
The Star Tribune had published an earlier article on the out-of-state pontoon boat accident back on  June 19, under the headline,
 
Witness helped KARE anchor Julie Nelson, husband get to medics after they were hurt in boat crash:
 
The popular news personality said she needs to “take some time” off the air to recover.
 
The June 19 article was credited to veteran reporters Neal Justin and Paul Walsh. A search of the Star Tribune‘s website for the now-deleted June 22 article lists only Walsh on the by-line.

The Star Tribune article on the retraction is credited to unnamed “staff.”

Compare and contrast this June 20 article in the Star Tribune, from a different reporter, on the subject of “lies,”

A year later, lies about Melissa Hortman’s murder continue to spread

Hortman, of course, being the murdered former Speaker of the state House of Representatives. The Star Tribune calls out “a conservative social media account” for “resurfacing a conspiracy theory” by merely repeating “an allegation [Hortman’s killer] initially made himself.” The article goes on for 39 paragraphs, but done not present a single “lie” attributed to a specific person. Not one. Zero.

Huh? You, a conservative, accurately quote a statement made by a newsmaker, and that qualifies as a “lie.” You, a media giant, invent quotes never said by newsmaker and the Star Tribune forgives itself for a mere “breakdown in the reporting process.”

As for the boat crash article, we have a very rare example of the Star Tribune getting caught in multiple lies by persons and institutions with the resources and profiles to fight back.

It’s no wonder that the Star Tribune is looking to convert to nonprofit status and is seeking state taxpayer subsidies. We should just say no.

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