“We,” in this case being the Star Tribune, an arm of the left/media establishment that reigns in Minnesota, and “your,” in this case being Alpha News, the maverick alternative news outlet that serves Minnesotans disgusted by the Star Tribune’s incessant propagandizing on behlf of its favored causes.
I wrote recently about Star Tribune publisher Steve Grove’s elimination of jobs and pursuit of a purposely nonprofit structure for the paper. I observed that Star Tribune reporter Jeff Day’s more limited observation about Grove’s justification of his plans was widely applicable to the product sold by the paper: “The management’s argument that this decision, these layoffs, will improve our company in any way, shape or form lacks any foundation in reality.”
Alpha News editor Anthony Gockowski now reports: “[F]or several weeks, lawyers for the nonprofit Alpha News engaged in talks with the ownership of the Star Tribune related to Alpha News’ purchase of the paper, including the negotiation of a non-disclosure agreement. During those negotiations, the Star Tribune’s lawyers indicated that ownership was moving in another direction.”
That must be something of an understatement. I would say that they are running as fast as they can in another direction, away from Alpha News. It’s not that the price wouldn’t be right. This is not The Price Is Right! There is no right price. It’s the politics, stupid!
JOHN adds: Nice troll by Alpha. For what it’s worth, I am quite certain that the Star Tribune’s owner has offered the paper for sale at a bargain price–$0. I thought about buying it, but there is a catch: any buyer has to pick up the paper’s liabilities, which consist of pension obligations to employees and former employees. So you can have the Star Tribune for free, if you are willing to spend millions to support the retirement of lots of liberal reporters. So far, no one has taken the owner up on that offer.
