News Cut: January 17, 2009 Archive

The Star Press?

Posted at 8:37 AM on January 17, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Economy, Media

Maybe the bankruptcy of the Star Tribune newspaper means the end of the Pioneer Press brand. Maybe not.

MPR's Martin Moylan's story on this week's bankruptcy filing of the Minneapolis-based Star Tribune documents the likelihood of this two-newspaper town becoming a one-newspaper town:

"Bankruptcy is often used to effectuate a sale. That is not out of the realm of possibility. I'm not too sure if those arrangements have been explored. But I can assure you the lenders have given it thought," (bankruptcy attorney george singer said. The most logical buyer of the Star Tribune would seem to be Media News, which runs the smaller Pioneer Press.

If that happens, which name lives? The Pioneer Press? The Star Tribune? The Star Press? The Pioneer Tribune? The Pioneer Press Star Tribune?

Of course, that's a big if. The company that owns the Pioneer Press -- Media News -- has its own financial struggles. And its competition in another two-newspaper town may be drawing its immediate attention.

Any combination of the two local papers would most certainly result in some lost jobs at both locations. It may well be that hopes for a healthy Star Tribune, may be highest in the cubicles at its local competition.

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The plane

Posted at 10:42 AM on January 17, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Disasters

Six must-read items in the aftermath of the water landing of the US Airways jet on Thursday:

>> Here's some of the initial radio transmissions by first responders.

>> Philip Greenspun, who's also a pilot, deftly points out (probably too deftly) that for all of the appropriate credit being given to Chesley Sullenberger, pilot, there were actually two people in the cockpit (James Fallows makes the same point). The first officer's (aka co-pilot's) mother lives in Wisconsin, by the way. It occurs to me also that the now-famous "brace for impact" call may not necessarily have been Sullenberger's.

>> Charles Bremner has a nice piece in the London Times about what was likely happening in the cockpit during the final few minutes of the flight.

>> The Coast Guard released some surveillance camera video of the plane ditching.

>> Students at an aviation college put together a simulation of the flight:

>> Here's an interview with John Ostrom, manager of airside operations at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, who spoke with Newsweek about the danger of birds at airports.

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