Star Tribune may not be #2

Posted at 4:15 PM on March 11, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Economy

There was a lot of link love yesterday for a Time Magazine ranking that appeared to suggest the Star Tribune is the second-mostly-likely big city newspaper in America (The Philadelphia Inquirer was first) to go belly up.

Not so fast.

Shocked that the Boston Globe was on the list, media watcher Dan Kennedy (who, by the way, writes a must-read blog), points out the writer was a blogger who might not have the best information in the world:

In fact, the source of this rather startling prediction is Douglas McIntyre, a blogger for 24/7 Wall Street -- not exactly the ghost of Henry Luce. Time just happens to run the feed on its Web site. (Here's a look at the site's syndication service.) I've interviewed McIntyre. He's a smart, knowledgeable guy, but it's fair to say that he likes to be a provocateur.

You will notice, too, that McIntyre repeats that bit about the Globe's being worth only $20 million. In fact, as the Boston Business Journal reported recently, a more logical number is a shade under $200 million -- far short of the $1.1 billion that the New York Times Co. paid for it (in 1993 dollars, no less), but a lot more than $20 million. I know of no one who ever thought the $20 million figure was credible.

Adam Reilly at the Boston Phoenix's Don't Quote Me Blog (another must-read blog), unearths the nugget that the list wasn't in order -- it may not be #2.

None of which matters to the pressmen's union at the paper. Today in New York, the Star Tribune's lawyers told a judge it needs $3.5 million in concessions from the union as part of $20 million more in cuts its seeking from its employees.

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