On the way out of existence, Strib looks to merit the Calvin position in this cartoon [where I'd earlier thought to assign the Calvin positioin to Met Council's planners and its Comp Plan staff in particular, or to planners in general as a class, but I'll dedicate the rerun to Strib - click to enlarge].
For detail, and comments, MinnPost has two items, one by Brauer, reporting; the other by Black, opinion.
Please have a look. Eric Black's viewpoint is what convinced me to dedicate the Calvin rerun to Strib. He might think that a bit snotty of me since I have no reporting experience and I am sure he has that proverbial "host of memories" of better times for freedom of the press and press prosperity in Minnesota. It would not be inappropriate for him to view things that way.
But, shouldn't Strib online have told us what they were doing?
My first hint was a blunt uber-right wing save KK email scream.
It seems somehow wrong to have to learn via MinnPost reporting what Strib did (but felt unwilling to tell people of in their own outlet).
Reticence that way bothers me. It seems to be a signature failure of leadership character, on the way toward the final shoals.
__________UPDATE_________
I don't know copyright status nuances, but for Calvin-and-Hobbs fans, this archive, online.
Also, Brauer of MinnPost heard some uber-right distress over KK, as he reports. I read the comments to the three MinnPost linked things, two Brauers and a Black. Is there any future for print media: The wire service feeds are online, there is NY Times and WaPo online, Google News, etc. I like Strib online because even when repackaging wire feeds, they glean. MinnPost has the Glean, and MPR Polinaut gleans. I like the Strib online, and PiPress, but it's got a nuisance habit of popping up that blithering SIGN-IN screen that is as bad as flashing ads. Speaking of which, FireFox with Adblock and script blocking is not helping the local paper online outlets, since selling ads is important cash flow. But it is such a bonus to remove that stuff.
Is it just me, or is there a strong trend toward the video blurb - the Adobe Flash player syndrome, and is that good with me in a minority of wanting things to read and not talk to me, or am I representative of a large audience bloc that's unresponsive to Web news becoming more and more like TV?
There is plenty opinion on the blogs, while the "news" outlets editorialize over what they feature and bury, or don't cover at all. (Some MinnPost comments suggested that Strib pre-election imposed a moritorium on political column prosyltzing, and if anyone has detail, please leave a comment here. I can see pros and cons to that, but as long as clear opinion is identified as such, why silence it?) But it is all editorial, and those talking about "the liberal Strib" are about ten or more years out of sync.
_________FURTHER UPDATE__________
I left out the item that retriggered my attention on Strib events, the Business Journal painting its bleak picture of the Strib's future, while cross referencing Brauer, which I googled since BJ did not give a Brauer link. BizJ did link over to its earlier "death rattle" story, here.
It's sitting on a nice piece of real estate, still, regardless of what the bean counters do to the press part of the package.