Tortorello Out at City Pages, Matt Smith In
City Pages’ managing editor Michael Tortorello has resigned, according to a Village Voice Media press release posted at the paper’s blog, and he’s being replaced by former SF Weekly managing editor Matt Smith.
Tortorello’s exit follows many at the paper since the beginning of the year, from top editor Steve Perry and writers Britt Robson, Chuck Terhark, and Jim Walsh, to, more recently, staff writer Mike Mosedale and former senior editor Beth Hawkins. Neither Tortorello nor editor Kevin Hoffman were available for comment, but the VVM release gave the rather stock explanation that he’s “resigning to pursue other interests.”
His replacement, as of Monday, July 16, is Smith, whose experiences range from editing VVM’s San Francisco paper to freelance writing full-time to fundraising for a jobs program for homeless people in Los Angeles. Smith has lived in the Twin Cities since 2002, and most recently worked in media relations at Twin Cities Public Television.
Par Ridder, Blogger?
Par Ridder’s favorite film is “Point Break.”
Or so says the profile at Par Excellence, a satirical blog written from the Star Tribune publisher’s perspective.
The anonymously authored site features the words of “Par,” whose writing voice is half clueless optimist, half sans-a-frat fratboy. “Yeah, Calhoun isn’t top notch,” he writes in a post about Vita.mn’s reporting on a swimsuit show it sponsored at Calhoun Beach Club. “But still, hanging out by a pool and getting front-row seats to watch swimsuit models kicks ass.” In another, titled “Ganging up on me,” he writes that if anybody — including recent Ridder critics Brian Lambert of The Rake or KSTP’s Ron Rosenbaum — “think[s] I got my new job as publisher just because my parents are close to Avista, you’re wrong.”
And another cites Minnesota Monitor’s reporting on Ridder’s apparent purchase of the $2.76 million house once owned by former KARE-11 anchor Paul Magers. “It was Magers that added the golf simulator, not me,” complains “Ridder.”
Story continues…
Paul Schmelzer :: Par Ridder, Blogger?
With a more serious tone is the new website SavetheStrib.com. Run by the Star Tribune’s unit of the Minnesota Newspaper Guild, the site features the tagline, “Preserving the role of the Star Tribune in our communitiy.” Currently little more than a home page, it’ll eventually have news and bulletins sections. The home page features a statement, signed by Star Tribune employees and readers, decrying the cuts to the newsroom staff, the death of the paper’s philanthropic foundation, and shrinking news holes for national and international news.
It seems to suggest a shift in strategy: don’t mourn the loss of newsroom jobs; worry about the effect the cuts will mean for all of us — the community (a word that appears eight times on the home page).
Before encouraging visitors to urge Avista to “make a new commitment to once again make the Star Tribune the great newspaper this community deserves,” the site makes a prediction:
We recognize that this is a difficult time for newspapers. But we also believe that the current strategy of deep cuts will accelerate circulation declines and the downward spiral in the newspaper’s revenue. It also erodes the checks and balances that a strong newspaper provides the public and our democracy.
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Par Ridder, Blogger?
by: Paul Schmelzer
Mon Jul 09, 2007 at 8:04:11 PM
Par Ridder’s favorite film is “Point Break.”
Or so says the profile at Par Excellence, a satirical blog written from the Star Tribune publisher’s perspective.
The anonymously authored site features the words of “Par,” whose writing voice is half clueless optimist, half sans-a-frat fratboy. “Yeah, Calhoun isn’t top notch,” he writes in a post about Vita.mn’s reporting on a swimsuit show it sponsored at Calhoun Beach Club. “But still, hanging out by a pool and getting front-row seats to watch swimsuit models kicks ass.” In another, titled “Ganging up on me,” he writes that if anybody — including recent Ridder critics Brian Lambert of The Rake or KSTP’s Ron Rosenbaum — “think[s] I got my new job as publisher just because my parents are close to Avista, you’re wrong.”
And another cites Minnesota Monitor’s reporting on Ridder’s apparent purchase of the $2.76 million house once owned by former KARE-11 anchor Paul Magers. “It was Magers that added the golf simulator, not me,” complains “Ridder.”
Save the Strib?
With a more serious tone is the new website SavetheStrib.com. Run by the Star Tribune’s unit of the Minnesota Newspaper Guild, the site features the tagline, “Preserving the role of the Star Tribune in our communitiy.” Currently little more than a home page, it’ll eventually have news and bulletins sections. The home page features a statement, signed by Star Tribune employees and readers, decrying the cuts to the newsroom staff, the death of the paper’s philanthropic foundation, and shrinking news holes for national and international news.
It seems to suggest a shift in strategy: don’t mourn the loss of newsroom jobs; worry about the effect the cuts will mean for all of us — the community (a word that appears eight times on the home page).
Before encouraging visitors to urge Avista to “make a new commitment to once again make the Star Tribune the great newspaper this community deserves,” the site makes a prediction:
We recognize that this is a difficult time for newspapers. But we also believe that the current strategy of deep cuts will accelerate circulation declines and the downward spiral in the newspaper’s revenue. It also erodes the checks and balances that a strong newspaper provides the public and our democracy.
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