MinnPost.com
Encyclopedia
MinnPost.com also known as MinnPost is a non-profit news
website
in Minneapolis, Minnesota
, with a focus on Minnesota
news. Its mission is "to provide high-quality journalism for news-intense people who care about Minnesota."
According to its website, "MinnPost.com provides news and analysis Monday through Friday, based on reporting by professional journalists, most of whom have decades of experience in the Twin Cities media. The site features video and audio as well as written stories. It also includes commentary pieces from the community, and comments from readers on individual stories. The site does not endorse candidates for office or publish unsigned editorials representing an institutional position. They encourage broad-ranging, civil discussion from many points of view.
"Our goal is to create a sustainable business model for this kind of journalism, supported by corporate sponsors, advertisers, and members who make annual donations. High-quality journalism is a community asset that sustains democracy and quality of life, and we need people who believe in it to support our work."
MinnPost's initial funding of $850,000 came from four families: John and Sage Cowles, Lee Lynch and Terry Saario, Joel and Laurie Kramer, and David and Vicki Cox. Major foundation support has come from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Blandin Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the Minneapolis Foundation, and the Otto Bremer Foundation.
The CEO and Editor of MinnPost is Joel Kramer, former editor and then publisher of Star Tribune. Other members of the MinnPost board of directors are founding donors David Cox and Lee Lynch; Kathleen Hansen, director of the Minnesota Journalism Center at the University of Minnesota; Patrick Irestone, CEO of Meritide; John Satorius, of the law firm Fredrikson & Byron; Vernae Hasbargen, former executive director of the Minnesota Rural Education Association; Samuel Heins, of the law firm Heins Mills & Olson; Jennifer Martin, Chair of the Martin and Brown Foundation; Chris (Oshikata) Widdess, managing director at Penumbra Theatre Company; Judy Blaseg, fund-raising consultant; Tobin J. Dayton, president and CEO of JobDig; Rebecca Shavlik, former COO of Shavlik Technologies, a security software firm; Wendy Blackshaw, Vice President of Marketing, Sun Country Airlines; Fran Davis, REALTOR and Sales Manager, Coldwell Banker Burnet; Jack Dempsey, President of the Filtration Solutions Global Business, Pentair, Inc.; Kandace Olsen, vice president of communications and human resources, Great River Energy; Jeremy Edes Pierotti, Principal and Owner of Validus Consulting, a health-care management consulting firm; and broadcast journalist Fred De Sam Lazaro, director of the Project for Under-Told Stories at St. John's University in Collegeville. Founding donor John Cowles is director emeritus.
Among those who write for MinnPost, John Camp
won a Pulitzer Prize
for the feature article "Life on the Land: An American Farm Family" published in the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Dispatch
in 1986.
s and long term archives, its privacy policy
and use of HTTP cookies were not yet found in Google search. The online format was inspired by Voice of San Diego
and other sites.
The format takes its shape from online newspaper
s. At first, MinnPost published a print version of about eight pages at the lunch hour to high traffic locations. The print on demand
model and print version was discontinued during the newspaper's first year.
, Laurie Schwab, executive director of the Online News Association
, said in June 2007, 45 percent of the association's 1,100 members "started working at print publications and migrated online".
and editor
), Roger Buoen (managing editor
), Susan Albright
(managing editor
),Corey Anderson (Web editor), Kaeti Hinck (associate Web editor), Don Effenberger news editor), and about 25 journalist
s. According to Editor & Publisher
, opinion pieces are signed and nonpartisan. Several of the editors previously worked for the Star Tribune, MediaNews Group
's St. Paul Pioneer Press or Village Voice Media's City Pages
. Staff members also come from Minnesota Public Radio
, The Wall Street Journal
, The New York Times
, The Boston Globe
, The Hartford Courant
and Congressional Quarterly
.
Kramer was a Star Tribune editor (1980s), publisher (1992–1998) and president (1990s).
MinnPost is one of just two news organizations from Minnesota with a bureau in Washington, D.C. (along with the Minneapolis Star Tribune). The Washington correspondent and bureau chief is Derek Wallbank.
initially donated US$250,000 and in 2008 subsequently granted additional funds to expand local reporting. As of June 29, 2010, MinnPost had more than 2,000 member-donors contributing amounts ranging from $10 to $20,000.
News
News is the communication of selected information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience.- Etymology :...
website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
, with a focus on Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
news. Its mission is "to provide high-quality journalism for news-intense people who care about Minnesota."
According to its website, "MinnPost.com provides news and analysis Monday through Friday, based on reporting by professional journalists, most of whom have decades of experience in the Twin Cities media. The site features video and audio as well as written stories. It also includes commentary pieces from the community, and comments from readers on individual stories. The site does not endorse candidates for office or publish unsigned editorials representing an institutional position. They encourage broad-ranging, civil discussion from many points of view.
"Our goal is to create a sustainable business model for this kind of journalism, supported by corporate sponsors, advertisers, and members who make annual donations. High-quality journalism is a community asset that sustains democracy and quality of life, and we need people who believe in it to support our work."
MinnPost's initial funding of $850,000 came from four families: John and Sage Cowles, Lee Lynch and Terry Saario, Joel and Laurie Kramer, and David and Vicki Cox. Major foundation support has come from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Blandin Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the Minneapolis Foundation, and the Otto Bremer Foundation.
The CEO and Editor of MinnPost is Joel Kramer, former editor and then publisher of Star Tribune. Other members of the MinnPost board of directors are founding donors David Cox and Lee Lynch; Kathleen Hansen, director of the Minnesota Journalism Center at the University of Minnesota; Patrick Irestone, CEO of Meritide; John Satorius, of the law firm Fredrikson & Byron; Vernae Hasbargen, former executive director of the Minnesota Rural Education Association; Samuel Heins, of the law firm Heins Mills & Olson; Jennifer Martin, Chair of the Martin and Brown Foundation; Chris (Oshikata) Widdess, managing director at Penumbra Theatre Company; Judy Blaseg, fund-raising consultant; Tobin J. Dayton, president and CEO of JobDig; Rebecca Shavlik, former COO of Shavlik Technologies, a security software firm; Wendy Blackshaw, Vice President of Marketing, Sun Country Airlines; Fran Davis, REALTOR and Sales Manager, Coldwell Banker Burnet; Jack Dempsey, President of the Filtration Solutions Global Business, Pentair, Inc.; Kandace Olsen, vice president of communications and human resources, Great River Energy; Jeremy Edes Pierotti, Principal and Owner of Validus Consulting, a health-care management consulting firm; and broadcast journalist Fred De Sam Lazaro, director of the Project for Under-Told Stories at St. John's University in Collegeville. Founding donor John Cowles is director emeritus.
Among those who write for MinnPost, John Camp
John Sandford (novelist)
John Sandford is the pseudonym of the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and best-selling novelist John Roswell Camp. Camp was born on February 23, 1944, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He received a Bachelor's in American History and a Master's in Journalism from the University of Iowa.From 1971 to 1978,...
won a Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing
The Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing has been awarded since 1979 for a distinguished example of feature writing giving prime consideration to high literary quality and originality. The Pulitzer Committee issues an official citation explaining the reasons for the award.-List of winners and their...
for the feature article "Life on the Land: An American Farm Family" published in the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Dispatch
St. Paul Pioneer Press
The St. Paul Pioneer Press is a newspaper based in St. Paul, Minnesota, primarily serving the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Circulation is heaviest in the eastern metro region, including Ramsey, Dakota, and Washington counties, along with western Wisconsin, eastern Minnesota and Anoka County,...
in 1986.
Content and format
Content is "politics, government, science, health, culture" and not so much crime, sports and celebrity news. The non-profit model was estimated to save MinnPost about 15% of a traditional newspaper's outlays. Whether MinnPosts Web designer Clockwork and the team's model provides for persistent Uniform Resource LocatorUniform Resource Locator
In computing, a uniform resource locator or universal resource locator is a specific character string that constitutes a reference to an Internet resource....
s and long term archives, its privacy policy
Privacy policy
Privacy policy is a statement or a legal document that discloses some or all of the ways a party gathers, uses, discloses and manages a customer or client's data...
and use of HTTP cookies were not yet found in Google search. The online format was inspired by Voice of San Diego
Voice of San Diego
Voice of San Diego is a nonprofit news organization focused on issues affecting the San Diego region.The organization's mission is to "To consistently deliver ground-breaking investigative journalism for the San Diego region...
and other sites.
The format takes its shape from online newspaper
Online newspaper
An online newspaper, also known as a web newspaper, is a newspaper that exists on the World Wide Web or Internet, either separately or as an online version of a printed periodical....
s. At first, MinnPost published a print version of about eight pages at the lunch hour to high traffic locations. The print on demand
Print on demand
Print on demand , sometimes called, in error, publish on demand, is a printing technology and business process in which new copies of a book are not printed until an order has been received...
model and print version was discontinued during the newspaper's first year.
Online news in the metropolitan area
The organization is part of a much-discussed trend away from print toward online media. Quoted by Minnesota Public Radio NewsMinnesota Public Radio
Minnesota Public Radio , is the flagship National Public Radio member network for the state of Minnesota. With its three services, News & Information, Classical Music and The Current, MPR operates a 42-station regional radio network in the upper Midwest serving over 8 million people...
, Laurie Schwab, executive director of the Online News Association
Online News Association
The Online News Association , founded in 1999, is a 501 non-profit organization made up of more than 1,800 members. Its mission: Inspiring innovation and excellence among digital journalists to better serve the public....
, said in June 2007, 45 percent of the association's 1,100 members "started working at print publications and migrated online".
Personnel
Staff includes Joel Kramer (CEOChief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
and editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
), Roger Buoen (managing editor
Managing editor
A managing editor is a senior member of a publication's management team.In the United States, a managing editor oversees and coordinates the publication's editorial activities...
), Susan Albright
Susan Albright
Susan Albright is a prominent journalist in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is currently a managing editor of MinnPost.com.Joel Kramer, editor and CEO of MinnPost, announced the appointment in February 2008, saying, "This is an exciting hire for us and our readers. Susan has an outstanding reputation...
(managing editor
Managing editor
A managing editor is a senior member of a publication's management team.In the United States, a managing editor oversees and coordinates the publication's editorial activities...
),Corey Anderson (Web editor), Kaeti Hinck (associate Web editor), Don Effenberger news editor), and about 25 journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
s. According to Editor & Publisher
Editor & Publisher
Editor & Publisher is a monthly magazine covering the North American newspaper industry. It is based in New York City. E&P calls itself "America's Oldest Journal Covering the Newspaper Industry" and describes itself on its website as "the authoritative journal covering all aspects of the North...
, opinion pieces are signed and nonpartisan. Several of the editors previously worked for the Star Tribune, MediaNews Group
MediaNews Group
MediaNews Group, based in Denver, Colorado, is one of the largest newspaper companies in the United States. It is privately owned and operates 56 daily newspapers in 12 states, with combined daily and Sunday circulation of approximately 2.4 million and 2.7 million, respectively...
's St. Paul Pioneer Press or Village Voice Media's City Pages
City Pages
City Pages is an alternative weekly newspaper serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. It features news, film, theatre and restaurant reviews, and music criticism. It is printed in a tabloid format, and is available free every Wednesday...
. Staff members also come from Minnesota Public Radio
Minnesota Public Radio
Minnesota Public Radio , is the flagship National Public Radio member network for the state of Minnesota. With its three services, News & Information, Classical Music and The Current, MPR operates a 42-station regional radio network in the upper Midwest serving over 8 million people...
, The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
, The Hartford Courant
The Hartford Courant
The Hartford Courant is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is a morning newspaper for most of the state north of New Haven and east of Waterbury...
and Congressional Quarterly
Congressional Quarterly
Congressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, is a privately owned publishing company that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress...
.
Kramer was a Star Tribune editor (1980s), publisher (1992–1998) and president (1990s).
MinnPost is one of just two news organizations from Minnesota with a bureau in Washington, D.C. (along with the Minneapolis Star Tribune). The Washington correspondent and bureau chief is Derek Wallbank.
Writers
- Roxane Battle
- Dave Beal
- Steve Berg
- Eric BlackEric Black (Writer)Eric Black is an American journalist. He was a long time reporter for the Minnesota Star Tribune newspaper, and has also been a well-known Twin Cities blogger for some time...
- Pat Borzi
- Cynthia Boyd
- David Brauer
- John Camp
- Steve Date
- Pamela Espeland
- Delma Francis
- Aaron Gleeman
- Amy Goetzman
- Doug Grow
- Jeff Severns Guntzel
- Kay Harvey
- Beth Hawkins
- David Hawley
- Joe Kimball
- Camille LeFevre
- Iric Nathanson
- Rob Nelson
- Mark Neuzil
- Susan Perry
- Britt Robson
- Sharon Schmickle
- Susannah Schouweiler
- Al Sicherman
- Derek Wallbank
- Jim Walsh
- Jay Weiner
- Judith Yates Borger
Funding
Kramer raised US $1.1 million. Members of four local families including Cowles and Kramer originally contributed US $850,000. The Knight Foundation in Miami, FloridaMiami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
initially donated US$250,000 and in 2008 subsequently granted additional funds to expand local reporting. As of June 29, 2010, MinnPost had more than 2,000 member-donors contributing amounts ranging from $10 to $20,000.
See also
- BlogBlogA blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
- John S. and James L. Knight FoundationJohn S. and James L. Knight FoundationThe John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is an American private, non-profit foundation dedicated to supporting transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts....
- Media in Minneapolis-St. PaulMedia in Minneapolis-St. PaulMinneapolis-Saint Paul, also known as the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, in the state of Minnesota, United States of America, has two major general-interest newspapers: the Star Tribune in Minneapolis and the Saint Paul Pioneer Press. Additionally, the Minnesota Daily serves the...