Words Like Locusts Flew From Her Fingers

Save The News Tribune

Everyone who knows me knows that I love Duluth, Minnesota. In many ways, Duluth feels more like “home” to me than my actual hometown of Orono, Minnesota. Maybe it’s because Duluth has managed (despite some unbelievably lame-brained mistakes on the part of the city’s mayor and council) to retain quite a bit of its character.

Among the many things that make Duluth wonderful is its newspaper. The Duluth News Tribune has been reporting the “news of the Northland” for an amazing 133 years. Now, though, the News Tribune is in danger of being either significantly diminished or, perhaps, even shut down altogether.

The News Tribune’s owner, Knight Ridder, was sold to the McClatchy Co. McClatchy immediately announced that it’s selling 12 of the 32 papers it was buying — including the News Tribune. (…) The pending sale by McClatchy threatens the ability of the publications to cover our communities. An owner more interested in increasing profits than in fulfilling the papers’ responsibilities to the area likely would impose severe cutbacks in news coverage.

If you know and love Duluth like I do — or even if you’re just a person who cares about journalistic integrity and small-city newspapers being allowed to really serve their communities — I encourage you to join me in signing the “Support Statement” on the Save The News Tribune web site.