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Star Tribune to seek new, permanent publisher
The newspaper plans a nationwide search to replace Par Ridder, who likely will not return to the paper after his one-year banishment.
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The Star Tribune plans a nationwide search for a new publisher after the court-ordered exit Tuesday of the paper's previous head, Par Ridder.
Chris Harte, chairman of the Star Tribune Co. and the paper's interim publisher, told the newspaper's staff Thursday that it is unlikely that Ridder will return to the paper after his one-year injunction expires.
Harte, speaking to the staff for the first time since Tuesday's court ruling that ousted Ridder for taking proprietary data from his former employer, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, praised the Star Tribune, noting that it remains profitable despite an industrywide slide in advertising revenue that has hurt papers nationwide.
"This company remains -- in this toughest of times that the newspaper industry has seen in, I think, all of our lifetimes -- a good business, a profitable business and a business with a very strong future," he told the staff.
Harte said that the paper will launch zoned editions Oct. 10, delaying by a week a plan that Ridder unveiled to staff last week. The plan expands on the successful weekly editions that the paper has been running Wednesdays in some suburbs.
The strategy slices up the newspaper's audience so that smaller advertisers can pay less for an ad that reaches just a portion of the paper's circulation. The paper plans to hire more sales representatives to lure smaller advertisers. At the same time, at least two pages of each zoned edition will carry unique news stories and other editorial content so that readers feel more local connection to the paper, according to editor Nancy Barnes.
Harte has served as chairman of the Star Tribune Co. since the private equity firm Avista Capital Partners purchased the newspaper six months ago from the McClatchy Co. for $530 million. Harte, who has served as a newspaper publisher in Maine, Ohio and Pennsylvania, said that he personally invested in the deal. Harte, who has homes in Maine and Texas, said he plans to buy a home here.
Matt McKinney • 612-673-7329
Matt McKinney • mckinney@startribune.com
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