Grove: 2025’s reminder: Take nothing for granted

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes a mix of commentary online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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When I was growing up in Northfield in the 1980s and ’90s, I assumed certain things would always be there. My public school would always be full of teachers who cared. Our elections would always be fair and free, and our leaders would find common ground for the greater good. Our community would stay safe, the snow would always get plowed, and the Twins would surely keep winning World Series titles well into the future.

In short, I believed the things that made Minnesota Minnesota were permanent. But time teaches you quickly: Very little in life is inevitable. The qualities we cherish about our state can disappear in a single generation, or less. In 2025 I was often reminded that the things we love can’t be taken for granted — they endure only if we invest in them.

It was a year in which our sense of Minnesota exceptionalism was tested again and again. The Minnesota Star Tribune’s newsroom reported on political assassinations, a tragic school shooting, a fraud scandal in state government and a response to that scandal from the White House that’s put communities — and the state — on edge. Countless other stories in our report challenged Minnesota to reflect on who we are and where we’re headed.

Alongside that reporting, our Strib Voices platform amplified perspectives from across the state and political spectrum. They shared visions for where Minnesota should go, and how it can become stronger.

Nationally, attacks on core American institutions have been deeply troubling. The list is long, but given my role as publisher, I’m most focused on the sustained attacks on the media and the First Amendment. When an administration sues news organizations over perceived slights, denigrates journalists, urges people to report opinions that run counter to the White House, and restricts press access to our most sacred institutions, it creates a chilling effect — especially in an industry already under immense financial pressure.

A friend of mine who runs a newspaper in Philadelphia calls this the “museum problem.” We all appreciate having a museum in town. We’re glad it exists. But actually going inside, paying for admission, or donating to keep it alive — that’s different. The same dynamic applies to local news. We cannot forget that a free press comes at a real cost.

The Minnesota Star Tribune has been here for 158 years, but there is nothing inevitable about its future. Journalism in Minnesota could vanish in a generation if we fail to support it. That’s the urgent journey we’re on at the Strib — and one we can’t undertake without you.

Some might ask: In a world where anyone can publish online and where it often feels like we have too much information, why does the Strib matter?

I’d offer two reasons.

First, the obvious one: Quality journalism by trained reporters is essential to democracy. Our newsroom consistently shows up, gathers facts and reports them. The same is true for other newsrooms in our state, all of which deserve support.

Large newsrooms also bring the capacity to develop deep expertise and conduct sustained investigative work that improves — and often saves — lives in our state.

It’s worth imagining, for a moment, what 2025 would have looked like in a world without the Strib. Where would Minnesotans have gotten reliable facts? Who would have had the resources to conduct the investigations that held power to account? And if social media were the only place we processed the year’s upheavals, what would that conversation have become?

Luckily, we don’t have to face that world today. In a few weeks, I invite you to join us to imagine a different world — the world of Minnesota today through the lens of the Strib’s journalism. For the last time ever, we’re opening up our printing plant, Heritage, in the North Loop of Minneapolis, to the public.

The occasion? The Wrap, our second annual year-in-review event. It’s an immersive exhibit of the year’s most important news events, brought to life through our statewide reporting — creative, rich, reflective and hopeful. Tickets are still available, and they support our journalism: startribune.com/thewrap.

As 2025 winds down, I’m asking humbly for your support to ensure that the future we all want — a Minnesota with strong, independent journalism — remains possible. We are fighting for the survival of local news, and I like our chances. But the headwinds are real. Our survival won’t come from our newsroom alone. It will come from readers who subscribe, donate and champion the role of a free press. And organizations who advertise and partner with us.