Disqus - Latest Comments for dbrauer

Re: Bachmann Shakeup: Julie Quist to Run Minnesota Office, Three Staffers Departing

dbrauer — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 17:55:37 -0000

Dane Smith ID Dane is indeed a former Strib reporter, but his current job should also be ID'd - as president of Growth & Justice, the not-very-Bachmanesque think tank that likely stands opposite damn near everything Michelle stands for.

Not that he isn't correct, of course, but readers deserve fuller disclosure.

Re: Kersten and the conservative echo chamber: a brief case study

dbrauer — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:23:22 -0000

Good piece! The echo chamber stuff is spot-on, but the really damning thing is the rip-and-read from a press release. that might get an editor's attention.

Re: Foreclosure of the week: Reduced $158,500!

dbrauer — Thu, 01 May 2008 07:54:01 -0000

Not Kingfield Molly, I think this house is in the Bryant neighborhood - across 35W from Kingfield. It might even be on the highway frontage, which makes the inflation even more amazing.

Not that we don't have foreclosures, but this isn't one of them.

Re: Your local alt-weekly: Putting the “sex” back in sexism

dbrauer — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:34:04 -0000

Glossed over? Did I gloss over the gender imbalance at CP? It was the third section of the six-section piece, and at 200 words, wasn't an inconsiderable part of the text.

And while, I'm a big fan of Molly's work, I think she misunderstood my deployment of web hits. Then again, it might be my writing. More on this in a sec.

After the Hoffman quote Molly highlighted, here's what I wrote:

"But such strong yin desperately needs a yang. Who looks out for young women? Dude-rich topics have crested precisely as CP lost an exceptional aspect of Perry's exceptional tenure: strong and senior female editors.

"Monika Bauerlein, Jennifer Vogel, Julie Caniglia, Hawkins - there's no equivalent at the new CP. The two most recent hires - staff writer Beth Walton and music editor Andrea Myers - are simply too new to claim such influence.

"Hoffman points to copy editor Bridgette Reinsmoen and A-list editor Jessica Armbruster as veterans with responsibility, but neither has the status to undo any editorial imbalances."

Without nice VVM context Molly provides (not the narrower focus of my piece, which was already too damn long as it was), I think I hit on most of her points. She probably said them with more depth, feeling and personal experience than I did, but in this sense, the Internet is a meritocracy and this is one of many places where a Steve Perry title shines.

About web hits: are they fool's gold? Sure. But they are an objective datapoint (or at least a more objective one), something sorely missing from the CP debate.

I used them precisely to show that the culture/dude stuff was popular, and deeper topics like politics/investigations were trailing, and in fact used web hits to underscore my criticism that substance in these areas is malnourished.

Here's just a sample:

"Tellingly, there were no political stories in the Top 10. Such coverage has fallen far under Hoffman. Aside from episodic forays, CP has abandoned the legislative beat and the paper's traditional City Hall haunts. Hoffman keeps up the site's GOP convention blog, "Elephants in the Room," but there's little to distinguish it. ... political anorexia in these keenly political times imperils CP as a must-read."

I'll admit I might've led folks astray with the word "vindication" in introducing the web section, but there's a little bit of archness there that hopefully is recognizable to alt-weekly fans.

The reason for including the sidebar on web hits was to give people an objective look at how the site generates traffic - which I think was revelatory and I specifically tweaked:

"Comparing Steve Perry's last month - February 2007 - to the same month this year, City Pages' web traffic has grown smartly by most measures. A big reason: pop culture tales (real-life superheroes, living at the Mall of America for a week, Diablo Cody), slideshows of naked or nearly naked people, and blogs about unclothed dining and porn.

"Such is life on the web, where the mere mention of S-E-X sends page views soaring. (The most popular thing I've yet written for MinnPost was about sex ads in the Star Tribune.) The new-era CP seems to, umm, beat the drum regularly."

I acknowledge the title of my piece was a sharp stick at the prevailing wisdom, perhaps my own tabloidish bid for attention, so I'm wide open to the forceful and thoughtful critique Molly delivers. I guess, in the end, I'm trying to encourage better stuff (like this week's CP scoop on St. Thomas's bullying a pro-choice law student) by highlighting it, and I think there's more there than the paper's critics feel.

Thanks, unironically, for the critical look at the story.

Re: Your local alt-weekly: Putting the “sex” back in sexism

dbrauer — Fri, 02 May 2008 05:57:33 -0000

That's fair If you only knew how many times I moved stuff around.

By the way, enjoy the laurels at MnSpeak!! I can only imagine the grief Demko is getting in-house.

Re: Media Monitor: The all-Strib edition

dbrauer — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:08:56 -0000

Thanks for the linkage; small clarification It's at least $10 million in cuts; could be more.

Re: Great moments in sloganeering: Ask your doctor if a Republican Congress is right for you

dbrauer — Tue, 13 May 2008 08:09:21 -0000

This has to be one of the all-time best screen captures ever Good snipping!

Re: A new low(e): Ads proposed for Minneapolis parks

dbrauer — Wed, 28 May 2008 13:38:34 -0000

Here's the stupid thing ... ... the closest Lowe's to Minneapolis is in West St. Friggin' Paul. That's 14 miles away from my south Minneapolis abode.

I realize some of our parks are suburban magnets, but criminey, if you're going to enable this abortion, shouldn't you at least ask them to do business in your city.

This really, really sucks. If it goes through, another reason to abolish the Park Board.

Re: Bachmann Shakeup: Julie Quist to Run Minnesota Office, Three Staffers Departing

dbrauer — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 17:55:37 -0000

Not that he isn't correct, of course, but readers deserve fuller disclosure.

Re: Kersten and the conservative echo chamber: a brief case study

dbrauer — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:23:22 -0000

Good piece! The echo chamber stuff is spot-on, but the really damning thing is the rip-and-read from a press release. that might get an editor's attention.

Re: Foreclosure of the week: Reduced $158,500!

dbrauer — Thu, 01 May 2008 07:54:01 -0000

Not Kingfield Molly, I think this house is in the Bryant neighborhood - across 35W from Kingfield. It might even be on the highway frontage, which makes the inflation even more amazing.

Not that we don't have foreclosures, but this isn't one of them.

Re: Your local alt-weekly: Putting the “sex” back in sexism

dbrauer — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:34:04 -0000

Glossed over? Did I gloss over the gender imbalance at CP? It was the third section of the six-section piece, and at 200 words, wasn't an inconsiderable part of the text.

And while, I'm a big fan of Molly's work, I think she misunderstood my deployment of web hits. Then again, it might be my writing. More on this in a sec.

After the Hoffman quote Molly highlighted, here's what I wrote:

"Hoffman points to copy editor Bridgette Reinsmoen and A-list editor Jessica Armbruster as veterans with responsibility, but neither has the status to undo any editorial imbalances."

About web hits: are they fool's gold? Sure. But they are an objective datapoint (or at least a more objective one), something sorely missing from the CP debate.

Here's just a sample:

I'll admit I might've led folks astray with the word "vindication" in introducing the web section, but there's a little bit of archness there that hopefully is recognizable to alt-weekly fans.

The reason for including the sidebar on web hits was to give people an objective look at how the site generates traffic - which I think was revelatory and I specifically tweaked:

Thanks, unironically, for the critical look at the story.

Re: Your local alt-weekly: Putting the “sex” back in sexism

dbrauer — Fri, 02 May 2008 05:57:33 -0000

That's fair If you only knew how many times I moved stuff around.

By the way, enjoy the laurels at MnSpeak!! I can only imagine the grief Demko is getting in-house.

Re: Media Monitor: The all-Strib edition

dbrauer — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:08:56 -0000

Thanks for the linkage; small clarification It's at least $10 million in cuts; could be more.

Re: Great moments in sloganeering: Ask your doctor if a Republican Congress is right for you

dbrauer — Tue, 13 May 2008 08:09:21 -0000

This has to be one of the all-time best screen captures ever Good snipping!

Re: A new low(e): Ads proposed for Minneapolis parks

dbrauer — Wed, 28 May 2008 13:38:34 -0000

Here's the stupid thing ... ... the closest Lowe's to Minneapolis is in West St. Friggin' Paul. That's 14 miles away from my south Minneapolis abode.

I realize some of our parks are suburban magnets, but criminey, if you're going to enable this abortion, shouldn't you at least ask them to do business in your city.

This really, really sucks. If it goes through, another reason to abolish the Park Board.

Re: Minnesota pastor violated tax law, watchdog group says

dbrauer — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 09:35:49 -0000

Nit: It seems pretty obvious he's a Republican, but no one registers by party affiliation in Mn.

Re: Video: A PZ Myers postscript?

dbrauer — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 05:04:08 -0000

This might be my favorite MinnIndy post ever! I don't quite know how he reconciles the green goo emerging from the pickles innards at the end of the video with Jesus's uplift!

Re: Will Coleman keep money from indicted Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens?

dbrauer — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 05:05:26 -0000

Jim - to be extremely fair here - Craig had pleaded guilty; Stevens is only accused. Coleman's campaign is using the "innocent until guilty" rationale.

Aaron - nice job providing linkage to support your case. For the record, the PiPress's Rachel Stassen Berger reported on this, but nothing in the Strib today near as I could find for Daily Glean.

Re: Net worth: Are RNC web fees pricing out independent media?

dbrauer — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:47:07 -0000

Wait, Ed Morrissey is arguing for progressive fee schedules? Guess it's different when it's your ox.