Star Tribune to Change Name and Expand Minnesota News Coverage

Many metropolitan newspapers across the country have narrowed their ambitions in recent years, closing regional bureaus and cutting back statewide coverage in an effort to trim costs. The Star Tribune in Minneapolis is taking the opposite tack. The paper will now be called The Minnesota Star Tribune, its chief executive announced on Sunday, and it will use an injection of money from its billionaire owner to expand its coverage beyond the Twin Cities into other parts of the state. Steve Grove, the publisher and chief executive, said the push, which includes hiring reporters in various parts of the state, was part of an effort to as much as triple the publication’s paid digital subscriptions over the next five years. “It’s definitely a bet that Minnesotans care about what’s happening outside of their own local communities,” he said in an interview. The expansion is a rare big bet in the newspaper industry. Local newspapers have been shrinking across the country in recent years. A 2023 report from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern found that almost 2,900 newspapers had shut down since 2005. But The Star Tribune has remained a bright spot: It hasn’t made major layoffs in recent years, and its newsroom has remained around 225 people for years. The Star Tribune is owned by Glen Taylor, a billionaire who also owns the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Minnesota Lynx. He bought the paper for about $100 million in 2014, several years after it filed for bankruptcy. The paper has been profitable every year since, but until now, Mr. Taylor had not invested more into the publication, Mr. Grove said. Mr. Taylor declined to disclose how much he was investing. But he said in a statement that he had decided to inject capital because of “my belief in the team’s plan, and in our audience’s demand for quality, objective local news.” “I’m incredibly excited by what our new leadership team has put into place at an important moment for our state,” said Mr. Taylor, who was once a Republican state senator. Mr. Grove joined The Star Tribune in April 2023 after working for four years as the state’s economic development commissioner under Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic candidate for vice president. The paper said neither Mr. Grove nor Mr. Taylor directed coverage in the newsroom. Mr. Grove’s mandate is to help the publication have a more digital focus. When he joined, the print newspaper generated 70 percent of the company’s revenue, but subscriptions were falling 15 percent a year. Digital subscriptions have hovered around 100,000, he said. “You can’t manage decline toward a profitable future,” Mr. Grove said. “You’re going to have to at some point take a pretty big swing.” Mr. Grove embarked on a tour last year across Minnesota to hear what people had to say about local news. He hired some new business leaders and directed an overhaul of the technology used to power The Star Tribune’s website and mobile apps and a redesign of the homepage. He has also made plans to share content with hyperlocal news organizations across Minnesota. He is looking at possible subscription bundles and says he will start a philanthropic arm. The expansion of reporting across Minnesota is a key part of the plan, Mr. Grove said. Suki Dardarian, the editor of The Star Tribune, said the paper had doubled its reporting team beyond the Minneapolis area, including adding a columnist and putting reporters into cities like Mankato, Duluth and St. Cloud. “The texture and the fabric that we’re getting in the stories is more authentic,” she said. “It’s not foreign correspondency, it’s not reporting about a place but from a place, so I think that resonates with readers.” Ms. Dardarian said the paper had added some new local beats as well, including “the future of downtown,” to the newsroom and was putting more reporters in the suburbs of Minneapolis. The newsroom has now been reorganized around five main topic areas: news and politics; business; sports; food and culture; and the outdoors. “We’ve taken environmental coverage and recreational coverage and kind of mashed it up,” she said of the outdoors report. “There is a lot of polarization everywhere, even in Minnesota, but one thing that brings us all together is our environment and our love of the lakes and the forests and the prairies, so writing about that is really important.” Mr. Grove, a Minnesota native, said he felt that kind of state pride would help The Star Tribune expand its subscriber base. “It’s the state that has the highest civic participation in the country, the highest rates of philanthropy,” he said. “It’s got this civic backbone to it that’s unique.” Katie Robertson covers the media industry for The Times. 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