NewsQ! That's apparently the "official" spelling of MPR's newly designated news site, which will go live Thursday at 6 a.m., according to a memo from MPR Program Director Steve Nelson.

[Update: It's live as of 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.]

Technically, it's "MPRNewsQ," though as noted earlier, variations such as NewsCue and NewsQueue work with or without the three-letter brand. You do need ".org" though.

Are you psyched? Me, too! Anyway, here's Nelson's memo so you see how they'll roll it out:

All,

Thursday morning at 6, we launch mprnewsq.org. A lot of work has gone into building it and I hope you are as excited about it as I am. When we talk about it on the air, I want to make sure we are consistent and concise to help make the launch as successful as possible. To that end, here are some guidelines about how to talk about it on the air.

Starting at 6am Thursday, we stop using minnesotapublicradio.org as a call to action. Until then, the name remains confidential.

Our Web site is called: "M-P-R News Q dot org." No need to emphasize or spell out the Q.

Our Legal ID is changing to this. It will be on the log. Please read it this way every hour. "This is Minnesota Public Radio News. Ninety-one point one, K-N-O-W Minneapolis, St. Paul. For streaming audio and breaking news, go to M-P-R News Q dot org."

As we launch the site, we're positioning it as a new product, not a redesign. It's also important for us to ask our audience to change their bookmarks. Here's some language to use when promoting the site. Please use the word "new," the bookmark language, and the tagline often.

You can see "then and now" pictures of the Hugo tornado online at M-P-R News Q dot org, Minnesota's new online source for news that matters.

Bob Collins is live blogging Midmorning on our new Web site, M-P-R News Q dot org, bookmark it today.

Steve Nelson
Program Director
Minnesota Public Radio News

I'd planned a longer pre-release feature on MPR's new, redesigned website, which debuts tonight or Thursday. However, after tramping over to St. Paul for an interview, station higher-ups decided I couldn't see the site or even get screen shots. In return, I decided not to run the interviews until I can look at the actual product.

Despite MPR's control fetish, I still can't resist an unofficially sourced teaser.

Apparently, MPR newcast hosts will soon start pitching a new news-specific address: Newscue.org. Or Newsqueue.org. Or MPRnewscue.org. Or MPRnewsqueue.org. As of 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, they all refer back to the MPR.org home page. (Dot-coms go nowhere, by the way.)

What does this mean? Like the Pioneer Press and Twincities.com, MPR will be splitting its brand. There will still be news links at minnesotapublicradio.org — the site hosts have drummed into your head for years — but the main news site will have the distinct identity.

Will it be revolutionary, evolutionary, or a dud? I'll let you know when I finally get a look!

For months, Strib editor Nancy Barnes has trumpeted her commitment to investigations, redeploying reporters to the paper's I-Team and adding the much-touted Whistleblower unit. But one thing hasn't kept up: management.

Since Pulitzer winner Chris Ison fled the Anders Gyllenhaal regime for a U job in mid-2004, investigators haven't been led by someone specializing in the practice. Instead, duties have fallen to editors with other responsibilities or specialties.

That changes next month, when former Twin Cities Reader intern Jeffrey Meitrodt returns in glory to oversee the I-Team and Whistleblower. Since leaving David Carr's Finishing School for Digging and Drinking (I'm a fellow graduate), Meitrodt has racked up a nifty resume in some scummy swamps: pre- and post-Katrina New Orleans, and Rod Blagojevich's Illinois.

As the New Orleans Times-Picayune's Special Projects editor for 10 years, Meitrodt helped uncover incestuous riverboat pilot licensing, debunked a CNN report that all but accused hospital workers of murder during Katrina, and exposed shady minority business contracting. As a Chicago Tribune statehouse correspondent, he was first byline on a team that definitively established Blago's "pay-to-play" government contracting more than a year before the nation got wise.

Strib managing editor Rene Sanchez calls Meitrodt "the real deal, a full-tilt investigations guy. He's a native of the state, he went to the U, his parents and sister still live here, and he's spent a long time leading successful projects. So he comes to this task with a lot of familiarity."

I realize org chart news might not stir readers' tinglies, but it's a critical step to unleashing head-knocking coverage. Sanchez acknowledges the Strib's recent system has been non-optimal.

Meitrodt is peeling duties away from assistant managing editor Kate Parry, who already had plenty on her plate overseeing political and health care reportage. Business investigators Chris Serres and Jennifer Bjorhus will still report to assistant managing editor Eric Wieffering. Meitrodt's roster includes Tony Kennedy, Paul McEnroe, David Shaffer, Pam Louwagie, computer-assisted reporting guru Glenn Howatt and Whistleblowers James Shiffer and Lora Pabst — a pretty nice list.

"I still can't believe the number of bodies we have," exults Meitrodt during a house-hunting layover. "At the Times-Picayune, I was the only person permanently assigned to the I-Team. Jesus, with this many horses, we should do amazing stuff."

That's an appropriate bar for a paper with Barnes' stated ambition. She's talked the talk, and is committed to the kind of proprietary enterprise reporting readers will seek out and keep paying for. As I've written before, the paper is friendlier to hard news than it was in Gyllenhaal's day, and between investigative and beat diggers, regularly produces solid short- and medium-term enterprise.

However, I've been underwhelmed by some of the recent cymbal-crashers; a recent series on an internal police investigation, while a great read, was too much old news and not enough system-changer. The Strib often shades toward explainers, rather than applecart-upenders.

Sanchez insists the paper is "not just talking the talk" and aspires to "really big-deal investigative stories" that spur unavoidable real-world reform. Meitrodt — who will have to pull this off in a less-scandal-rich environment than New Orleans or Chicago — says Barnes and Sanchez have made those marching orders clear. He'll report directly to them.

The Strib and Meitrodt first danced before he took the Tribune job, toward the tail end of the Gyllenhaal regime. The Strib never pulled the trigger on the position, complicated no doubt by finances. But the recent departure of three newsroom staffers — Minneapolis Schools reporter Patrice Relerford (for grad school), data wrangler John Stefany (for the private sector), and politics editor Doug Tice (for the editorial page) — created room for Meitrodt's hire.

While I have every expectation Meitrodt will be great, his hiring does show it's a who-you-know business, too. Sanchez says Meitrodt hit his radar screen after his name appeared in a November 2008 Carr New York Times media column on struggling newspapers jettisoning top talent.

("Seniority had nothing to do with it, the quality of the work had nothing to do with it," Meitrodt says. "The editors thought they had too much boring state government coverage, so they just cut positions. If you were sitting in the chair, you were out. Nobody had a chance to compete for other beats.")

Sanchez said after reading Carr's column, he asked Shiffer (who had met Meitrodt months earlier at an Investigative Reporters and Editors conference) to "find this guy — today. He did. I called him up, and that's what started the conversation."

While Sanchez refers to his new investigations editor as a "full-time maestro," Meitrodt is Minnesota humble, a good thing going into a newsroom where some talented long-timers have felt shunted aside by cocky out-of-towners.

"I'm not going to be the investigative guru who oversees everything at the newspaper," he says. "At the Times-Picayune, one of my strengths was reaching into the newsroom, finding investigative ideas, and teaming folks up with an investigative reporter. That's how we got the minority hiring story. I don't care where the good ideas come from."

That's the right move, albeit tougher in a paper where everyone has to do more with less. If Meitrodt can help break down turf wars and office politics and spread the glory appropriately, he may deserve that guru title after all. No pressure.

For the first time in bankruptcy, the Star Tribune has reported a monthly operating profit. In the May 4-31 period, the Strib made $1.35 million from operations, after posting its biggest monthly loss ($3.45 million) in April.

The difference? Compensation costs, which plunged from $12.9 million in April (actually March 30-May 3) to $7 million. The two figures are not perfectly comparable, since the April period had 35 days versus May's 28. However, on a per-day basis, comp costs plunged from $368,000 to $250,000; total costs fell 20 percent.

The wildly swinging figure could indicate buyouts and severance are whipsawing the monthly bottom line. (The Star Tribune does not comment to MinnPost on business questions.) Accrued compensation liabilities fell from $18.7 million in April to $17.9 million in May. Meanwhile, "other accrued liabilities" fell from $6.2 million to $4.3 million. 

On the sales side, revenue also fell, from $18.7 million in April to May's $15.3 million. Per day, however, sales ticked up 2 percent.

All told, the Strib has grossed $72.6 million in the 20 weeks since entering Chapter 11. That projects to $193 million for all of 2009, a 22 percent drop from 2008's $246 million gross. The paper's sales slid 18 percent the year before.

Since its Jan. 15 bankruptcy filing, the Strib has lost $4.7 million from operations. Publisher Chris Harte announced last week that the paper plans to exit bankruptcy this fall.

Despite the profitable month, the paper's cash position declined from $36.9 million on May 3 to $34.3 million on May 31 — the first time that number has fallen in bankruptcy.

The paper reported spending $1.1 million in reorganization costs (lawyers and consultants), down from $2.2 million in April. Those costs are not included in the operating profit; together with a tax expense, the Strib netted $171,000 overall.

It just keeps getting worse at KARE11: today, employees learned they must swallow 4-6 percent pay cuts beginning July 1.

The news comes a week after four employees, including senior executive producer Lonnie Hartley, were let go, in a year when most workers have already been forced to take two furloughed weeks. The furloughs amounts to a 4 percent cut; combined with today's outright slashing, any non-contract employee making $50,000 or more will absorb a 10 percent hit.

The cuts are scaled; workers making less than $30,000 are unaffected; those in the $30,000s will see a 4 percent cut, and those in the $40,000s will lose 5 percent.

KARE's owner, Gannett Co., appears in a free-fall — just yesterday, the website Deal.com published a detailed explanation of why the will be lucky to survive two years. (Short version: Thanks to credit default swaps, bondholders will earn more if Gannett fails than if it pays them back. Strib vets will be interested to know former owner McClatchy Co. faces the same problem.)

However, Gannett broadcast division president David Lougee brags in his pay cut memo that "our division’s financial results continue to be at the top of the industry." (That ought to make everyone feel better.) Still, Lougee asserts, the American economy is being reset and employee pay must be also.

The cuts don't affect high-profile anchors and reporters with contracts, though Lougee stated in a fact sheet, "it’s important to note that most contracted employees have already taken salary reductions, some of those voluntarily.  Many of those reductions have been at much higher rates than being implemented here."

Here's the memo:

From David Lougee, pres of broadcast division
June 23, 2009
 
Dear colleague,
 
While many are cautiously optimistic that the worst of this economic downturn will soon be over, the broadcast industry continues to feel the effects. The decline in the auto industry alone — once about 30 percent of our division’s ad business — is a major challenge for us. And that’s just one example of the changes we are seeing.
 
I believe it’s clear there will be a permanent reset of the American economy on the other side of the economic storm. On top of that, our industry has been impacted by the revolution in the way people consume media and the way advertisers try to reach them.
 
Even so, our division’s financial results continue to be at the top of the industry.  With your help, ideas, and some tough choices, we have made important and innovative strides in how we allocate resources to best serve our viewers, communities and advertisers, on any and all platforms.
 
These efforts, combined with some proactive financial decisions, will help us stay strong. In effect, we have to have our own “reset” to match the changes in the broadcasting business. As a result, we are making the following changes in compensation for employees making $30,000 or more in order to reduce costs and minimize the need for additional job-related actions in the future.
 
Effective July 1, for:
  
• Employees making $30,000 to $39,999, compensation is reduced 4%.
• Employees making $40,000 to $49,999, compensation is reduced 5%.
• Employees making $50,000 and higher, compensation is reduced 6%.
 
The salary reduction will be calculated from your base annual salary. More details are included in the attached fact sheet. Again, employees making less than $30,000 are not affected.
 
I want to thank you for the sacrifices you are making, and for the support you’ve provided each other during these difficult  times  I encourage you to talk with your managers about this change, and please feel free to contact me to discuss this or any other issues of importance to you.

[Note: Updated with 6 p.m. results]

It's early yet, but in the first nine days after TV's all-digital switchover, a majority of local newscasts saw ratings fall by double digits — in one case, 40 percent.

According to a local exec with access to the numbers, morning, weekend, and 10 p.m. newscasts took beatings in percentage terms, though surprising gains at 5 p.m. offered some hope.

Does the decline entirely represent the converterless Left Behind, or is some other factor in play? It's too soon to know for sure. The periods we're comparing are May 28-June 12 and June 13-21; school was out for the entirety of the latter period, which typically hurts morning shows even before DTV.

The statistics below represent total viewing households; no demographic breakouts. Though I don't have actual ratings figures, stations are listed by their rankings in the time slot:

6 a.m. Monday-Friday
1. KARE (Ch. 11), up 13 percent
2. KMSP (Ch. 9), down 15 percent
3. KSTP (Ch. 5), down 40 percent
4. WCCO (Ch. 4), down 11 percent

Gotta be some fear at Channel 5 (has Vaneeta been the Queen of the Shut-Ins?) though things look better if you look at the longer 6-9 a.m. block. There, KSTP is down 13 percent. In the same period, WCCO is off 13 percent, while KARE and Fox9 fell 7 percent. KARE's descent from +13 to -7 as the morning rolls on is interesting. 

5 p.m. Monday-Friday
1. KARE, up 13 percent
2. WCCO, up 43 percent
3. KSTP, up 13 percent
4. Fox9, down 25 percent

This is the time slot not like the others; with the exception of poor Fox9, the gains are healthy and in WCCO's case, incredible. This does complicate the DTV-as-killer narrative, though perhaps the poor and shut-ins never watched the early news in the first place.

6 p.m. Monday-Friday
1. KARE, up 10 percent
2. WCCO, up 14 percent
3. KSTP, down 14 percent

Continues the strong dinnertime run, though KSTP falls off between 5 and 6.

9 p.m. Monday-Friday
Fox9, flat.

KMSP has the only local newscast in this time slot, though KSTC-Channel 45 will join the mix July 13.

10 p.m. Monday-Friday
1. KARE, down 7 percent
2. WCCO, up 11 percent
3. KSTP, down 14 percent
4. Fox9, down 14 percent

This has to be a worry for everyone but Channel 4, given 10 p.m.'s prominence. By the way, KSTP was introducing a new male anchor, Bill Lunn, during the post-DTV period.

As for weekends, morning newscasts were off anywhere from 14 percent to a whopping 69 percent.

With the caveat of the missing 6 p.m. numbers, KARE and WCCO emerged net winners on weekdays, gaining in three of four time slots. Meanwhile, KSTP advanced at 5 p.m. but was punished otherwise, while Fox9 has to reconsider its world after all three shows slumped.

By the way, if the newscasts are having heartburn, most local station managers are having a prime-time heart attack. KARE's Monday-Sunday 7-10 p.m. numbers were off a staggering 38 percent, KSTP's fell 17 percent, and Fox9's slumped 11 percent. Only WCCO avoided the pit; its numbers were flat.

Presumably, the "DTV effect" will fade over time as the some belatedly get their boxes. But if the fallout persists, we can assume lots of folks are going without ... or that they've found better things to do.

Bill Lindeke loves being an urban pedestrian — so much so that he's blogged about it for five years at Twin City Sidewalks. The U geography grad student scours the Internet to find anything related to streetscapes, and like many readers, has become increasingly cheesed at dwindling major-media coverage of his issues.

One salvation: the Highland Villager, a high-quality, free St. Paul-based community paper. Lindeke's problem: the Villager steadfastly refuses to go online (save for a skeletal site), making it impossible for him to link to their original, brick-by-brick coverage.

So in late May, Lindeke declared if the Villager wouldn't go online, he'd do it for them:

... the best source of local streets/sidewalks news in Saint Paul is the Highland Villager. This wouldn't be a problem, except that its not available online. The editor/publisher Michael Mischke (who I've never met) clearly doesn't like the internet for some reason. But there's a lot of good stuff in this local bi-weekly about developments and street debates.

So basically, I'm going to have a twice-monthly post about what I discover when reading the Highland Villager. Maybe it'll encourage you to go get your own copy, available anywhere that's anywhere in Saint Paul. Or maybe I'm reading the Highland Villager so that you don't have to? Either way ... until this newspaper goes online, information must be set free.

Lindeke summarized six stories from the June 3 Villager, and followed it up with ten more from an issue two weeks later. He flashed a bit more attitude the second time around, declaring "I'm reading the Highland Villager so that you don't have to."

So is Mischke moved by Lindeke's guerrilla tactics?

"No. Mr. Lindeke's inept effort just makes me shake my head," Mischke says. "What does trouble me is that Mr. Lindeke fails in several comments to accurately summarize the content of our articles and editorials. And in the case of his comment on my recent editorial about Walgreens, he gets it exactly wrong."

Lindeke absorbs the jab with aplomb, noting that Mischke can clear up any translation errors by simply uploading the stuff himself. "Or he can pay me," he quips.

Ironically, Lindeke says he was moved to reprise Village content because he grew frustrated at seeing urban-focused netizens refer to the paper's stories in a haphazard or distorted way.

"The Villager has actual journalists, and their stories are missing from the conversation," Lindeke asserts. "They're the only ones reporting on the Snelling Avenue median issue; I think it's been in every newspaper for months, but you can't find anything online. I wanted to get something out there besides people spouting opinion."

Well, Mike? If you don't like how people aggregate your work, why not do it yourself?

"Rather than ask me why the Villager is not on the the web, you might ask the publishers of the Pioneer Press and Star Tribune why those newspapers are," Mischke responds. "I'm fairly certain it's not because they're making any money doing so. I'm also fairly certain that their presence on the web has harmed that part of the business that is their bread and butter: their printed product."

In essence, Mischke has opted to stay where the profits, not the users, are. (That said, the Villager, an ad-supported freebie, claims 132,000 print readers.)

"In difficult economic times, my well-paid staff and well-paid freelancers are more focused than ever on publishing the very best newspaper we can," he states. "A newspaper that increasingly publishes stories that other newspapers in town ignore — whether for lack of interest or lack of staff — or decide to cover after their decimated staffs read about it in the Villager first. A newspaper that we're happy to report is succeeding in not being non-profit in the face of deep advertising discounts offered by struggling competitors all around us."

Still, Mischke is only so doctrinaire. "Will the Villager ever go online? Probably," he allows.

But not until the economics are clearly there. "The economics of printing and distribution alone will no doubt dictate it. But as long as people enjoy reading the printed word; as long as small, independent, local advertisers support their small, independent, local newspaper; as long as we continue to do well that which no other local news medium is doing, we'll continue to prosper in print."

As the two intransigent combatants glare — or at least smirk — at each other, readers for the moment better off because of Lindeke's cross-platforming.

Mischke, who acknowledges Lindeke's distillations don't violating copyright laws, won't have to take any coin away from his print efforts. Meanwhile, Lindeke not only lances an informational boil but might get a bit more traffic to his blog. He's making the Villager part of the Net's conversation, whether it likes it or not, as long as his passion holds out.

Well, this is going to bum out many a Twin Cities freelancer: Minnesota Monthly editor Andrew Putz will be leaving his local job July 17 to take over Boston Magazine, the Boston Globe reports.

Since arriving in 2007, Putz has won a lot of respect from local writers for maintaining and enhancing MnMo's commitment to features beyond lists and charticles. Top-notch locals such as Michael Tortorello, Dara Moskowitz, Beth Hawkins, Britt Robson — yes, a City Pages alumni club, but others have benefited as well — found a welcoming home under Putz.

"Andy's the greatest editor... I'm so happy for him of course, but sad for me," Moskowitz says. "The first thing I said was 'Congratulations, you jerk.'"

[Update: Long-time Greenspring Media Group President Steve Fox agrees, saying Putz "has clearly been our best — and nicest — editor." Fox's memo is reprinted below.]

Moskowitz, an award-winning food writer, says when Putz lured her from City Pages, he promised her a commitment to "service journalism with integrity, passion and excitement. He has an amazing sense of what makes a great city, but he's fun to work for, real open if you have a crazy idea."

Boston Magazine is one of nation's best monthlies, in a much bigger city, and Putz's former boss at Philadelphia magazine, Larry Platt, is now editorial director in the Beantown shop. As the magazine's release notes, Putz has helmed MnMo as newsstand sales have climbed.

I haven't had a chance to connect with Putz, but I worked for him a little before taking this gig, and found he and managing editor Joel Hoekstra a terrific team who carried through on wedging civic affairs into a feature book. I'm not sure if Joel wants to move up — he's disdained it in the past — but I'll try to find out more in a bit.

Here's Greenspring Media Group President Steve Fox's memo:

To the Staff:

While I share this news with many regrets, I am pleased to announce that Andy has been selected editor of Boston magazine, one of the largest and better city-regional magazines in the country. Without question, he will make it better, as he has made Minnesota Monthly magazine vastly better over the last two and a half years he has been here. We were fortunate to bring Andy back to the Twin Cities from his previous position with Philadelphia magazine (a sister title to Boston, both owned by Metrocorp publishing) and benefited from the experiences he gained from working on other publications in Cleveland, Indianapolis and Philly.

In my 21 years with the company, he has clearly been our best — and nicest — editor. I am disappointed to lose him but extremely proud that peers in the industry appreciate the quality of work he and his team produce.

His departure, set for July 17, will, of course, lead to the resignation of Kylie, who will be relocating with Andy sometime later this summer.

As senior account executive, Kylie has been a terrific revenue producer for the magazine since joining the company in 2005. She is full of natural talent and enthusiasm, traits which will ensure she will enjoy even more success in another professional sales opportunity out east.

It is truly disappointing to lose them both, even while being excited for their future as a couple and the unlimited prospects they have before them in what is surely the most exciting stage of their lives.

Join me in wishing them all the very best!

Steve

PaidContent.org's David Kaplan is reporting the former Strib online managing editor Will Tacy — who left our tundra just five months ago — is already out of his new job as Newsweek.com's editor. Kaplan says a magazine rep confirmed the departure, but wouldn't say if Tacy jumped or was pushed.

Tacy resigned here during a December round of buyouts and left just days before the Strib filed for bankruptcy.

As I noted then, "Jumping from the Strib to Newsweek is frying pan to raging fire. The mag has slashed jobs and copies distributed; as with newspapers, many have prophesied the newsweeklies' death. For now, Tacy remains vague about his plans for the dot-com side, except to praise the acumen of his new Newsweek bosses."

Since then, Newsweek unveiled a controversial and richly critiqued redesign in mid-May, though most attention has been on the print version. I haven't visited Newsweek.com until today (which may say something, though I don't go to Time.com either). However, according to this review, the site incorporated more aggregation and user generated content.

I know it's Friday afternoon and most of you have turned the Internet off, but I'd asked earlier today for knowledgable crowdsourcing on the Strib's reorganization plan. Former business reporter Tony Carideo — now a Chartered Financial Analyst — responded with an epic comment that deserves a higher profile.

To set the scene, I asked this morning if the Strib's estimated valuation of $118 million to $144 million was fair. One method the Strib's consultant used was multiplying the paper's estimated annual earnings (actually EBITDA for you wonks) by 4.5 or 5.5. Here's Carideo's analysis:

In my view, the EBITDA multiple is reasonable, perhaps even generous — especially in light of the fact that the Strib has been totally incapable of identifying new sources of revenue, an amazing feat given the popularity of its web site and an evident brain cramp when it comes to monetizing that usage. (Hint: Micropayments for full story views; higher payments for formatted story views; reasonable reprint fees and services. See eBay, Amazon business models.)

Other reasons for the low multiple:

— Uncertainty EVERYWHERE. Fabulously underfunded pension plan, with a totally schizophrenic equity market and an equally distorted fixed income market, making any sort of discount rate projections relative to future liabilities essentially a roll of the dice.

— Still no clear visibility on an economic recovery, which leads to stronger consumer spending, higher asset valuations (i.e. classifieds) and higher advertising revenue. Witness BBY stock, at $34 a share, 11 times forward earnings, less than a "1" PEG ratio — cheap, cheap, but who's willing to risk their investment reputation on a $2,200 flat screen purchase?

— Not so great cash flow (duh). An 8 percent mortgage, or put another way, 300 basis points over LIBOR with a 5 percent LIBOR floor. So you're telling me that they're already stratospherically above current market rates? One-year LIBOR is at 1.73 percent. Add 3 percentage points, and that results in a 4.73 percent interest rate if you were to use a REAL LIBOR-calibrated rate. Looking at six-month LIBOR rates, it's even worse. Six-month LIBOR, which matches the twice-yearly payments of many corporate bonds, is at 1.16 percent, suggesting a rate of 4.16 percent. So we're setting a "floor" on LIBOR that is (depending on the selected term — one year or six-month) that is fully either 3.84 percentage points over the current six-month rate, or 3.27 percentage points over the one-year rate. Why even use LIBOR? In current market conditions, it's a meaningless calculation. Why not just write into the agreement: "The Star Tribune Company shall pay current debt-holders at a rate defined as 'through the nose.'"

Given the risk, maybe that's fair — but spare us the LIBOR crap. That just gives the bondholders much, much higher upside, and absolutely no benefit to the business for better performance. Interest rates soar, the bondholders get higher payments. So even if the paper starts doing really well, in a higher inflationary environment, they're still penalized.

— Other negatives: No resolution whatsoever on how to protect the paper's intellectual property (editorial content) from the aggregators, the mere existence of the truck drivers. . .outside-the-newsroom, Avista-promulgated, suffocating editorial policies that squelch aggressive reporting and strong editorial positions (lessening a value proposition for readers).

So who wants to pay up for that kind of hairball?

Best solution: Liquidatation (but it's too late for that); start again with a greenfield operation: leased trucks (tons of capacity there — and yes, give the new drivers a GPS to negotiate all those extremely complicated delivery routes the Teamsters were braying about); no unions (and this, from a former union negotiator); keep the staff people who really want to be journalists, and hire some people (remember the concept: "cub reporter"?) willing to cover night city council meetings in Lakeville and Andover — taking on the suburban pubs — then figure out how to package it and make money on it (that nice web site, perhaps?). Oh, and also get rid of any editor who consistently comes to planning meetings without anything resembling a decent story idea; start covering your own bankruptcy story and doing the kind of investigative work, advocated — admirably, I might say, by Nancy Barnes — that bring people back to read the newspaper every day.

Oh, and make your columnists actually express an opinion, especially on state and local politics, rather than write glorified feature stories and personality profiles. But that brings us back to our friends at Avista. Sell the presses; firesale the building and parking lot and rent some of the 25 percent or so vacant space in downtown Minneapolis. In other words, pull every available dollar out of the operation and reset the break-even point for the enterprise. In my view, bankruptcy may not, in the final analysis, solve that particular problem. I really, really hope I'm wrong.

All crazed ravings, and not the least bit realistic, but in my humble opinion that's why someone is only willing to value the business at five times EBITDA. By the way, I'm guessing that there's not much "D" or "A" — depreciation or amortization (both non-cash items) — left; so this is pretty much a hard cash on hard cash valuation, which is actually a positive and may have a positive impact on the low multiple.

Tony Carideo, CFA
Former reporter