Star Tribune
The Star Tribune is an American daily newspaper based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is Minnesota's largest newspaper and the eighth-largest in the United States by circulation, and is distributed throughout the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, the state, and the Upper Midwest.
For the Wyoming newspaper, see Casper Star-Tribune.Type
Star Tribune Media Company LLC (Glen Taylor)
Steve Grove
Suki Dardarian
Scott Gillespie
- May 25, 1867
(as the Minneapolis Tribune) - August 19, 1920
(as the Minneapolis Daily Star)
Star Tribune Building
650 3rd Ave S.
Suite 1300
Minneapolis, MN
United States
242,270 Daily
351,180 Sunday (as of 2024)[1]
It originated as the Minneapolis Tribune in 1867 and the competing Minneapolis Daily Star in 1920.[2] During the 1930s and 1940s, the two papers consolidated, with the Tribune published in the morning and the Star in the evening. They merged in 1982, creating the Star and Tribune, renamed the Star Tribune in 1987. After a tumultuous period in which the newspaper was sold and resold and filed for bankruptcy protection in 2009, it was purchased by local businessman Glen Taylor in 2014.[3]
The Star Tribune typically contains national, international, and local news, sports, business, and lifestyle stories. Journalists from the Star Tribune and its predecessor newspapers have won seven Pulitzer Prizes.
History[edit]
Minneapolis Tribune[edit]
The Star Tribune's roots date to the creation of the Minneapolis Daily Tribune by Colonel William S. King, William D. Washburn, and Dorilus Morrison. The two men previously operated different Minneapolis newspapers, the State Atlas and the Minneapolis Daily Chronicle. The newspaper was designed to unify the local republican party under one newspaper.[4] The Tribune's first issue was published on May 25, 1867. The newspaper went through several different editors and publishers during its first two decades, including John T. Gilman, George K. Shaw, Albert Shaw, and Alden J. Blethen. In 1878, the Minneapolis Evening Journal began publication, giving the Tribune its first competition. On November 30, 1889, downtown Minneapolis's Tribune headquarters caught fire. Seven people were killed and 30 injured, and the building and presses were a total loss.[5]: 3, 10–14 [6]
In 1891, the Tribune was purchased by Gilbert A. Pierce and William J. Murphy for $450,000 (equivalent to $13.8 million in 2023[7]). Pierce quickly sold his share to Thomas Lowry, and Lowry sold it to Murphy, making Murphy the newspaper's sole owner. His business and legal background helped him structure the Tribune's debt and modernize its printing equipment. The newspaper experimented with partial-color printing and the use of halftone for photographs and portraits. In 1893, Murphy sent the Tribune's first correspondent to Washington, D.C. As Minneapolis grew, the newspaper's circulation expanded; the Tribune and the Evening Journal were closely competitive, with the smaller Minneapolis Times in third place. In 1905, Murphy bought out the Times and merged it with the Tribune.[5]: 15–18
He died in 1918, endowing a school of journalism at the University of Minnesota. After a brief transitional period, Murphy's younger brother Frederick became the Tribune's publisher in 1921.[5]: 23, 29
Minneapolis Daily Star[edit]
The other half of the newspaper's history begins with the Minnesota Daily Star, which was founded on August 19, 1920, by elements of the agrarian Nonpartisan League and backed by Thomas Van Lear and Herbert Gaston. The Daily Star had difficulty attracting advertisers with its overtly political agenda and went bankrupt in 1924. After its purchase by A. B. Frizzell and former New York Times executive John Thompson, the newspaper became the politically independent Minneapolis Daily Star.[5]: 55–56 [8]
Editions[edit]
After the 1987 formation of the Star Tribune, the newspaper was published in three editions: one for Minneapolis and the western suburbs, one for St. Paul and the eastern suburbs, and a state edition for Minnesota and the Midwest. The St. Paul edition was discontinued in 1999 in favor of a metro edition for the Minneapolis–St. Paul area and a state edition for areas beyond the metropolitan area.[33][34]
Although the newspaper competes with the St. Paul–based Pioneer Press in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area, the Star Tribune is more popular in the western metropolitan area, and the Pioneer Press is more popular in the eastern metro area. The newspapers share some printing and delivery operations.[35][36]
The Star Tribune went online in 1995, introducing the StarTribune.com website the following year. In 2011, the website erected a paywall.[9][37]
Departments[edit]
The Star Tribune has five main sections: main news, local news, sports, business, and variety (lifestyle and entertainment). Special weekly sections include Taste (restaurants and cooking), travel, Outdoors Weekend, and Science + Health. The Sunday edition has a more prominent editorial and opinion section, Opinion Exchange.
Journalists with the pre-merger Minneapolis Star and Minneapolis Tribune won three Pulitzer Prizes:
Star Tribune journalists have won three Pulitzers:
In 2021, the staff of the Star Tribune won the Pulitzer prize for breaking news coverage for the "urgent, authoritative and nuanced" coverage of the murder of George Floyd.[44]
