urbanMSP

I just did the State Fair deal again. $40 for 26 weeks, plus two free tickets to the fair (value $30). Effectively 6 months of the paper (Sunday+digital) for $10, if you're planning on going to the fair anyways. It's a heck of a bargain.

That said, they really need to come up with simple online-only pricing of $9.99/month (and $99.99/year) if they actually want more young/new people to subscribe. Earlier this summer, one of their editors tried to make the case (on Twitter) that $14.99/month was a good deal compared to Netflix, HBO, etc. and I just don't buy it. In terms of time spent using the content, I'm probably reading somewhere between 10-20 minutes of news per day (not including falling down a comment hole). $15/month is steep when you evaluate it by the minute (vs. a video streaming service, etc.)

If they could lock in a bunch more people at $10/month or $100/year, why would they not jump at that? The content is already produced, the reporters and editors already paid...it costs them next to nothing to have more eyeballs on the website. If price for online access was $100/year and I could lock that rate in for 3 years or whatever with no increases, I would give them $300 right now.

But as it stands, I will probably let mine renew for one 13-week cycle (by default of not deliberately unsubscribing in time), and then unsubscribe for 13 weeks, until I see the flyer for the State Fair deal again next year. Rinse and repeat. They'd actually be getting more money out of me at $100/year.

^ Same. mrs.shoes and I have been "planning on" subscribing for quite some time now but just haven't done it. $100/year would have been done already.

I'd pay for digital-only $10/mo or $99/year, but I won't pay for the packages they have now.

I would certainly love to bring the Strib more in line with other subscription pricing, though I've been paying the $14.99 per 4 weeks for years now -- mostly just because I want to support local journalism (I'd probably end up throwing whatever savings I got from a lower Strib price to other outlets like MinnPost, but of course that's not something the Strib bean counters care about). We have no idea how lucky we are to be in a media environment like the Twin Cities. The Strib, for all its flaws, is light years ahead of most regional papers.

I 100% with everything said. We are very lucky to have good print, both paper and online, media here. In addition to the Strib, we have MinnPost, Bring Me the News, Finance and Commerce, and the MSP Business Journal, for sources that discuss regional, or state, topics.

Rick Kupchella’s Bring Me The News is an aggregator, no? I haven’t paid much attention.

Kupchella sold BMTN years ago to Go Media. Last I knew, they were doing some minor reporting pieces, but it’s largely rip-and-rewrite stuff.

I didn’t realize that. When’s I’ve read it, I have actually found it to be really entertaining, using very local references. For example, read the first paragraph of the following article
https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-li ... on-twitter
That being said, I can see how such things can offend.

Changes coming to commenting on Strib articles.

Man, what if they just turned them off entirely, though?

Strib comments are (usually) cancer. But it's so hard not to look... IMO they leave them open on far too many charged topics.

I realize the comments are awful, but has anyone realized the balance of power has been slowly changing particularly WRT transportation status quo on articles about bike lanes, transit, etc? It's encouraging.

At least early on, the balance of comments on the "let people chose cars" counterpoint was fairly neutral to maybe slight pro-alternatives. I lost track as the comment count went up, though.

Sadly - Southwest Journal will be ceasing publication unless they can find a buyer.

Very sad to hear this as they do a great job of reporting new developments before they are picked up before if at all by other news outlets in the city.

City Pages to shut down immediately, citing loss of ad revenue (primarily from bars/restaurants): https://www.startribune.com/city-pages- ... 572897771/

This is tough news on the heels of Southwest Journal shutting down.

Honestly, City Pages hasn't been all that great in recent years. There's been some good work here and there (the story they did on the CTC, in particular, stood out), but it's definitely declined over time.

I have this idea that the city pages was like a local “village voice” in its heyday. Is that correct?

Them plus Twin Cities Reader.

Southwest journal is a big loss as they reported all of the new big and small proposals in the area much like there sister paper the downtown journal a while back. City pages even over the past 3-4 years that I have been reading has lost what made it fun and or at times even insightful(granted not usually). It used to have a voice but now it reads more like someone's mean tweets. All of there articles now read as beyond condescending and bitter