Star Tribune
425 Portland Ave. South
Minneapolis, MN 55488
The Star Tribune employs what the paper calls "section coordinators" to help sort faxes and do other administrative tasks. What these staffers also do, however, is sort press releases from the newswires and determine which faxes are newsworthy and which are worthy of the dreaded circular file. The coordinators have a nose for news and first hand knowledge of the inner workings of the paper. Make friends with them. They can help you locate beat reporters and judge how to get your story idea heard.
SECTIONS: BUSINESS
Fifteen beats comprise the business section including financial services, corporate litigation, legal affairs, capital markets, personal finance, corporate finance, medical devices, consumer affairs and home/real estate.
All stories must relate to the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.
EDITORS/LEAD TIME: Editor, Scott Gillespie Fax: 612/673-7122 Phone: 612/673-4516 e-mail: [email protected]
Lead Time: one week unless you have a breaking story. In that case, feel free to submit your story that morning.
METHODS: Much to our surprise, phone calls are accepted by the reporters - especially if your news is breaking. The business section is daily but also has two weekly deadlines for its Sunday and Monday sections. For Sunday, it's the Wednesday before and for Monday, it's Friday.
COMMENTS: About 300 public companies have headquarters in the St. Paul/Minneapolis area and 14 are Fortune 500 companies. All do a good job of pitching the Star Tribune and knowing where the reporters' interests lie, says Mike Blahnik, coordinator. The problems arise, however, when a company uses an out-of-state PR firm that doesn't know the inner workings of the paper.
Blahnik recommends sending photos with story ideas.
SECTIONS: FEATURES
Covers home and garden, food, travel, TV, movies, music, pop culture, theater and lifestyle issues.
The section is printed daily, with the Home and Garden and Food sections publishing on Thursday and Travel on Sunday.
EDITORS/LEAD TIME: Editor, Susie Hopper Phone: 612/673-4530 e-mail: [email protected]
Lead Time: For the weekly section, lead time is three weeks; the earlier the better. For all others, call that day.
METHODS: Phone calls will get more attention than any other form of pitching, says Graydon Royce, coordinator. Although he admits the staff can get annoyed at calls, if it's executed correctly, the phone pitch can be very effective.
COMMENTS: Royce says to be clear and direct when courting the features department and tell editors why your idea would interest readers.
It's best if you court specific editors on the various beats (listed below).
Editorial Contacts at the Star Tribune - for a complete editorial beat list, check out the paper's site at http://dataz.startribune.com/cfpages/staff/index.cfm
Main Number: 612/673-4000
Steve Alexander
Technology reporter
612/673-4553
Jill Barshay
Capital markets reporter
612/673-4894
Jim Buchta
Housing reporter
612/673-7376
Dee DePass
Banking/financial
612/673-7725
Jill Burcum
Health editor
612/673-7846
Lee Dean
Food editor
612/673-1749
Ingrid Sundstrom
Home and Garden editor
612/673-7242
Catherine Watson
Travel editor
612/673-4282