In tough economic times, there's been some debate about government directly supporting media outlets. Now that's happening in Minnesota, albeit on a limited basis.

According to the Duluth News-Tribune's Patrick Garmoe, his paper, along with the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the University of Minnesota Journalism school, will receive $238,000 from the state's Job Skills Partnership Program. The money will teach old dogs new tricks — er, "retrain the newspaper staffs."

Garmoe writes that this maybe the first time nationally that "a journalism school has received a grant to help two daily newspapers adapt their products to an increasingly Internet-based industry."

The U and the two papers will kick in $469,000 worth of staff time — which, I have to tell you, the furlough-happy PiPress might have a hard time sparing right now.

Still, there's no doubt papers need help transforming, and as taxpaying entities (as long as the profits last) they should have access to moneypots for which they qualify. Apparently the initiative sprung from Duluth union negotiations last year. But attention and wariness is in order, given that papers regularly cover the entity shelling out cash.

My own conflict-of-interest note: U prof and Minnesota Journalism Center Director Kathleen Hansen — who insists the money is not an operating subsidy — is a MinnPost board member.

Update: On Twitter — appropriately — MPR blogmeister Bob Collins makes a good point: maybe Chuck Olsen at MnStories (and, I'd add, the affiliated Uptake gang) should do the retraining. That way, the state cash could sustain proven new media organizations while throwing a rope to old ones.

Update II: Several PiPress-affiliated persons let me know it was their 2007 contract that got the ball rolling here. You can see the details in this post from then-Rake Magazine correspondent Deborah Rybak.