Karl -

As they tell us in this business, it's dangerous to assume.

I do not wish the Strib ill - I would be heartbroken if it fails. The Strib has never treated me poorly, except when I'm trying to get a comment from their publisher. And while I'm not sure if Joel Kramer lost money in the bankruptcy (didn't see his name on any docs), that's not driving my coverage. It's all on me.

I find absurd the attitude that critical coverage = malice + deathwish. In this column, I regularly call for others to be tough-minded about influential institutions, and am trying to walk that walk. Like or not, my reporting has been based on company-disclosed facts/projections and expert testimony, not just my own analysis.

You're right that the future is not known, but frankly, your speculation that all will be well when the economy recovers is a bigger leap of faith. Newspapers won't have the recession as a general drag on their business - they'll only have the decade-old problem of profitable print ads migrating away. The Strib was losing ad revenue at double-digit rates *before* the recession.

While I hope they can sell smarter, better and in new niches, I'm certainly not going to abandon my skepticism on that. As I've shown in past stories, the trend lines would have to starkly reverse, and it will take more than a stable economy to do that.

There ARE many sources of news, but the "excuse" still holds: the Strib still remains BY FAR the biggest and most influential source in town, and it's bankruptcy is BY FAR the biggest media story in my 30 years in the market.

In a way, my coverage is a compliment to them on their influence. But believe me, if I had similar financials for the the PiPress, or TV stations, etc., I'd report on those too. (I do cover what details turn up; non-Strib media folks would find laughable the assertion that I only write about the Strib's financial difficulties.) I've feasted on the disclosure banquet the Strib's bankruptcy has given me.

I also regularly chuckle at the comment that I can only credibly report on the Strib's finances if MinnPost is either a) making money or b) printing its monthly financials.

For one thing, the notion that only a profitable institution can deploy reporters to cover an unprofitable company gives your employer's accountants too much power over you.

Also, the Strib is a 148-year-old for-profit while we are a not-quite-two-year-old nonprofit. I'm not sure we have many lessons for them, nor should we. And I've never believed that covering a company's difficulties means I should solve their problems, too.

And if we haven't already, we'll be posting a federal 990 where you can see everything. Joel Kramer regularly writes about our numbers; feel free to email him.

Also, by the way, I've encouraged other reporters to take looks at our journalism AND our finances. That sort of thing is usually best done from a distance.