Fire Kersten: You can help rid the Strib of its conservative columnist

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Filed under: Media

Katherine Kersten may have just made a career-ending mistake: She linked to an online petition calling for her firing.

... I’ve made an enemy at the highest reaches of state government, and she’s calling for my head.

Rep. Mindy Greiling is Chair of the House K-12 Finance Committee. In a dither over my columns [here and here] about one of her favorite schools, she wrote a letter published in the on-line Star Tribune and demanded that the paper give me a pink slip. ...

The smug, self-satisfied scold continues:

Oh well, all in a day’s work. But now, I see with horror that Greiling’s letter seems to have ignited a public campaign for my ouster! An online petition drive is now demanding that I be fired. Folks have signed in droves — from Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey across the globe to Turkey, where “Can Atik” signed. Dozens of Minnesotans, including Coleen Rowley, have added their monikers.

Said petition can be found here. It currently has 183 signatures. We urge all of you to take the time to make your voice heard on this important issue.

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at May 15, 2008 12:26 PM

« Strib Bankruptcy Watch: The Incredibly Shrinking Newsroom | Main | Minneapolis foreclosure crisis story in USA Today »

Comments

Good objective blog post, asshat. Glad City Pages is so "fair and balanced" too. Strib tanks first, City Pages a close second. Watch. I've got my ear to the ground and I'm hearing things.

Posted by: Jim Egan at May 15, 2008 2:44 PM

I like Kersten. She provides much laughter. She's too dumb to realize she's a tool.

Posted by: The Reality-based Dave at May 15, 2008 5:47 PM

As much as I disagree with almost everything that woman writes, I don't believe she should be denied the opportunity to write it. Columnists like her are paid to write evocative, opinionated articles. Just because her opinion isn't yours, doesn't mean the Strib should fire her. Having a diversity of thought can only stimulate productive conversation...and that includes people who disagree!

Posted by: Pat at May 15, 2008 6:00 PM

I agree with Pat. She's awful, but in such a ridiculously obvious way that it's like shooting fish in a barrel.

Posted by: ChrisFL at May 15, 2008 7:12 PM

Does the petition ask that she be fired for the content of that article, or for how poorly it was written? Her choice of content, her holier than though, adversarial positions combined with her lack of skills shoud emabarass the Strib......if they place so much value in giving a voice to 60 year old church ladies with bad hair, is it too much to ask they find one who can write? I hate KK. If she was my mom she'd remind me that "hate" is a bad word. I really hate her.

Posted by: Jeff at May 15, 2008 8:01 PM

I disagree with her 90% of the time, but removing her would only homogenize the paper. As a centrist guy, I like having multiple opinions, even those that seem crazy. Why use the paper as a means to feel better about my beliefs?

Posted by: Craig at May 15, 2008 9:21 PM

Hi there,

I have now lived in MN one year after moving here from FL(I know, don't get me started). Folks, this state and it's people are the most isolated, clueless and uninformed I have ever seen. EVERY major city/region out there in the real world has tons of reporters, MUCH more conservative than Katherine Kerstin. Her column is the only NORMAL thing I have seen in this strange land... and she is SPOT-ON in most of her columns!! You all need to get out more and quite voting to tax yourself into oblivion. In case you haven't noticed, your major corporations and businesses are making a beeline for places that have low taxes and are fun to live in! That would NOT be MN!! MN needs more Moderates like Katherine Kerstin that tell it like it is!!

Posted by: Realitycheck at May 16, 2008 8:14 AM

"You all need to get out more and quite voting to tax yourself into oblivion."

I would rather Minnesota not be like Florida, with its low services and resulting crappy education, high infant mortality rate, etc etc ... Minnesota does well because it has an ethic of cooperation (in business, in government, etc), an aspect of that is the high services our government provides.

The argument of "I don't like what she says, but I support her right to say it!" is a completely different argument than "she sucks as a writer, has crappy arguments, and needs to go!" She may have a right to say something, but it doesn't mean she's any good. It was completely dumb that the STrib didn't hire someone like Sarah Janecek who actually had experience in the media and can form a coherent argument.

Posted by: rc, please at May 16, 2008 9:34 AM

Kersten should be fired, but it's ridiculous to imply (as this post's headline does) that her problem is her conservatism. She's not a terrible columnist because she votes Republican, she's a terrible columnist because she's an idiot who's frequently unwilling to do basic background research on her topics. I would be fine with reading well-written articles by someone with whom I disagree, but reading Kersten's embarrassing screeds (GTA IV will rape your children, oh please, won't someone think of the children!) is absolutely maddening because it's impossible to engage with someone so divorced from reality.

@Realitycheck: which businesses are you referring to? Did Best Buy recently pack up and move to LA while I wasn't looking? And before you get too strident in your defense of Ms. Kersten, you should probably learn to spell her name correctly. Just a thought.

Posted by: Midwest Product at May 16, 2008 9:48 AM

I agree that the Strib needs a conservative columnist, but I think it's more important that they hire a conservative columnist who can write insightful and thought provoking pieces that challenge readers. Kersten's columns just preach to the choir and piss everyone else off. She's just contributing to the echo chamber of loudmouthed pundits and isn't helping improve our national discourse one iota. I say fire her and hire someone better.

Posted by: tom at May 16, 2008 11:48 AM

It just occurred to me, there sure are a lot of conservatives that read this "liberal rag." Oh, and "reality check" is probably high, right about now. I hear they grow the stuff in their back yards down in Florida. And their graduation rates and ACT scores suck. But, I'm soooo jealous...about the pot thing.

Posted by: Helm Matthews at May 16, 2008 8:45 PM

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