Memo from Star-Tribune editor to staff

By Keith Moyer
Publisher and President

As this message from me is being posted on Stribnet, I am announcing to employees in Rooms A/B that I have made the very tough decision to leave the Star Tribune upon change of control from McClatchy to Avista Capital Partners.

To stop the rumor mill cold I want to say this unequivocally: I haven’t been fired. Nor have I been asked to leave.

In fact, when the sale of the Star Tribune was announced I had fully intended to remain on as your publisher and CEO.

But I have changed my mind. I have decided this is a perfect time in my life for me to take a late mid-career break - to stop and smell those cliched roses, to devote more quality time to myself, my family, friends and other interests. I am blessed with the opportunity to do so and I have decided to not let this chance pass without doing so.

I am not leaving because of the change of ownership. In fact, I believe the Star Tribune is going to be in excellent hands with Avista, as it was under McClatchy. I like very much the people who have bet on a bright future for each of you and this company with their considerable investment dollars.

From comments I’ve gotten from many of you, Chris Harte, who will be chairman of the Star Tribune Company, has been seen as an accessible, reassuring figure. Chris has a strong newspaper background. He understands that a newspaper is a public trust.

Chris will be a wonderful steward for the Star Tribune, along with OhSang Kwon, Jimmy Finklestein and others who will help the new publisher, Chris, the Executive Team and, most importantly, all of you, develop what will undoubtedly be a new and exciting course for the company. My hope is that it will be a model for others to emulate as newspapers navigate their way out of the recently choppy waters we’ve seen.

I am not leaving because I’ve lost faith in this industry. To the contrary, I fully expect the Star Tribune and other newspapers to speed up the operational, strategic and philosophical changes that are necessary to adapt to an ever-shifting media landscape. And I will be cheering the industry on as I take this time for myself.

I've been at this full-bore non-stop for more than 30 years now. I have seen newspapers go from manual typewriters and gluepots to blogging, podcasts and advanced technologies we couldn’t even have imagined when I started out back in the ‘70s as a cub reporter covering the Tampa City Council for the defunct Tampa Times.

At its worst, my career has been exciting and gratifying; gloriously intoxicating at its best.

Those best times include my nearly six years at the Star Tribune. I have been proud to know and work along side each of you. I have been humbled by the many, many of you who are so much smarter and more talented than I am.

We have accomplished so much during my time here. I am proud of that. I hope you are too. And I will watch, proudly, after leaving the Star Tribune as you take this company to even higher heights.

I will miss each and every one of you, please know that. And I can’t even begin to adequately thank you all for having made my job easier at every turn through your hard work, ingenuity and devotion to this company.

My family and I will plan to remain in the Twin Cities, so I hope to run into you from time to time.

I will remain here until the close of sale occurs, currently planned for early March, so I’ll have time to say proper goodbyes to you all - my friends and colleagues.

Thanks.

Keith