Many metropolitan newspapers across the country have narrowed their ambitions in recent years, closing regional bureaus and cutting back statewide coverage in an effort to trim costs.
The Star Tribune in Minneapolis is taking the opposite tack.
The paper will now be called The Minnesota Star Tribune, its chief executive announced on Sunday, and it will use an injection of money from its billionaire owner to expand its coverage beyond the Twin Cities into other parts of the state.
Steve Grove, the publisher and chief executive, said the push, which includes hiring reporters in various parts of the state, was part of an effort to as much as triple the publication’s paid digital subscriptions over the next five years.
“It’s definitely a bet that Minnesotans care about what’s happening outside of their own local communities,” he said in an interview.
The expansion is a rare big bet in the newspaper industry. Local newspapers have been shrinking across the country in recent years. A 2023 report from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern found that almost 2,900 newspapers had shut down since 2005.
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