I was waiting for Brian Lambert or Paul Schmelzer to post something about the MinnPost open house so I wouldn't have to justify to myself drinking one of their beers (Pickings for the beer lover were slim. The lone Leinie Red was the best on the table; a 12-pack of Corona was still unopened at the end of the night.), chasing it with a slosh of wine and grazing on some fine blue cheese and crackers catered by...
Where was I?
Oh, yeah. MinnPost's prototype design is here. I'm surprised no one has yet asked why its stories will all be in fake Latin, while the ads will be in English.
The Rake's Lambert was taking notes and the media is his beat, so I expected him to do the heavy lifting on this story. So far, nothing, but Minnesota Monitor's Schmelzer did pick up on MinnPost CEO and Editor Joel Kramer's answer to my question about advertising policy.
When Kramer earlier described "one way we'll be different from online newspapers," I was hoping for a statement like "you will never have to claw your way through a Denny Hecker ad in order to read a story." In fact, Kramer said MinnPost will not have advertising that intrudes on the content. Schmelzer provides Chuck Olson's deconstruction of what that means.
Officially, of course, the various local nonprofitonlinenewsmagazinejournoblogs are wishing each other well.
I also asked Kramer about their philosophy of linking from stories. Unlike most newspapers, which link not at all or only to their own content, MinnPost will link to material that explains or amplifies their stories — especially in the "posts" that enrich the reporting with more personal writer perspective and opinion.
The UpTake.org's Olson was there doing a party pics thing and caught the Wege and me, in a shot that shows a) We stayed longer than most and b) He wears salmon pink underneath while I wear it on my sleeve. Too bad that bloggers and writers were the best he had to work with, while MSP Magazine gets Tytti Vänskä.
Disclosure: I've talked to Kramer about contributing op/eds to MinnPost. Despite this audition, I don't think they'll call me to cover the gossip beat.
