Not Sure How to Explain this Interaction

Every now and then I am sufficiently bemused by an event to be moved to action.  So it was with the Strib’s ongoing pleas for donations to save the paper and the cause of “independent journalism” in Minnesota.  For rather obvious reasons I found that deeply ironic.  So I wrote to Steve Grove, the woefully miscast publisher of the Strib, formerly of the Incompetent Blowhard’s administration and still working hard in his new position to cover for Little Timmy.  Here is my exact email:

“I read your fairly pathetic editorial saying that to save journalism, Minnesotans should donate to the Star Tribune. I think it was an attempt at comedy, I certainly hope so for your sake. I suspect you are in a bubble there at the disinformation factory and do not realize that most Minnesotans view your paper not as a source of trustworthy information but as a propaganda outlet for the DFL Party. The explosive government fraud being revealed in the state is a prime example.

Your paper surely received many tips regarding the potential fraud. Any major newspaper should routinely be investigating the actions of state and local governments as a primary function of keeping citizens informed. If you had done the job that any journalist should do, the Star Tribune would undoubtedly be up for Pulitizers and other awards. Your paper did nothing, absolutely nothing.

And in fact, the Strib is flailing away attempting to minimize the fraud, justify the actions of Governor Walz and other administration officials and assaulting anyone who has dared to investigate and report on this absolute pilfering of the taxpayer-funded state treasury with allegations of racism. I wonder if you have any conception of what an embarrassment the paper is both locally and nationally.

So, no, I won’t be donating to the Star Tribune, because if we really want to save independent, rigorous journalism, the best thing that could happen is for the Strib to cease publication and be replaced by a media source that actually adheres to sound journalistic practices.

And you personally were an official of the Walz Administration while these frauds were occurring. You must have been aware that they were occurring. You owe readers of your woeful publication an explanation of what you knew, when you knew it and why you did nothing about it. And you should come clean on all the many contacts you have undoubtedly had with Governor Walz and other officials since the frauds became apparent–what was the content of those communications. Inquiring minds want to know.

Best of luck in your new position after the paper folds or someone dedicated to objectivity and truth replaces you.”

Now, for reasons that further elude me, Mr. Grove chose to respond to my email.  Here in full is his response, save the actual Google research results he included:

“The notion that the Minnesota Star Tribune is downplaying the fraud crisis is contradicted by a simple Google search.

The newsroom has written hundreds of articles, filed dozens of public information requests, and broken countless stories that hold state leaders accountable for this massive theft of taxpayer money. A few of many examples are included below.

This is the sort of independent, fact-based reporting Minnesotans expect and deserve, and we intend to continue.”

I can’t exactly copy the format of the Google results, but here is the content:

• In November, the Star Tribune was first to report that the Walz administration was withholding information about precisely which social service providers it had suspended.
• As far back as 2014 the Minnesota Star Tribune broke an importantstory about the how Minnesota had become one of worst in the country in investigating and prosecuting Medicaid fraudsters.
• The Minnesota Star Tribune has published more original and revelatory reporting about the Feeding our Future fraud than any other media outlet in the country, including exclusivestories about state oversight failures.
• Minnesota Star Tribune reporters uncovered documents showing that the Education Department and the state Attorney General’s Office failed to act when a whistleblower accused the leader of Feeding Our Future of breaking the law in 2018 and 2019, before more than $200 million was paid to the nonprofit.
• Two months after the first indictments were issued, the Minnesota Star Tribune revealed that day cares owned by several defendants in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme were still receiving payments from the state.
• Last February – months before an FBI raid – the Minnesota Star Tribune revealed providers within the Medicaid-funded Housing Stabilization Services program had warned the state that predatory providers were signing people up for services that were never provided.

The Google results Mr. Grove included for some reason, which actually does not elude me, do not mention once all the stories and editorials over the last two months in which the Strib has attempted to minimize the fraud, defend Little Timmy and smear as racist anyone who mentions that is a largely, if not exclusively, Somali fraud.  Mr. Grove also obviously fails to note that the Strib did nothing til multiple other sources had exposed the fraud and its scope.  If as Mr. Grove suggests, at a time long before he became publisher the Strib was on the case, as early as 2014, it certainly did no follow-up investigating and did not in any manner describe to Minnesotans the audacity and scope of the frauds it might have uncovered if the Strib really had any interest in investigating.  I read the paper every day and up to the time the Federal Government had broken the case wide open and even after, the paper never gave any meaningful coverage to the Walz’ administration’s complete failure to take action, indeed that some officials, talking about you here, Keith Ellison, tried to protect the fraudsters.

And I would very much like an answer to my last question, which was ignored–what did Mr. Grove personally know and when did he know it?  A follow-up question would be why Mr. Grove, having been a member of the Walz Administration when the frauds were committed, is being given in any role in decisions about coverage and editorial policy?  I can’t imagine a clearer conflict of interest.

I would encourage all of you to email Mr. Grove, his email is steve.grove@startribune.com, and make your own observations and comments on how the paper has handled this story and the nature of its journalism in general.