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Partnership supports quality, statewide local journalism

The Minnesota Star Tribune on Thursday announced it is launching a new statewide news partnership, powered by a grant from Google News Initiative. The partnership will enable content sharing between news organizations across the state, as well as forthcoming subscription bundling between participants, creating new revenue streams for local news. The partnership is kicking off in southern Minnesota, with the Albert Lea Tribune, the Austin Daily Herald, the Jackson County Pilot, and the Lakefield Standard as pilot partners.

Readers of the Minnesota Star Tribune can expect to see regular content from these initial partner news organizations on startribune.com, while subscribers to the Albert Lea Tribune, the Austin Daily Herald, the Jackson County Pilot, and the Lakefield Standard will see Minnesota Star Tribune-produced content within their platforms. More partners will be announced in the coming months.

In the near future, the Minnesota Star Tribune plans to broaden the content sharing network, building subscription bundling partnerships and shared training resources for journalists across the state.

“The Minnesota Star Tribune is committed to producing, promoting and supporting quality journalism across our state,” said Steve Grove, Publisher and CEO of The Minnesota Star Tribune. “This statewide news partnership is designed to buoy local publishers while demonstrating our commitment to and investment in covering Greater Minnesota, providing for more robust and comprehensive coverage across our state.”

“At Google News Initiative, we are committed to supporting the critical role played by local news organizations. We are thrilled to collaborate with the Minnesota Star Tribune, a publication with a long-standing tradition of serving its community. Their recent relaunch and expansion of coverage in Greater Minnesota exemplify their unwavering dedication”, Chrissy Towle, director, Associations & Local, News Partnerships in Google.

Earlier this year, the Minnesota Star Tribune announced plans to expand coverage in Greater Minnesota and embarked on an ongoing series of community conversations across the state including in Mankato, Duluth, Moorhead, St. Cloud, Brainerd, Rochester and several locations throughout the Twin Cities metro area. They also added reporting resources including a Greater Minnesota Columnist, a Southeast Minnesota Reporter, a North Central Minnesota Reporter, and a Southwest Minnesota Reporter, while continuing to grow its reporting roster.

“Newspaper journalists, editors and publishers work hard to write stories about their communities,’ said Crystal Miller, president and publisher of the Austin Daily Herald and Albert Lea Tribune. “This new partnership will help us in sharing these stories much more broadly while giving individuals and newspapers the credit they deserve.”

In addition to crucial funding support from Google News Initiative, the Minnesota Star Tribune has partnered with Distributed Media Lab, who provides the technological backbone to enable content sharing between the organizations.