One thing’s certain: The Mankato Free Press is the kind of newspaper that, if it does things right, can act as the town square for a thriving but diverse community with far-flung geographic boundaries. Conversely, to use a particularly cynical metaphor currently common in the newspaper industry, its owners can choose to “harvest the assets” — i.e., goose up the paper’s cash flow at the expense of its readers and its employees.

It shouldn’t take too long to determine which way things go in Mankato — or whether Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. deserves its first name at all.

—Susan Q. Stranahan

Postscript, March 23: Michael Reed, President and CEO of Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc., writes to object to the above posting:

Your readers do not know that we added a Sunday [edition] after we bought the paper. Your readers do not know that we expanded the editorial budget there by 25 percent after acquisition. Your readers do not know that we have added editorial staff since we bought the paper.

CJR Daily correspondent Susan Q. Stranahan responds:

When the Sunday edition of the Mankato Free Press was launched in May, 2003, CNHI did indeed increase the overall newsroom budget, allowing the addition of two reporters and an editor.

However, according to both past and present managers, a few months after the Sunday launch, new budget cuts imposed across-the-board resulted in job losses — although none of the initial cutbacks involved full-time staff in the newsroom.

Since that time, vacancies have not been filled as they occurred. As a consequence, the editorial staff of the paper is currently at the same level as it was before the newspaper became a seven-day-a-week operation.

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