Newspapers

Scott Gillespie
Editorial Page Editor
Star Tribune

Lee Schafer
Business columnist
Star Tribune

Todd Stone
Assistant managing editor/ business
Star Tribune

Eric Wieffering
Assistant managing editor/news
Star Tribune

The Strib is the 800-pound gorilla of business coverage in these parts, with many point people worth knowing. The affable Gillespie, a one-time business journalist, helms the paper’s editorial page, while longtime business columnist Wieffering now manages the paper’s overall news operation. Business editor Stone is new to town, but said to be active and engaged. Newly minted columnist Schafer is a longtime local business practitioner and journalist sensitive to the perspective of business.

Mike Burbach
Editor and vice president
St. Paul Pioneer Press
 

Chris Clonts
Managing editor
St. Paul Pioneer Press

The depleted Pioneer Press no longer has discrete business and editorial page editors. Rather, Editor-in-Chief Burbach runs the paper’s editorial board, while Managing Editor Clonts helms all news pages, including business coverage.

Online

Joel Kramer
CEO and editor
MinnPost

The five-year-old MinnPost is less a tool of breaking news coverage than excellent analytical efforts and occasional enterprise stories, though it offers only selective coverage of business. The entire operation is a strong reflection of the influential and accessible Kramer, far and away the name to know at MinnPost.

Radio

Mick Anselmo
General manager
WCCO-AM
 

Adam Carter
Producer
WCCO-AM
 

’CCO Radio no longer has enough of a news operation to cover business enterprise stories, but its huge volume of local talk inventory is a wonderful forum for business to be heard or tell a story. Producer Carter is the go-to contact, while local radio vet Anselmo is an invaluable “made” media man who knows where all the bodies are buried.

Bill Catlin
Editor
Minnesota Public Radio
 

Chris Worthington
Managing director, regional news
Minnesota Public Radio
 

MPR is the only local source of business journalism on the radio and the most reliable broadcast outlet for biz stories. Worthington, a former Pioneer Press business editor, has a keen interest in business and directs all of the network’s news coverage. Editor Catlin executes much of the day-to-day efforts.

Television

Bill Dallman
Vice president, news
FOX9
 

Seth Kaplan
Senior producer
FOX9
 

Fox9 is an assertive and aggressive presence on the local news scene, and despite the Fox brand’s reputation as business-friendly, the station coverage often leans investigative and gadfly-esque. Longtime news director Dallman is the man for top-line concerns—he’s a veteran on the local scene and knows the corporate players. Kaplan is an up-and-coming name to know for day-to-day contacts.

Rob Hubbard
President and general manager
KSTP-TV
 

John Mason
Assistant news director
KSTP-TV
 

KSTP airs more hours of hard news programming each day than any of its peers and is the market’s only locally owned TV news operation. Eyewitness News covers business aggressively and with an investigative bent. The Hubbard family is solicitous of and sympathetic to the needs of local business. For issues of policy and high-level conversations, Hubbard is the man to call, while Mason in the newsroom is the best contact for day-to-day coverage concerns.

Terry O’Reilly
Chief content officer

Twin Cities Public Television

TPT’s coverage of business is largely limited to its Minnesota Channel, which actively solicits business content from outside sources. O’Reilly is the man to know at TPT, subordinate only to President and CEO Jim Pagliarini.

Angela Benson
Assistant News Director
WCCO-TV
 

Bill Hudson
Reporter
WCCO-TV
 

The go-to names at ’CCO are longtime news director Benson, who knows the local scene as well as any Twin Cities broadcaster and influences coverage priorities, and reporter Hudson, the boots on the street for many of the station’s business stories.

Jane Helmke 
News director
KARE
 

John Remes 
President, general manager
KARE
 

KARE isn’t particularly focused on business, but longtime news exec Helmke knows the players and is open and accessible. Remes is visible in the community and sensitive to the concerns of business.