This Just In

I don't know if this is new news or old news, but I just got a press release about pending litigation against the Star Tribune for circulation fraud.

Some of the highlights:

1. Forced distributors to report inflated returns and sign false affidavits.

2. Forced distributors to accept excess papers, dump excess papers, and absorb the loss.

3. Forced distributors to deliver excess papers to nonsubscribers, hotel rooms, schools, hospitals, and residences.

4. Manipulated circulation figures and audits.

5. Forced distributors out of business.

6. Refused to renew contracts.

Get more details here.

The suit was filed on Oct. 18, 2006, long before the sale of the paper. Could this be why the paper sold for less than half it's going price from eight years ago?

UPDATE: While I can't offer much insight for readers visiting from credible blogs, I can offer anecdotal evidence of how this worked.

Once, while staying at a swank hotel - conference center in the Cities, we awoke to find a Star Tribune outside our door. Though we scoffed at the choice of paper, we did appreciate the thoughtful gesture by the hotel and Trib. That is, until we read the extremely fine print in the upper corner noting we would be charged 75 cents for the edition unless we made a point of asking the front desk not to.

The hotel seemed a little peeved when I "opted out" upon paying our bill. Perhaps pressure to inflate numbers explains why. I've always wondered how many guests never read their paper, never noted the charge on the bill, yet were counted towards the Trib's circulation numbers.