A note to readers from the Star Tribune's new publisher

Five years ago this month, my wife, Mary, and I moved to Minnesota from Silicon Valley with our 1-year-old twins. I grew up in Northfield, so it wasn't an entirely foreign experience. But I'd been gone for over 20 years, so in most ways it felt like a fresh start.

To learn more about our new home, I turned to the Star Tribune. Every day I devoured the paper, getting a pulse for the state and local news and opinion, a handle on what was happening at the State Capitol, and reporting on the sports teams I grew up cheering for. Getting a subscription to the Star Tribune felt like an essential step in beginning our new lives here. It made the move feel more "official."

Today, half a decade later, it's with a feeling of honor and responsibility that I'm joining this organization as CEO and publisher. To lead the talented journalists and award-winning team that produces the Star Tribune, a paper I grew up with, is both humbling and exciting. I'm grateful to our owner, Glen Taylor, and our board for this opportunity.

For over 150 years, the Star Tribune has served our state with distinction, informing Minnesotans and the rest of the world about what's happening here — and why it matters. It has covered our breaking news, explored our biggest crises and celebrated our best days. It's been a place we gather to track our epic snowstorms, to feel the joy and sorrow of our sports teams, and to gain insight and inspiration about what it means to be Minnesotan.

With seven Pulitzer Prizes and the largest newsroom in the Midwest, this publication is an outlier among its peers in other markets. My predecessor Mike Klingensmith has been an extraordinary leader through a time of great change. I have big shoes to fill.

Healthy, thriving local media is foundational to a strong democracy. Studies show that quality local journalism leads to higher voter participation, less political polarization, and a stronger sense of community. Minnesota has long prided itself on nation-leading rates of civic participation and a high quality of life.

However, things are changing, and they're changing fast.

Across almost every dimension, our lives have been transformed in the last decade. Rapid technological growth, the COVID-19 pandemic and the murder of George Floyd have placed Minnesota at a unique inflection point. The next 10 years, the pace of change and demands for transformation will only increase. The decisions we make as a state will say everything about the Minnesota we leave to our children.

The Star Tribune also finds itself at an inflection point. The explosion of new technology has put local news coverage on the decline in almost every market in the world. Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing how we get information. The paradox is that while you have more options of where to get your news and opinion than ever before, getting access to quality journalism is harder.

I got my start as a reporter at the Northfield News in Minnesota, but left soon after for the East Coast, where I wrote for the Boston Globe. In 2007, I took a job at YouTube just as it was getting off the ground. I spent the next 12 years at both YouTube and Google in roles that intersected technology and news.

In that span, I saw the disruptions happening in the news industry firsthand around the world. The organizations that I've seen making progress are those that stay obsessed with providing value to their customers, and who recognize that the things that got them to where they are today may not be the same things they need to get them to a stronger tomorrow.

I hope to bring that same spirit to the Star Tribune. Minnesota deserves an extraordinary news organization of record that works hard to gain your trust, and is worth 10 times what you pay for it. I'm optimistic we can do right by our readers at a time of change, and that we can accelerate the digital transformation already underway.

One reason is while the challenges of producing quality journalism today are real, this isn't the first time the Star Tribune has faced change and met the challenge.

In 1894, the Minneapolis Tribune was an early adopter of the Mergenthaler typesetting machines, which sped up typesetting and revolutionized print production. Soon after, the paper was one of the first to experiment with color on its pages. In 1935, new owner John Cowles pioneered a rigorous circulation strategy that positioned the paper for decades of success — a model so renowned that it landed him on the cover of Time magazine.

Almost 60 years later, the Star Tribune was an internet pioneer, becoming one of the first regional publications in the country to launch an online publication in 1996.

Today's challenges are different, but require that same bold commitment to embracing new technologies, platforms and business models that help us meet readers where they are — in ways that inform and inspire every day.

We will do it with the same commitment to integrity and honesty that has made this publication worthy of generations of trusted readership. In the very first edition of the Minneapolis Daily Tribune on May 25, 1867, our founders promised, "In its treatment of individuals it shall be courteous, remembering always that error of opinion will be tolerated while truth is left free to combat it."

That's as true today as it was over 150 years ago.

The next chapter of the Star Tribune remains to be written. To write it well, we need to listen closely to our customers and to those we hope to turn into customers. In the coming weeks and months, I'll be talking with readers, community leaders and partners across the state. This listening tour will deepen our understanding about what we're getting right and where we need to improve. Moving forward, please let me know what you think about the Star Tribune at steveg@startribune.com.

The Star Tribune's best days lie ahead. I believe that not only because of the great team I'm joining today, but because of the great people who live in this place we all call home. In my last four years serving in state government, I've met thousands of Minnesotans from all walks of life. What's clear to me is that while we have our differences, Minnesotans share a strong sense of pride in this state and want to see it succeed.

I look forward to the work ahead to make the Star Tribune even stronger. Because a strong Star Tribune means a stronger Minnesota, for everyone.

Steve Grove is at steveg@startribune.com.