MINNEAPOLIS -- The Star Tribune announced Wednesday that it is buying the 35-year-old alternative weekly newspaper, City Pages, from Voice Media Group.
The sale is not final but a Star Tribune spokesman said the deal will be closed quickly.
Also announced, the Star Tribune, effective immediately will stop publishing its own alternative paper, VitaMN.
Two City Pages editorial staffers were let go after this announcement, the Star Tribune says all VitaMN staffers will be re-assigned within the company.
City Pages managing editor Hannah Sayle says this purchase will not affect the editorial decisions of the paper.
"It's still going to be the same great Alt weekly. We are still committed to independent journalism just like we were before," Sayle said.
City Pages will continue to operate out its own newsroom in the North Loop.
Media Critic David Brauer, who worked for City Pages nearly twenty years ago, also is optimistic.
"If they (Star Tribune) do invest in it, and Glen Taylor has shown that inclination, while leaving it to have its own voice that would be the best case scenario," Brauer said.
