Why is The Minnesota Star Tribune Offering Free Digital Access to the School?

Over the course of two years, The Minnesota Star Tribune has been talking to school administrators, teachers, and students in multiple school districts throughout Minnesota to learn how they can be a helpful resource in the education system. After receiving quality feedback, starting in the 2021-22 school year they are pursuing an ambitious goal of providing one-click access to The Minnesota Star Tribune for Minnesota school districts at no cost.

Why? The Minnesota Star Tribune truly wants to be a helpful resource for Minnesota educators and a source of credible, local journalism for students. They want to play a part in combatting misinformation and increasing news literacy, showing the next generation the importance of reliable news sources.

Is The Minnesota Star Tribune Capturing Student Data or Targeting Students with Advertisements?

No. The Minnesota Star Tribune is providing one account per school, so they are unable to capture individual data on each user (and they do not want to for students). With that, they will not be targeting students specifically with advertisements.

Will Students See Advertisements?

Yes. The Minnesota Star Tribune is not altering the user experience specifically for schools. They are providing access to content, so users in the school will access The Minnesota Star Tribune's news the same way each of their customers experience The Minnesota Star Tribune.

Will Students Receive Solicitations to Become Subscribers Because of this Access?

No. Free access to The Minnesota Star Tribune's content is meant to be a helpful resource for Minnesota educators and a source of credible, local journalism for students.

Is The Minnesota Star Tribune Biased?

The Minnesota Star Tribune reporting follows transparency standards to help readers easily assess the quality and credibility of journalism and does everything in its power to ensure reporting is fair and accurate.

See their full policies and standards here to better understand their process. It is also important to highlight the separation of the Editorial Department and Newsroom, which you can also see on the policies and standards page. You can also view the teacher webinar What makes credible news credible? to hear from a Minnesota Star Tribune digital editor on the topic.

Does The Minnesota Star Tribune Report on Only Certain Parts of Minnesota?

The Minnesota Star Tribune reports on the entire state of Minnesota, with satellite newsrooms located in both Duluth and St. Cloud. Educators and students can easily navigate the locality of their school district if desired.

Can I Use My Child’s School Account to Access The Minnesota Star Tribune?

We ask that the school subscription is only used by educators and students. Access will eventually be available through their school’s Learning Management System which will be as easy for your child to access as other approved school resources.

Please click the link below to download this document.