Whats the big challenge ahead for the St. Petersburg Times?
Tash: I don’t mean to go too Zen-like here. After all, I am from Indiana. But your greatest weakness can be the flip side of your greatest strength. I think the St. Pete Times has two gold-plated assets. One is its security. Because Andy (Barnes) was able to consolidate the ownership of the company within the Poynter Institute, we are protected from the kind of public-company pressures and corporate-takeover possibilities that attach to just about everybody else in this business. The other great strength is our independence. We are able to make decisions, both on the news side and on the business side, here on the West Coast of Florida, that are based upon what we think is best for the St. Petersburg Times, its readers and its advertisers – not based on what kind of profit they need in San Jose or in northern Virginia or in Chicago. The flip side of security and independence would be complacency and insularity. I think we are unlikely to fall victim to those perils. Q: Where do you wan
