OK, no, the Star Gazette newspaper is still there. At least, we’ve received recent issues. But the Star Gazette on-line version has gone through a misguided makeover. I remember being to reach articles just by clicking. It doesn’t work any more.

Clearly this is a recent change. The site has a FAQ section that shows just how much trouble customers are having. So it’s not just me.

I suppose they thought people would be more likely to log in if they could use their Facebook account. Maybe, but it doesn’t work when I try it.  Once you log in, it just keeps returning you to the login page. It never lets you read any articles. Not sure what is wrong, but something is broken.

I get the impression that this is a side-effect of some management overhaul by the owning company. The Star Gazette was part of a conglomerate of small papers in and around the St. Croix valley. The map for the owner “Forum Communications,” now shows posessions all across the upper midwest.

I don’t know if this is a local attempt to make the web site pay its way, or if this is a corporate web site shell that the Star Gazette fills with stories. If it’s a local thing, I hope they can get their act together. If it’s a corporate thing, I hope they change whatever policy decision led to breaking local newspaper web sites all across the region. In either case, the site is too broken for me to use.