Minneapolis Star-Tribune Editor Anders Gyllenhaal, late of the News & Observer, announced in a memo to staff today that Katherine Kersten has been hired as a Strib Metro columnist:

Katherine brings a wealth of experiences and local connections to the job. In addition to writing for the Star Tribune and other newspapers and magazines, she has worked as a commentator for “All Things Considered,?? practiced law, co-written a book, worked as a banker, home-schooled one of her children and served as a fellow for the Center of the American Experiment.

Katherine will join the Star Tribune in May, writing two columns a week, plus a Sunday column every third week or so, working in a part-time role, four days a week. This will mean our rotation will now include columns every day of the week, along with multiple columns on most Sundays.

Further, he said:

Her column fits into the Star Tribune?s commitment to expanding the reach of the paper, adding new voices to our pages, taking some untraditional approaches where they will strengthen the newspaper.

Katherine herself added this:

“I want to bring a perspective to Minnesota news, and Minnesota stories, that?s often been in short supply,?? Katherine said. “I want to enhance the paper?s capacity to speak to a broad community, to all the people of this state.??

So, what’s the deal? You’d never know it from the announcement, but at Jim Romenesko’s media blog the headline on the story tells you what’s really up: “Star Tribune hires conservative Kersten as Metro columnist.”

Gyllenhaal’s announcement makes no mention of the word “conservative,” nor does it tell the reader exactly how Kersten’s column is going to expand the reach of the paper and add a new voice to the pages. The reader is left to wonder from the fact that Kersten home-schooled her children that she may actually be a conservative, but that hint is easily canceled out by her having been affiliated with “All Things Considered.”

What kind of promotional value does hiring a conservative columnist have if you’re afraid to tell your readers that’s what you’ve done?