A new online outlet called the Rocky Mountain Reader launched this week, promising to “highlight the vast and varied literary landscape of Colorado.”

Founded by longtime Colorado journalist Kathryn Eastburn, the nonprofit plans to publish five stories a week on a website and through an emailed newsletter while making the content available for news organizations to publish free of charge.

“Newspapers used to have dedicated book reviewers,” Eastburn said over the phone this week. Now they don’t — or they’ve outsourced such coverage to larger out-of-state publications with whom they have content-sharing agreements.

What that means in Colorado is that most book and author coverage “now tends to come from larger cities, mainly from the East and West coast,” Eastburn said. “And so the same authors get covered. National bestsellers. Writers in Brooklyn.”

So, the Rocky Mountain Reader is in many ways a response to local newspaper retrenchment. Indeed, a dearth of literary coverage, the project states on its site, was “created by shrinking page sizes, corporate consolidation and other factors.”

More from the Reader’s About section:

As traditional media has evolved over the last decades, so has coverage of literary arts, disappearing from many newspapers and fragmenting into spot coverage on thousands of specialized, narrowly focused websites. At the same time, organized efforts to censor books in libraries and schools have become familiar news.

We hope to provide a centralized literary hub representing a broad range of literary efforts— whether by organizations, libraries, independent bookstores, publishers or individual authors — that will raise awareness among general readers of the essential human urge to exchange ideas, immerse oneself in unknown lives and worlds and enjoy the limitless life of the mind through books.

The Reader, whose nonprofit fiscal sponsor is Colorado Humanities, raised about $40,000 in private donations before its Sept. 1 launch. Nearly a dozen donors are named on the site.

Eastburn said she is applying for grants and funding from philanthropists, benefactors, and readers who love books and are willing to support such an effort. She’s exploring the idea of running ads from publishers and has asked independent booksellers to pay $10 a month to have their events listed each week.

The project came online populated with several reviews by different writers. The site also includes reported features about the state’s book-and-writing industry.

One of them, by Laura Pritchett, is headlined “There are only a few MFAs in Nature Writing in this country, and Colorado offers one.” Eastburn, who is the editor and publisher, wrote a feature titled “Why Books Still Matter” about the state of publishing and the “responsibilities of readers.”

Criteria for what the Rocky Mountain Reader will cover is that a book must be by an author who was either born, raised, or educated in Colorado, or currently lives here. A book set in Colorado or about Colorado would also qualify.

Asked about the statute of limitations on books, Eastburn said they’ll tackle titles from Colorado’s historic literary canon — from any time — and will go back years if they believe it’s a book about which people really need to know. (Someone from the team is currently reviewing Denver journalist Alan Prendergast’s book “Gangbuster,” which came out last year.)

“What I’ve discovered is Colorado truly has a rich and diverse literary arts scene,” Eastburn said about her Rocky Mountain Review project that is two years in the making.

“Books matter,” she said. “And supporting reading matters — and literacy numbers among high-school students at this point in time in our country are abysmal. And instead of hearing all the time about who wants to ban books or who wants to censor books, I think we ought to spend a good deal of time celebrating books. And that’s what we’re trying to do.”

As for whether there are enough Colorado authors and books to create an entire sustainable statewide publication around, Eastburn said there’s no question.

“The question we’re going to be finding out,” she said, “is whether or not there are enough readers who care.”

Longmont Leader digital news site relaunches with a marketing firm owner

In June, a Canadian digital media company that owned the Longmont Leader news site shut it down to the dismay of its longtime editor Macie May.

But this summer, another media company chose to revive the site whose former owner said was bringing in 400,000 views a month and had a subscriber list of 14,000.

Notably, the out-of-state company now running the Leader is on the opposite side of the continental United States. Up Venture Media is a marketing agency based in Puerto Rico.

On its website, the firm describes itself as “your strategic partner in transforming your online presence in a digital landscape where visibility equals sales.” It states it specializes in “elevating brands by enhancing their organic search traffic through high-authority content placements and targeted content marketing.”

Up Venture’s CEO, Jon Torres, said in an interview this week that his company seeks to partner with local news organizations and had already been working with Village Media. When Village shut down the Longmont Leader, Torres decided to acquire it and see if Up Venture Media could increase its traffic.

“How our business model works is we help them drive a new stream of revenue by creating content that aligns with different sorts of advertisers,” Torres said. “Our strategy revolves around creating content that gets traffic from search engines.”

The company is looking for a sales person to solicit local business and is still figuring out the best way to bring in revenue.

“What I tell publishers is that they have to get creative in terms of how they’re monetizing their websites, because the traditional methods are no longer working,” Torres said. “For example, traditional journalism, in order to make that work you need lots of viewers and readers to be able to make up the revenue that you need to basically pay for that content and also to make a profit.”

What his firm has found is that the Longmont Leader site is a “trusted domain,” so they can create content that appears in search engines if locals are looking for things like restaurants or certain kinds of businesses. Local advertisers can also pay to appear in articles for a “fixed fee” to get more exposure.

The task for Up Venture Media, he said, is to figure out how the firm can continue the main focus of the Leader — “quality journalism” — while driving additional revenue through other sources to fund and improve it.

As for blurring any lines between journalism and advertising, Torres said they are different things. “We’re not trying to blend two things together,” he said.

So far, Torres said they don’t plan to change much, and Up Venture Media is currently funding the site as they develop new revenue streams.

“I think the hope of all Longmont Leader readers has been to see that the Leader has a sustainable revenue stream so that it can continue to provide unbiased local news,” said Macie May, who is editor of the Leader and has been for years. “I also think UPVenture shares that goal and is dedicated to making it work.”

She added that she believes the new company has a “great plan to grow the Longmont Leader into the newsroom I have always dreamed it to be but without the community’s support and help their plan will only go so far.”

Capitol Press Corps pops Colorado Press Association over those lawmaker awards

Two weekends ago, the Colorado Press Association held its annual convention where its leadership gave out awards to members of the press — and to some lawmakers.

This week, several members of the Colorado Capitol Press Corps, a group made up of journalists who regularly cover the Statehouse, sent a letter to the Press Association specifically about those lawmaker awards.

It was not a love letter.

“As Colorado journalists, we are writing to express our concern with the CPA’s process and outcomes for awarding the ‘defender of [a] free press’ awards at the annual CPA convention to Senate President Steve Fenberg and House Speaker Julie McCluskie,” it read.

The missive went on to explain how last year the CPA gave its free press awards to Democratic lawmakers who had sued their own caucus “over failure to adhere to the open meetings law.” But this year, the CPA gave its awards to “the prime sponsors of Senate Bill 24-157 during the 2024 session to restrict the public’s access to the business of the state legislature,” which they enacted in response to that earlier lawsuit.

“This seems like an odd turn-about: award one lawmaker for fighting for transparency and two others for doing the exact opposite,” the letter reads.

More:

We acknowledge the CPA worked with the sponsors to make SB 157 less onerous, as was explained to Marianne Goodland when she asked why they were given the award. But the effects of this legislation, signed by our governor during Sunshine Week – a slap in the face to the free press – have been notable. 

This newsletter had chronicled how reporters had warned that Democratic lawmakers might use the new law to ghost the press, when they wound up doing just that, and reported how the CPA chose to award the lawmakers who led the law change.

The signatories of the letter ask that when the CPA makes such decisions in the future, the organization collaborates with the Capitol Press Corps who “are the journalists who work with legislators daily” and “know which lawmakers would be considered ‘defenders of a free press,’ and most notably, who they would never consider for that title.”

The journalists who signed the letter were: Marianne Goodland of Colorado Politics (who wrote it, with edits with feedback from the rest), Kyle Clark of 9NEWS, Shaun Boyd of CBS Colorado, Brandon Richard of Denver7, Larry Ryckman of the Colorado Sun, Megan Schrader of the Denver Post, and Quentin Young of Colorado Newsline.

Colorado Politics reporter Marissa Ventrelli reported on the letter Wednesday. The report included a line that read “The Colorado Press Association did not respond to a request for comment.”

Reached by phone Wednesday afternoon, Colorado Press Association CEO Tim Regan-Porter said that his organization, of which I’m a member, has received the letter and will look into it.

The media and Venezuelans in Aurora

Aurora, Colorado became the near center of the media universe this week after video went viral showing Spanish-speaking people with guns in the halls of an apartment complex.

Reaction on social media to the coverage and commentary became a Rorschach test for a political worldview as narratives and framing varied sharply over a storyline that made national news and grabbed the attention of Donald Trump.

At issue is the extent of the influence a Venezuelan gang called Tren de Aragua has in Aurora and the criminal organization’s relationship to the living conditions at a handful of troubled apartment complexes in Colorado’s third-largest city.

Here were some of the whiplashing news headlines from Denver area outlets this week:

• “Brothers believed to be Venezuelan gang members terrorized Aurora apartments” (Denver Gazette, Sept. 3)
• “‘It’s false information’: Tenants respond to claims Aurora complex overtaken by Venezuelan gang” (9NEWS, Sept. 3)
• “Aurora police link 10 people to Venezuelan gang amid furor — with 6 now in custody” (Denver Post, Sept. 4)
• “Venezuelan Gangs or Slumlord? Aurora Residents, City Leaders Double Down on Opposing Claims” (Westword, Sept. 4).
• “Court documents detail arrests in Denver metro area of some members of Venezuelan gang: Conservative media and politicians have claimed gang members are taking over buildings in Aurora. The police department said that’s not true” (9NEWS, Sept. 4)
• “Disputing claims of gang takeover, Aurora tenants protest ‘slumlord’ owner” (Colorado Newsline, Sept. 4)
• “Colorado law firm report claims Venezuelan gang has ‘stranglehold’ on apartments, takeover began in 2023” (CBS4, Sept. 5)
• “Is racism fueling the furor over a Venezuelan gang ‘takeover’ of apartment buildings in Aurora?” (Colorado Sun, Sept. 6)

So, want to bolster claims that a gang of people in the country illegally has taken over an apartment complex? Pick your headline. Want to show there’s more to it with context and nuance? A different outlet has you covered.

Here was the opening of a Sept. 4 Denver Post news story about the situation by reporters Noelle Phillips and Shelly Bradbury:

The frenzy over a Venezuelan gang’s presence in Aurora reached a fever pitch over the holiday weekend, fueled in part by viral video of men with guns knocking on an apartment door and by a presidential election in which immigration and border security will be key issues for voters.

Right-wing social media influencers and citizen journalists seized on video shared by Denver’s Fox31 television station showing armed men at an Aurora apartment complex, often adding their own captions and commentary, as it made the rounds on TikTok, X and Facebook.

As Denverite reporter Kyle Harris put it in a news story: “A stew of hot takes, hyperbole, conflicting statements from officials, anonymous sourcing, racist speech, and political campaigning have defined the conversation.”

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston (a Democrat), and Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman (a Republican) appeared for a rare joint interview on KUSA TV, which led to a headline saying they agreed that “exaggerated migrant gang coverage is creating ‘hysteria.’”

Some Colorado journalists sought to pierce through the feeding frenzy with fact-based reporting and tried to debunk fast-spreading false claims, inaccuracies, and wild speculation from provocateurs, political figures, and even other local news outlets. Thoughtful news organizations were upfront about “what’s fact, what’s fiction and what we still don’t know.”

Dave Perry, the longtime editor of the Aurora Sentinel weekly newspaper, called for city officials to “offer the public the truth” to counter coverage by “unprofessional and unethical” local and national media.

“In my almost 40 years of being a journalist,” he wrote, “the nationally televised fabrication that Venezuelan gangsters run amok in Aurora is among the most despicable and dangerous stunts I’ve ever seen.”

Here was reporter Chase Woodruff from a story in the nonprofit Colorado Newsline:

In recent days, Aurora’s Republican mayor, its interim police chief and a conservative city council member have all offered differing characterizations of the nature and extent of the alleged gang activity. Far-right political commentators have described the situation in sensational terms, blaming Democrats for “migrant gangs taking over Aurora,” and falsely claiming that violent crime in the city — the third largest in Colorado, with a population of roughly 400,000 — has “skyrocketed.”

The Denver Post’s editorial board on Sept. 3 offered this:

The Denver Post and other mainstream news outlets have covered the emergence of this gang in America, but also have maintained perspective on the size, threat and activities of the gang, unlike some who are using incidents in Aurora and Denver to fuel fear of other Venezuelans and asylum seekers. Others, like the owners of an apartment beset with crime in Aurora, are using the gang as a scapegoat for the unsanitary, unsafe and unhealthy conditions of their apartments that were condemned by the city this month.

It remains to be seen whether wall-to-wall coverage will continue into next week at a similarly frenetic pace or dissipate from the news agenda without any significant resolution (see: mystery drones, Eastern Plains, 2020).

➡️ As a new board member of the Society of Professional Journalists Colorado Pro chapter, I’d like to invite you to join the nation’s foremost organization for journalists. SPJ is a fierce national advocate for First Amendment rights, journalistic ethics, and other values important to a free and vital press. The Colorado Pro chapter offers professional training programs and events, including the four-state Top of the Rockies competition, the region’s broadest platform for honoring journalism excellence. We’re making plans for a regional conference next spring. And each year, the chapter provides thousands of dollars in scholarships to the young journalists of tomorrow. At a time when journalists are under fire from all sides, joining SPJ is your chance to make a stand for journalism. Learn more about the chapter here, and find out how to join here. ⬅️

More Colorado media odds & ends

☀️ Dana Coffield is ascending to editor of the nonprofit Colorado Sun, the statewide digital news site announced as it approaches its Sept. 10 sixth anniversary. Larry Ryckman will move over to the business side and become publisher. “She’s at the helm of the newsroom,” he said. “Nobody knows Colorado better than Dana.” Newsrooms of the state’s two dominant statewide narrative journalism outlets, the Denver Post and the Colorado Sun, are now both led by women editors.

⏺ “Members of the appointed board that oversees the broadcasting of Colorado House and Senate floor proceedings say it’s time the General Assembly joins the long list of state legislatures that provide the public with video webcasts of committee meetings,” Jeff Roberts reported for the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition.

🎬 Join the Society of Professional Journalists, Colorado Pro Chapter, on Thursday, Sept. 26, for a special screening of “Trusted Sources” at the Denver Press Club. Following the screening, I’ll moderate a panel discussion with filmmaker Don Colacino and two Colorado journalists who appear in the documentary: Reporter Nina Joss of Colorado Community Media, and Thelma Grimes, who is deputy editor of Colorado Politics. Register here. (Free for SPJ Colorado Pro members via reimbursement, otherwise $10.)

🗣 Upcoming Denver Press Club event: “Ukrainian Journalist Reception and Panel Discussion: Frontline Reporting from Occupied Territories.” Register here for the event, titled “Frontline Firsthand.” Sept. 17, 6:30 p.m.

👀 “A lot of what passes for ‘innovation’ in our industry these days aims to satisfy shifting cultural and political expectations, or to somehow appease big tech masters so we can be in the club,” wrote Gunnison Country Times publisher Alan Wartes. “This manifests as an obsession with diversity as the preeminent journalistic standard; an infatuation with AI, despite numerous common sense reasons to be wary (on behalf of our readers); and chasing after some digital payload like a bunch of Greyhounds at the race track, always one step behind the prize (because the game is rigged).”

🤔 North magazine, based in Colorado Springs, is boldly calling itself “the region’s most widely circulated and read publication” in its latest print edition for August and September.

📉 The Pueblo County Commission is seeking “to reduce political polarization” and increase voter turnout, James Bartolo reported for the Pueblo Chieftain. “The initiative will culminate with ‘Navigating the News in the Era of Hyper-Polarized Media,’ a presentation from Ad Fontes Media Founder and CEO Vanessa Otero on Sept. 24 at 6 p.m,” he wrote. “Ad Fontes Media is a Colorado-based company known for its ‘Media Bias Chart’ categorizing media outlets with regard to their biases and credibility.”

🤦‍♂️ “KKTV 11 News misreported the situation, stating that Colorado College students were ‘suing’ the school in their headline,” the Catalyst student newspaper reported about outside coverage of a complaint filed about the school.

🏔 RealVail editor David O. Williams had some things to say about last week’s item in this newsletter regarding the end of Richard Carnes’ weekly Tuesday column in Vail Daily.

📡 The Poynter Institute journalism think tank announced that newscaster Beau Baker of KUNC and Colorado Public Radio news director Andrew Villegas are among 26 journalists who have been named “to the second cohort of the Public Media Editorial Integrity and Leadership Initiative, developed and delivered by the Poynter Institute and funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.”

👊 The Center for Community News at the University of Vermont this week named Colorado State University journalism professor Jenny Fischer as part of its 2024 cohort of 51 Faculty Champions from across the country.

🎙 Denver 9NEWS anchor Kyle Clark appeared on Columbia Journalism Review’s podcast The Kicker ahead of this week’s Harris-Trump debate “to talk about the importance of the media calling out falsehoods, and why local news is central to restoring public trust in the media.”

🐘 “Armed security guards at the entrance Saturday prohibited journalists from the Colorado Sun and other media outlets” from attending a gathering at The Rock Church in Castle Rock where members of the troubled Colorado Republican Party continued to disagree over who is actually the party’s chairman, Brian Eason reported for the Sun.

⚙️ KDKN community radio in Carbondale is looking for an “experienced journalist open to innovation who will lead editorial decision making and digital content strategy for the news department,” and will pay $45,000 to $50,000.

📚 “By default, middle school students in El Paso County’s Academy District 20 schools can no longer access school library materials until a parent or guardian signs a form granting permission to use library resources through the district’s parent portal,” Suzie Glassman reported for the nonprofit Colorado Times Recorder.

I’m Corey Hutchins, manager of Colorado College’s Journalism Institute and a board member of the state Society of Professional Journalists chapter. For nearly a decade I’ve reported on the U.S. local media scene for Columbia Journalism Review, and I’ve been a journalist for longer at multiple news organizations. Colorado Media Project is underwriting this newsletter, and my “Inside the News” column appears at COLab, both of which I sometimes write about here. (If you’d like to underwrite or sponsor this newsletter hit me up.) Reply or subscribe to this weekly newsletter here, or e-mail me at CoreyHutchins [at] gmail [dot] com.