News on the newspaper printing front in Colorado in the past year — or few years — has been bleak.

In 2021 the Sentinel in Grand Junction made the “heartbreaking” decision to dismantle its legendary printing press and put it out to pasture.

Then, last year’s abrupt closure of the Gannett-owned Pueblo Chieftain press plant threw dozens of Front Range newspapers into a tailspin and exposed a “critical vulnerability in the circulatory system of Colorado’s newspaper industry.”

But this week brings different news, as I wrote for Harvard’s Nieman Journalism Lab.

From the story:

The National Trust for Local News, a nonprofit that has been buying newspapers in multiple states and investing in their modernization, has gone a step further in its mission to help sustain local news.

The group recently purchased a used printing press from Canada, and is set to transport it in the coming weeks from the state of Washington to a rented facility in a warehouse district in Denver; a press operator recruited from New York will run it.

There, the four-tower Goss Community Press will handle printing for the Trust-owned Colorado Community Media and its two dozen hyperlocal newspapers in the Denver suburbs.

That’s the nut, but it goes a lot deeper.

A new printing machine rumbling away in Denver is also slated to benefit those other Colorado papers that glitched out when they lost their printer in Pueblo. Several were forced to faraway printers out of state. Some went digital only. At least one rural newspaper folded.

Part of the role the National Trust wants to play in Colorado is to make sure they’re helping the whole news ecosystem, not just their CCM papers. So we’ll see what shakes out from that now that this news is public.

The Nieman Lab piece gets into Colorado’s (I think unique?) “ecosystem approach” to solutions that enables people and organizations to animate so quickly on these kinds of issues. The research was already in place because Colorado Media Project, Colorado Press Association, and Colorado News Collaborative had produced a white paper about the dire printing situation, funders were available to help finance the deal, and others assisted with due diligence. Democracy Fund’s “Local Fix” newsletter this week shared the Nieman Lab story as “an example of how local coalitions can build powerful solutions that make sense for their communities, especially when an opportunity unexpectedly arises.”

I also included how organizations like the Colorado Trust and Colorado Health Foundation are supporting the state’s local news infrastructure, and why.

Amalie Nash, who lives in Colorado and heads up transformation for the National Trust for Local News, had a notable quote: “Certainly, demand has gone down for printed newspapers — we all see the circulation — but the supply chain for providing newspapers in a printed format is collapsing faster than the natural interest in a printed newspaper.”

Reacting to this latest Colorado journalism news on LinkedIn, Amanda Mountain, who runs Rocky Mountain PBS, had what is perhaps a representative take: “I never thought I’d attend the opening of a new printing press,” she said.

Read the Nieman Lab story to find out the timeline, how it all came together, broader context about the national print picture, and what else to expect here in Colorado from this development.

And if you want to get involved, on March 22 at 11 a.m. MT, Colorado Media Project, which underwrites this newsletter, will join CCM, the National Trust for Local News, and others for a Colorado Press Forward learning series webinar called “(Don’t) Stop the Presses!”

Colorado lawmakers throw shade at ‘Sunshine Week’ with new law

In a cruel coincidence, potential ignorance, straight-up trolling, or a dull sense of timing, Democratic lawmakers at the Capitol chose the worst week to pass a new law and send it to the governor for his signature.

“Colorado likes to brag about having 300 days of sunshine a year. It’s a myth, but it makes us feel good. This is National Sunshine Week, celebrating a different kind of bright light — the kind that should shine on the actions of government 365 days a year,” said Denver 9NEWS ‘Next’ anchor Kyle Clark in a broadcast. “This is the week when journalists and citizens celebrate together our right to see what our government is doing. This is also the week that Democrats at the Colorado state Capitol decided to exempt themselves from parts of the Open Meetings Law. That sounds like a bad joke.”

So, what did lawmakers actually do?

They passed a bill that “narrows the definition of ‘public business’ in the Colorado Open Meetings Law as it applies to the legislature and lets members of the General Assembly communicate by email and text message without it being a ‘meeting’ under the law,” reported Jeff Roberts of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition.

His group, when testifying in a committee hearing, “said the bill will encourage state lawmakers to formulate and debate public business in an unlimited way via email, text message and ephemeral messaging apps such as Signal without the public’s knowledge and scrutiny.”

Writing in Colorado Politics, Marianne Goodland noted the influence (or lack thereof) that two of the state’s largest press advocacy groups had on the legislation:

Sponsors have pointed to collaboration on the bill from the Colorado Press Association and the Colorado Broadcasters Association, the only groups invited to participate in the conversation on the measure before its introduction. According to the Secretary of State’s lobbyist website, both groups are in an “amend” position and do not fully support the bill.

Sounds like one more outraged editorial or “our perspective” broadcast really might have tipped the scale on this one. [Narrator voice: Mmm, probably not.] Democratic Gov. Jared Polis swiftly signed the bill into law with a note basically saying it’s none of his business.

Now, Roberts and Steve Zansberg, a First Amendment lawyer and the president of the CFOIC, warned “It is safe to assume that more than 90% of all future discussions of potential bills, amendments, appointments, resolutions, rules, etc., in both chambers of our state Legislature will occur outside of public view.”

Writing for KUNC, Scott Franz had perhaps the most aggressive headline about the development that added important context: “Colorado lawmakers broke a transparency law. Then they exempted themselves from parts of it.”

Plenty of journalists across Colorado shook their virtual fists on social media, but not all. Jordan Hedberg, publisher of the Wet Mountain Tribune, said he believed the new law “needed to happen” because politicians “need privacy.”

According to Colorado Newsline, House Speaker Pro Tempore Chris deGruy Kennedy, a Lakewood Democrat, said: “Did we solve every single problem that has come up in this conversation? No. But we think we made meaningful progress on solving some of the problems that have made it difficult for people to understand how they are supposed to operate under the open meetings law in Colorado.”

Meanwhile, this week the Associated Press rounded up how individual states have a “hodgepodge” of ways to enforce Sunshine Law violations.

Here’s our contribution to the list: “Colorado has no independent office that adjudicates complaints about alleged public records and open meeting law violations, and the attorney general typically does not play a role. The only option for residents is to file a lawsuit.”

Ex-host Vic Vela charges Colorado Public Radio with discrimination

In January, Vic Vela, a prominent former host who listeners across the state recognize for his Weekend Edition broadcasts and his evocative and raw award-winning podcast “Back from Broken” abruptly left Colorado Public Radio under circumstances that had left even some of his colleagues scratching their heads.

This week, things came more into focus — and they aren’t a good look for CPR, which already had been in damage control mode after laying off 15 people.

Sam Tabachnik at the Denver Post had the scoop on Tuesday:

Award-winning podcast and radio host Vic Vela says Colorado Public Radio monetized his story of addiction and recovery, then fired him after he asked for accommodations for those same disabilities. Vela on Tuesday filed a charge of discrimination with the Colorado Civil Rights Division and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging CPR management belittled and mocked his mental health concerns and accused him of using his addiction to manipulate higher-ups.

“Addiction is a living hell,” Vela said in an interview Tuesday. “It’s not a Disney movie.”

Jodi Gersh, CPR’s senior vice president for audience and development, said in a statement that “any allegations associated with discrimination by CPR towards this individual are false.” … Gersh said in an interview that “100% he never asked for a single accommodation.”

More nuggets from the story:

• “On the podcast and in his personal life, Vela has spoken candidly about his crack cocaine addiction and living with HIV. Until last year, Vela said, his time at CPR was ‘really beautiful.’ That all changed, he said, as workplace morale took a nose-dive in light of the station’s financial struggles.”
• “In January, management told Vela he was being fired for ‘insubordination,’ he said. They told him he would not be eligible for unemployment benefits.”
• “In his discrimination complaint, Vela said management told staff before the start of 2023 that the company made a ‘significant accounting error’ of $900,000 that led to a reduction in employee benefits and ‘a freeze on raises, new hiring and retirement matching funds.’”
• “Gersh told The Post it was not an accounting error, but rather a report that incorrectly stated the company’s financial health. Leadership didn’t realize it for two months and decided to tell the staff, she said. ‘There was never anything wrong with the accounting side,’ Gersh said. ‘There was never money missing.’”

Since the news broke, the U.K.’s Daily Mail picked it up, as did a handful of local media outlets. Axios Denver wrote: “Why it matters: The media outlet’s image as a pillar of local journalism is taking a hit just as it increasingly relies on listener support to propel its operations.”

Vela, who once described himself in an interview for this newsletter as “the least PC person in Denver,” has been posting through it — as has his attorney — sharing links to stories about his complaint on social media and responding to comments.

This could get ugly. Hours after news of the charges became public, Colorado Public Radio took the unusual step of issuing a statement following what a spokesperson called the “public conversation regarding the departure of Vic Vela.”

While reiterating that the station doesn’t typically comment on personnel matters, CPR senior leadership accused Vela in a statement of demonstrating unspecified behaviors “that are not in alignment with the values, culture and environment we have at CPR, where we strive to provide a workplace that is both physically and psychologically safe for all of our employees,” adding that he “was provided opportunities to bring his behavior in alignment with our values but was unable to meet those expectations.”

They went on to say: “Colorado Public Radio does not tolerate harassment or hostile, abusive or discriminatory behaviors of any kind from any employee – regardless of their power, influence or position. This applies to all individuals including vendors, contractors, and audiences. Behavior that is aggressive or hostile, creates a reasonable fear of injury toward another party, or subjects another to emotional distress will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal.”

Vela’s attorney, Iris Halpern, who specializes in employment discrimination and civil rights, fired back in a statement of her own, responding to the CPR statement, stating in part that “employers rarely, if ever, concede that discriminatory or retaliatory animus has tainted an organization’s decision-making process” and “instead they come up with a more palatable public excuse.”

While the back-and-forth played out in media this week, Vela has brought his case into the arena of official procedure. When someone wants to take on a Colorado employer for discrimination they must first file a complaint with the state Civil Rights Division or federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission within 300 days — or they give up their right to ever go to court under such claims.

When they file a complaint with the Civil Rights Division, a civil law enforcement agency in Colorado, it automatically triggers one at the EEOC; the Civil Rights Division must spend at least six months investigating the claims.

After six months, a complainant can ask permission to go to court. If a complainant gets a cause determination that a violation occurred, the division can take that up and seek something almost like a settlement as if it were a civil court case. One power the state has in such a process is that it can pursue financial relief for a complainant or other types of action to ensure discrimination doesn’t happen in the future. Along the way the parties can settle any time.

Halpern said that Vela was trying to do what he was supposed to do in order to get help for his recovery. She also put his exit from CPR in the broader context of a national mental health and addiction crisis and what he was trying to do about it as a journalist with an audience.

“That voice has now been lost,” she said. Whatever happened behind the scenes at CPR leading to it, that much is certainly true — at least for now on statewide public radio in Colorado.

Ryan Warner of CPR interviewed his boss about those layoffs

In Colorado, when layoffs have hit local news organizations, journalists and news managers have handled the news in different ways.

Some have kept the information from their audience as a business decision; a former Pueblo Chieftain editor said in 2017 “we are idiots to promote our difficulties.” At The Denver Post, journalists publicly protested their hedge-fund owner following deep cuts.

Colorado Public Radio has (lately) been remarkably open about its troubles. Last week, reporter Ben Markus wrote a detailed and transparent news story about CPR’s finances. This week, Ryan Warner, who hosts the statewide Colorado Matters show on CPR, brought his own station’s CEO, Stewart Vanderwilt, on the air for a 12-minute interview about the details.

In the interview, Vanderwilt said CPR is “in the red this year, and we were in the red last year,” adding that the station is “working our way towards a balanced budget.” He said CPR “saw a 40% drop in the amount of sponsorship” and those sponsor dollars “are shifting very much direct-to-audience — so the ad that pops up on your Facebook feed or Instagram, and moving away from more traditional media, such as public radio.”

Here’s another pertinent excerpt:

Warner: CPR announced in August that it had purchased a new Denver headquarters in Capitol Hill – $8.3 million – covered entirely by [an undisclosed] donor. But it will need millions more in renovations to make it an audio and digital production facility. Why invest in bricks and mortar over people at this point?

Vanderwilt: I think that’s a false comparison. One is for the other. Ultimately, we want to create a place that excites not only our staff, but brings the community directly into the experience, reunites our staff from two different locations in the Metro area. This was a generational opportunity to be able to purchase a building without debt, in a neighborhood that puts us in close proximity to the Capitol, and has the capacity for what CPR is today and how we may grow into the future.

Ultimately, when it’s finished, our operating costs actually become less, because we’re not maintaining two separate locations, one we rent, where the newsroom is today, and then the maintenance on a facility in Centennial, where we’re doing this interview today.

As for buildings, the Journalism Institute office where I work at Colorado College is in a building refurbished by CPR after its absorption of KRCC in the Springs.

The entire interview, transcribed at CPR’s site, is worth a read or listen.

More Colorado media odds & ends

⚙️ Brian Porter has left as publisher of the Fort Morgan Times, Sterling Journal-Advocate, and Brush News-Tribune (all sister papers of the Denver Post) to “pursue a new opportunity as editor and publisher of a new online political news site, Rocky Mountain Voice.” The Voice is an outlet run by former Republican candidate for governor Heidi Ganahl.

💻 “Practicing journalism is not easy these days, a panel of local reporters and editors said this week,” reported Monte Whaley for the Westminster Window.

➡️ The Solutions Journalism Network is “building a cohort of U.S.-based, rural-serving newsrooms to receive six months of training and mentorship that supports the integration of solutions journalism into the newsroom workflow.” Find more details on how to apply here. Deadline is March 19.

💸 The Denver City Council was scheduled this week to consider spending $90 million to buy the former Denver Post building with “plans to transform the Denver Post building into courtroom space,” Noah Festenstein reported for the Denver Gazette.

🙏 Thanks to Jenny Fischer at CSU’s Department of Journalism & Media Communication for hosting a compelling conversation recently about the use of artificial intelligence in journalism, featuring me, Colorado Community Media publisher Linda Shapley, and media lawyer Mike Beylkin.

🏛 Colorado Sun data journalist Sandra Fish sat down with Alison Berg of Rocky Mountain PBS to discuss “how bills become laws, and how Coloradans who do not have connections to lobbyists or interest groups can still access their lawmakers.”

🏆 CU Boulder’s radio station, KVCU Radio 1190, won two awards at the recent Intercollegiate Broadcast System conference, including Best Public Affairs Show; news Director Jack Armstrong won Best News Director.

🧠 Colorado-based New York Times reporter Dave Philipps was on an episode of The Daily this week to talk about how he has been “investigating the idea that soldiers could be injured just by firing their own weapons” and how analyzing the case of a mass shooter who killed 18 at a Maine bowling alley could “change our understanding of the effects of modern warfare on the human brain.”

🤖 Colorado lawmakers this week debated a bill that seeks to “regulate deepfake-generated content that includes a candidate for elected office. That media would have to include a disclaimer that the content is not real, or truthful,” Tiffany Wismer reported for FOX21.

🇺🇦 Journalists in Ukraine “fight their own information war,” wrote Gazette editor Vince Bzdek in a column this week.

🚔 The Delta County Independent newspaper on the Western Slope is debuting “the Delta County Jail Booking and Releases Report.” (Some local news organizations have gone the other way in the digital age, only reporting names in alleged crimes if they plan to follow up with reporting on the eventual adjudication, and scrapping the use of mugshots, or crime blotters.)

📻 Kelsey Brunner, who recently became news director at Aspen Public Radio, earned a Radio Ink writeup for its “Women to Watch” item this week.

🥇 The Al Nakkula Award for Police Reporting at CU Boulder, sometimes seen as a precursor for a Pulitzer, has gone to Andy Mannix of the Minnesota Star Tribune for an “investigative report into the death of Heather Mayer.”

🆕 Denver-based Red, White and Brown media “facilitates substantive conversations about culture and politics through the lens of race and identity — via journalism, social media and events.”

🙏 Thanks to Colorado Press Women for inviting me to speak to their group about the use of AI in the newsroom this weekend.

I’m Corey Hutchins, co-director of Colorado College’s Journalism Institute. 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. Follow me on Threads, reply or subscribe to this weekly newsletter here, or e-mail me at CoreyHutchins [at] gmail [dot] com.