The Denver Post’s policy on using artificial intelligence fits on half of a printed page. The text contains five bullet points.

Here it is in its entirety:

• AI is a powerful tool that should be used carefully and only with a supervisor’s approval.
• Human review of content produced with AI assistance is required to ensure anything we publish is accurate and meets professional standards. Auto publishing without review is prohibited.
• When AI is used to generate content, that use must be appropriately disclosed to readers.
• Any published writing appearing under an author’s byline must be their own work. While staff members may use AI to assist in their research, backed by proper fact-checking, any use of AI to create text for publication must be approved by a supervisor and disclosed to readers.
• Use of AI to generate graphics or illustrations must be approved by a supervisor. Using AI to create photorealistic images (a k a deep fakes) or to manipulate actual news photos is not allowed.

Denver Post Editor Lee Ann Colacioppo showed an audience the policy while speaking on a recent panel about AI and ethics in local newsrooms. The event was part the April 5 Region 9 Society of Professional Journalists conference in Denver.

“I recognize that people are using it,” she said about the rapidly developing technology. “We try to talk, especially to our interns and the people who come in new … to make sure that people understand that it is a powerful tool, but your work has to be original.”

Using AI to “frame up sentence after sentence,” or, for instance, to write a nutgraf for a news story, would be a “hard no for me,” the editor said. But using it to summarize a long meeting or complicated notes could be OK. The bottom line: A journalist’s work, she said, “needs to go through your process — your creative process, your voice — to come out on the other end.”

The panel, which I moderated, also included Stacy Feldman, the founder of the nonprofit digital Boulder Reporting Lab, and Forrest Senti, the CEO of Omniglass.Ai.

“How do we use AI at Boulder Reporting Lab? I use it a ton,” Feldman said. “I see it as a productivity tool.”

Prior to the panel, Feldman said she asked ChatGPT how she uses the tech for work and it quickly spit back a list based on her user history that she described as accurate:

• Writing and refining headlines for clarity, search engine optimization (SEO), and tone; crafting newsletter subject lines and naming newsletter sections.
• Writing or tightening corrections and clarifications; evaluating and responding to reader-submitted factual corrections; shaping new editorial formats.
• Drafting board communications and sponsor outreach emails; creating messaging for fundraising campaigns.
• Reviewing ad-performance audit; brainstorming new editorial products.

For his part, Senti, who lives and works in Colorado Springs, said he’s hoping to use his new company Omniglass.Ai to harness the power of AI to summarize and create searchable transcriptions of local government meetings.

“People are looking for something to get this information quicker because they don’t have a tool that’s good at doing it right now,” he said.

Recently, Senti used a tool to summarize a recorded public utility hearing in Colorado Springs. Before he saw news stories about nuclear emerging as more of an option for energy in the state, he said he first learned about it from a meeting summary.

“That, for me, is a big thing,” he said.

Senti also spoke about a county in New Mexico where he has family and where public meetings go unreported by a local newspaper.

“You could actually create a tool like this that’s price neutral for communities like that to then actually have the ability to report and actually present and talk about some of the things that they’re doing,” he said.

If you’re interested, the Local News Association has a 30-minute AI strategy for newsrooms that grew out of a workshop at last year’s Colorado Press Association conference.

The Poynter Institute has a framework for newsrooms that have “not yet adopted an ethics policy for how they would and would not use AI in their work.”

Polis vetoes CORA bill saying it gives government ‘too much power’ to decide what’s ‘news’

Colorado’s term-limited Democratic governor, Jared Polis, used his first veto of the year to nix a bill that would have allowed governments to slow-roll processing open-records requests.

The proposed law actually would have given preference to journalists, which is what the governor seized on in his veto message to lawmakers.

“The bill leaves the custodian with far too much power to define who is and is not a member of the media, and what is and isn’t news,” Polis wrote in his veto. “For instance, a public official may deem a request from a media outlet focusing specifically on climate change as not meeting the statutory definitions of ‘newsperson’ or ‘mass medium’ given the perspective of some elected officials that climate change is categorically not news.”

Here’s more from Marilyn Moore at 9NEWS:

Polis was also concerned about the long wait time for people who are not considered journalists who make requests.

“A newsperson, a member of the public, and a person seeking financial gain may all request the same information and, under this bill, get access to that information on different timelines,” the statement says. “To ensure fairness and confidence in public transparency, all legitimate requests for public transparency under CORA should be treated equally under the law, without preference for some requestors over others.”

Polis also weighed in on how a records custodian might interpret the law when it comes to news media capitalism.

More from his veto message:

… public officials — records custodians — would be in the inappropriate position of deciding if a request “will be used for the direct solicitation of business for pecuniary gain.” Indeed, even a conventional and legitimate request from the media might derive a financial benefit, in the sense that a for-profit news outlet, in addition to serving the public interest in covering government business, makes profit from advertising or subscription based on gaining viewership or readership from a story that uses information obtained in a CORA request. I am concerned about the inconsistent application of these new provisions, given the novel, subjective determinations required. Involving the government with prioritizing or determining the category of requesters could suggest bias or favoritism.

Colorado media outlets and the nonprofit Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition had “urged Polis to veto the bill over concerns with the idea of special privileges for the government deciding who is and who is not a journalist,” Moore reported.

The return of ‘regional hubs’ for local news

Writing in Harvard’s Nieman Lab this week, Sophie Culpepper reported on a trend among local news outlets, including in Colorado, that are adopting a regional hub approach to coverage in their states.

“Not all use the language ‘regional hubs,’” she wrote. “But a growing number of nonprofit newsrooms and local public radio stations, supported by big investments, are pursuing some kind of network model as one of the best hopes of sustainability for delivering more local news to more communities.”

One of them is the Colorado Sun, which this newsletter reported about in October. The hook back then was that the Sun had just snagged a $1.4 million grant from the American Journalism Project and some of the money would help with the initiative.

The Sun has identified northeastern Colorado, southern Colorado, the Western Slope, and the Eastern Plains as areas where it seeks to create hubs.

From this week’s Nieman Lab story:

“Regional hubs” might sound like the recreation of the regional bureaus for-profit local newspapers like The Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News had in their heyday. But Ryckman makes a distinction. While bureaus were “writing for the mothership” more than serving individual communities, he says, the Sun’s hubs will be built from the ground up to serve and report on the smaller, region-specific communities they’re created for.

“We don’t intend to be arrogant and say, ‘We’re here from the Colorado Sun, and here’s how it’s going to be,’” Ryckman said. “The real work begins with a lot of listening.” …

Ryckman sees philanthropy as necessary seed funding for the regional hubs, but realizes grants won’t cut it for long-term sustainability. “Local revenue streams are the key to making the regional hubs sustainable,” he said, even as grants help provide the “runway to launch.”

Some more nuggets from the story:

• “We’re a big old diverse state, but we need to talk to each other. We all rely on each other,” Ryckman said. “And frankly, our challenge as a statewide news organization is to make stories from those places relevant to others around Colorado.”
• “I’m not saying every city council race or every Eagle Scout story is a statewide story. It’s not,” he added. “But, ideally, there are stories that are of interest in those regions that also speak to people elsewhere around the state — because maybe they get their food from there, maybe they get their water from there, maybe they ski there, maybe they go mountain biking there.”
• “‘Build it and they will come’ is not an option for the Sun; the hubs will be tailored to each region’s needs in medium, as well as coverage/content. ‘What works in eastern Colorado might not be the best model for southern Colorado,’ Ryckman said.”
• “How fast the Sun can build out these hubs depends on what other funding comes through, and how quickly. ‘We’re over the moon happy about getting an AJP grant,’ Ryckman said, but the $1.4 million grant alone isn’t enough to create the hubs, and the organization is also using it to add business staff.”
• 👀 “The Sun was just awarded ‘a substantial grant from a regional funder,’ Ryckman told me last week, and continues to pursue other funding opportunities. If the Sun were to receive other significant grants from individuals or philanthropies, the organization could get multiple hubs up faster. The alternative is to build more slowly, with one hub’s growth laying the financial foundation for launching the next one.”
• “Whether it lands other big grants or not, though, ‘we’re determined to do this,’ Ryckman said. And he hopes that the first four hubs are just the beginning. ‘We need more journalism, not less,’ he said. ‘There’s so much that goes uncovered across a big state like this.’”

Read where else in the United States such an approach is taking root in the Nieman Lab piece at the link above.

Colorado Press Association is taking ideas for its annual conference

The Colorado Press Association has announced the dates, location, and theme of its annual conference. “Local News Solutions 2025” will take place Aug. 14-16 at the Delta Hotel in Denver/Thornton.

From an emailed announcement this week:

This year features CPA’s 147th Annual Convention and will be even more integrated with Colorado Media Project and COLab programming. This year’s theme is “building capacity to meet the moment,” and we want to make this the most practically helpful for your entire organization, from reporters and editors to sales teams, from audience growth to community engagement. Networking will be even more heavily integrated into programming with the goal for you to come away not only with new connections and ideas but also plans for working together and putting what you learn into practice.

Conference organizers said they are taking submission ideas for session topics or speakers, but they need them by the end of the day today – Friday, April 18.

Fill out this form if you have any. (The form says the deadline is Jan. 31, but it’s today.)

🔎 Sponsored | Spotlight: Colorado | Colorado Media Project 🔍

Colorado Media Project believes our democracy works best when the public has transparency into powerful institutions. That’s why accountability journalism is so important to our civic infrastructure. We chose to sponsor this section of Corey’s newsletter to showcase some of the important watchdog work Colorado journalists and their news organizations have been producing recently. Corey chose which ones to spotlight.

• “It currently takes around a year and a half for Colorado to test DNA evidence submitted from rape kits, delaying the finalization of criminal investigations and potential criminal charges,” Bente Birkland reported for Colorado Public Radio. Weeks later, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation announced it would start publicly tracking its progress to address the rape kit backlog, which had been exacerbated by allegations that a former forensic scientist mishandled DNA evidence. Learn more about “the human toll of Colorado’s sexual assault evidence backlog” at CPR News here.
• “More than a half dozen judges in Colorado — each of them specially appointed and paid to oversee a divorce case since 2019 — has made at least one political campaign contribution while serving in that capacity despite a prohibition against the practice and an affirmation to uphold it,” David Migoya reported for the Denver Gazette. “Colorado’s Code of Judicial Conduct explicitly bars anyone serving as an appointed or private judge, as they are sometimes called, from making the contributions, the same exclusion that applies to full-time sitting judges and senior judges who fill in part-time.”
• Investigating for the Denver Post, Shelly Bradbury found 68% of the state’s courts livestreamed “at least once during two dozen spot checks over five months.” The majority of Colorado judges are “complying with state law and livestreaming criminal proceedings at least to some degree, the Post’s analysis shows, though day-to-day practices around how that livestreaming happens still vary from courtroom to courtroom.”
• Pam Zubeck, writing in the Colorado Springs Independent, reported how a “celebrated” local nonprofit “shorted employees, vendors and landlord — and now it’s closing down.”

To submit a local accountability story for consideration in the future, send me an email. If you or your organization would like to sponsor a recurring newsletter section like this, hit me up.

Colorado Public Radio issues ‘an urgent update on federal funding for public media’

Media reported this week that the administration of Republican President Donald Trump wants Congress to vote on taking away federal funding for NPR and PBS.

“The Trump administration sees it as a worthwhile cultural fight, casting PBS and NPR as wastes of money that ‘spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news’” in a statement earlier this week,” Brian Stelter reported for CNN. “Station leaders assert that if you tune in, you’ll see that the White House’s portrayal is just plain wrong.”

Here in Colorado, the move led Colorado Public Radio CEO Stewart Vanderwilt to send an email blast with the subject line “An urgent update on federal funding for public media.”

From the email:

We have learned that President Trump will ask Congress to approve a rescission package that includes cancelling funding for public broadcasting. This action is framed as defunding NPR and PBS, however, the reality is that it will take money from local communities across the country and Colorado. In addition to CPR, there are nearly twenty public radio and public television stations in Colorado that rely on this funding to deliver news and information to communities around the state.

Colorado Public Radio listeners understand the importance of upholding independent media. Through your gifts, you advocate for truth in journalism. You preserve classical music. You champion local music discovery. Your financial investment ensures the vitality of Colorado Public Radio. Your generosity safeguards free access to educational programming and local, national and international news.

You can protect the future of public broadcasting in Colorado, and we are grateful. Please consider making a donation today. Thank you.

Meanwhile, this Wednesday’s CPR News newsletter “The Lookout” came with this subject line: “Is public media a ‘grift?’”

“If CPR — or any public media station — has been your companion, consider signing this Protect My Public Media petition. If you care about local news, music, and other programming, donations help too,” newsletter author Lauren Antonoff Hart wrote.

More Colorado media odds & ends

🤷‍♂️ Programming note: Can’t guarantee there will be a newsletter next week because of travel.

🗣 ColoRadio’s April 25 event at the Denver Press Club will involve the team behind the Denver Voice. “As the city’s one and only street paper, the Voice is written for and by people experiencing homelessness,” an event announcement states. “If you’ve lived in Denver long enough, you’ve probably seen their vendors selling copies outside a grocery store. For every copy you buy, they get a cut of the sales. The team from the Denver Voice will share how they’ve approached their beat for the last 29 years and what other news outlets tend to get wrong about the unhoused community. They’ll also discuss how they’re collaborating with local newsrooms, including radio, to lend their lived experience and insight.” (Sign up here for ColoRadio’s newsletter.)

⚖️ Auraria campus police “violated First Amendment rights” during a Denver protest arrest, according to a new lawsuit, Michael Abeyta reported for CBS News Colorado.

⚙️ “I’m seeking a new role and would love your support,” wrote journalist Tatiana Flowers, who was most recently a reporter at the Colorado Sun. “If you hear of any opportunities, or just want to catch up, please send me a message or comment below.” Flowers said she is “looking for a remote or Denver-based writing and/or communications job at a social justice, policy, advocacy or systems reform organization.”

🤑 Axios Denver ranked Colorado’s “wealthiest billionaires.” At least five of them have ties to media: Philip Anschutz, John Malone, Pat Stryker, Charles Ergen, and Gary Magness.

🎙 Stephanie Wolf, Ann Marie Awad, and Claire Cleveland recently completed the first season of a podcast for the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority called The Buildout. “We tackled homelessness, Black and African American homeownership and the preservation of existing affordable housing, to name a few episode topics,” Cleveland said. “While it is a branded podcast for a quasi-governmental agency, we got to do in-depth reporting and elevate issues and stories in a way that is informative and honest.”

👀 “If you are one of the more than 50 news organizations in the state that are operating without media liability insurance, please don’t do that,” said Colorado News Collaborative Executive Director Laura Frank on a recent Zoom call with journalists. “You’re putting your livelihood, your house, your car — you’re putting a lot of things at risk.” She said to reach out to COLab if you need assistance with a broker that can help find you affordable coverage.

📰 Denver’s 5280 magazine “was named a finalist for the prestigious National Magazine Awards 2025 in the Service Journalism category for its piece ‘Death Comes for Us All, But It Shouldn’t Come Like This’ by former 5280 editor and current contributing writer Lindsey B. King,” the magazine said in a statement.

🆕 Sky-Hi News has named Sean McAlindin as its new editor. “He brings with him two decades of experience as a reporter, editor and educator,” Meg Soyars Van Hauen wrote for the newspaper. “I’m excited to be in Grand County, getting to know the local people and culture,” McAlindin said. “I’m looking forward to meeting the community and continuing the important work we do at Sky-Hi News.”

📲 A Zoom talk by Courtney C. Radsch, the director of the Center for Journalism and Liberty at the Open Markets Institute, titled “Let’s Talk About Digital Threats to Democracy,” will take place April 29, presented in partnership with the Leagues of Women Voters of Alaska and Colorado.

🔁 Almost a year after former Colorado Public Radio host Vic Vela settled a messy complaint following his firing from the station, he says he is independently re-launching his podcast Back From Broken. “I bring you— The Back From Broken Foundation,” he posted on Facebook. “A new nonprofit that will take powerful messages of hope, healing and recovery to people struggling with addiction and mental health issues.”

⚙️ Boulder Reporting Lab is seeking a managing editor of newsletters and breaking news who it will pay $70,000 to $80,000. “The ideal candidate will be a sharp, creative editor who thrives in a fast-paced digital news environment and understands how to engage audiences through email newsletters and breaking news coverage. This person will be instrumental in shaping BRL’s voice, keeping our community informed and ensuring our work reaches — and grows — our audience.”

🎙 “One of my favorite examples in the book involves a newspaper in Colorado,” said David Enrich, author of the new book “Murder the Truth,” speaking on NPR.

🆕 Marlene Viloria is Women in Film and Media Colorado’s newest development co-chair. “It is an absolute pleasure to serve WIFMCO and build on what others have already created,” she said. “Colorado is in a unique position to bring film and media to the forefront of our communities, and I’m excited to see how we can capitalize on current momentum to grow and provide more resources through WIFMCO’s programs.”

🏆 Ryan Warner, the senior host of Colorado Matters on Colorado Public Radio, has won the Dennis Gallagher Community Trailblazer award from the Denver Center for Intercultural Scholars Foundation for “journalistic integrity, thoughtful and honest interviews, clear-eyed exploration of relevant intercultural topics and an engaging authentic persona.”

I’m Corey Hutchins, manager of the Colorado College Journalism Institute and a board member of the state Society of Professional Journalists chapter. For nearly a decade I 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, where I’m an advisor, is underwriting this newsletter, and my “Inside the News” column appears at COLab. (If you’d like to underwrite or sponsor this newsletter, hit me up.) Follow me on Bluesky, reply or subscribe to this weekly newsletter here, or e-mail me at CoreyHutchins [at] gmail [dot] com.