Maximum mission. Minimum capacity.

The central challenge facing Colorado news media is a capacity bottleneck. Colorado newsrooms are still producing substantial, original local journalism — most are increasing their coverage — but thin staffing and business capacity are limiting their ability to grow, adapt and become sustainable.

The time to expand capacity is now — while the system is still strong enough to build on.

The Central Finding:

Each year, the Colorado News Collaborative (COLab), Colorado Press Association (CPA) and Colorado Media Project (CMP) survey more than 200 Colorado news outlets to understand their staffing, finances, audiences, output and needs. This year, 164 news organizations responded about their work in 2025. Participation has grown from year to year, so the survey is a broad portrait rather than a census. Where possible, this report follows the same outlets over time to identify trends.

Key Points:

The data show a local news system caught in a capacity bottleneck. Colorado newsrooms are still producing substantial amounts of original, local journalism, and many have clear visions of how they want to grow and adapt: build audiences, strengthen revenue, develop new products, use new technology and deepen community engagement. But the same small teams responsible for today’s news are also being asked to build tomorrow’s operation. With too little time, staffing and business capacity, good ideas compete with essential work that already must get done.

Remarkably, Colorado newsrooms are holding the line anyway. That resilience is impressive — and easy to misread. To the consumer, continued output can mask the strain underneath it. The central challenge is not a shortage of mission or ideas; it is the capacity to turn them into durable change. That creates a window to act while news outlets, audiences, trust and collaboration are still in place.