No one at COLab or among any of our partner organizations thinks of the free press as just another industry. We frequently remind ourselves and others that journalism is the only industry specifically protected in the U.S. Constitution, under the First Amendment. However, we also are painfully aware that the free press is not immune to the economic forces that apply to all businesses.

So our path to mission success – stronger communities through stronger news – points in a direction familiar to any student of economics. We must help our news media partners increase revenue and decrease costs, all while not simply maintaining but ideally improving the quality of the journalism that the public wants and needs, and building relationships that highlight the essential role local news outlets serve.

The entire journalism ecosystem in Colorado is working to that end. We are especially grateful to CMP and CPA for surfacing the model of working groups that other industries have found successful. In this model, great minds gather to explore actions that will help the entire sector. Together, we have gathered working groups or steering committees to help us tackle ways to produce stories that would otherwise go untold, research best practices and new tools to make us more efficient and effective, and find new resources, whether they be financial, educational or otherwise.

Our aim is to improve the news quality, lower costs and increase revenue. Our actions are approaching the complex challenge in roughly that order, though it no doubt feels like an “all of the above at once” proposition to most involved. However, we can trace the evolution of these individually.

We started with collaborative Reporting, which is evolving under the direction of our Editorial Steering Committee. Then we added Reach, with four working groups representing Communities of Color across the state. Then we added Revenue, working closely with CPA and others. Each segment continues to evolve.

REPORTING

Based on feedback from our partners and especially news leaders in Colorado who have become our Editorial Steering Committee, COLab has been seeking to provide editorial support that is useful to more newsrooms than the impactful but intermittent investigative projects we previously initiated. Newsroom leaders identified having a managing editor as a key need. A trusted editor can solicit editorial plans from partners, look for stories to share, identify areas where duplicative work could be minimized, and help coordinate reporting where newsrooms identify collaborative opportunities.

COLab’s managing editor, Tina Griego, has been serving in that role since January 2024. One of the key collaborative projects this year is Voter Voices, which has gathered more than 65 newsrooms, with Colorado Public Radio taking a lead role, in what one national observer called “without precedent” for asking the public what issues they want politicians to address. Thousands of Coloradans are responding.

We will need to be responsive as this new approach develops and newsroom capacities become more clear.

REACH

When COLab asked Coloradans of color what newsrooms could do to better serve them, one answer was: Do a better job of including us in your coverage and helping us connect with you for stories that are important to us. With funding from CMP, COLab launched Amplify Colorado, an online tool that profiles diverse Coloradans who are willing to be sources for journalists and journalists whom communities of color can contact when they have stories to tell.

Both Voter Voices and Amplify Colorado support a 2024 community engagement initiative called “Above the Noise,” which is led by Rocky Mountain Public Media, along with Colorado State University’s Center for Public Deliberation, CMP, CPA and COLab. “Above the Noise” is designed to support local newsrooms as conveners of place-based conversations that bring community members together to identify, shape and amplify local news and civic dialogue that is trustworthy, respectful, inclusive, accessible and representative of local priorities.

REVENUE

Our ecosystem approach to revenue support is multi-pronged. We are convening a Revenue Steering Committee (similar to the Editorial Steering Committee), to identify experiments that have the highest potential return on investment. And we are evolving programs that partners previously requested and that are showing impact. Those new and ongoing programs include:

Revenue Lab – We heard very clearly from the survey that new revenue is vital to Colorado news outlets so they can build their reporting and reach for and with their communities. But the day-to-day tasks required to keep a local news outlet running – and the fear of damaging what is working by trying something new – has left many news leaders both frozen and fried. One news leader described it as being on a “hamster wheel of just trying to survive.”

This phenomenon also is well-documented in the research from Patrick Ferrucci at the University of Colorado Boulder in his new book out this year, Reviving Rural News. Building on the research of Ferrucci et al and the results of the Colorado News Survey, our developing Revenue Lab will help identify the most promising, specific steps news outlets can take, based on research and real-life outcomes, to increase their revenue and decrease their costs, while maintaining or improving service to their communities.

Business Best Practices – Last year, COLab conducted in-depth sustainability audits among a small number of partners and identified their need to implement some business best practices, with the goal of making operations more efficient, strategic and sustainable. It was clear many local media face this challenge. Now all our partners have access to templates for an operations manual, employee handbook and readership survey. These will help address the challenge faced by news leaders who need assistance but can’t take advantage of it (including from COLab and other ecosystem leaders), because their operational tasks are not organized in a way that could be handed off to someone else to help.

Diverse Media Collective – Diverse media in Colorado are building a shared content program and revenue stream supporting news outlets serving underrepresented and marginalized communities. They’re working closely with CPA and COLab, who are supporting the launch of regular ads sales and shared content for DMC partners. We also believe this program can become a model of shared revenue around content for other news media.

DMC allows participants to reduce their individual costs by sharing expenses. For example, they received a grant from CMP to partially cover the expenses of shared ad sales personnel. With support from CPA and COLab, they’re exploring news avenues for generating revenue and sharing their content among their aggregated audiences.

AT A CROSSROADS

This report offers insights into the headwinds that face a free press in Colorado – and beyond – and a look at some of the collaborative actions that are addressing those headwinds. There is much still to learn and much work to be done.

In navigating the future, Colorado’s newsrooms stand at a crossroads of challenge and opportunity. By embracing innovation, fostering inclusivity, and reinforcing bonds with the community, we can chart a course toward a vibrant future for journalism. As we do, news outlets will not only secure their own sustainability but also fortify the pillars of democracy they are intended to uphold.

Together, with the collective effort of the entire ecosystem, Colorado can continue to lead in the rebirth of local news, ensuring well-informed, engaged, and vibrant communities across our state.