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Home , Chalkbeat, Colorado Public Radio, KUVO

Case Study View from Alan Prendergast

S DENVER’S MUNICIPAL elections ap- from so much growth—controversies Aproach, Kevin Flynn, a candidate for over neighborhood-altering new devel- city council, checks his email updates with opments, spiking home prices, gentri- a growing sense of unease. With less than fication, a multibillion-dollar marijuana a week to go, only 16 percent of the mail-in industry,456 new tech ventures, surging ballots have been received, and some traffic, environmental degradation, com- analysts are forecasting a low turnout munities displaced or left behind by the for a mayoral race that could have a pro- boom—and so few outlets with the re- 450 ALAN found impact on ’s future. “I’ve sources to tell those stories. found that a lot of people are unaware Media abhors a vacuum, and one re- PRENDERGAST has that there’s an election next week,” Flynn sponse has been the launch of several written for Rolling says.“That’s a problem.”451 new digital outlets and collaborative ven- Stone, the Los A council member since 2015, Flynn is tures aiming to fill the gaps in local and Angeles Times, running for reelection unopposed. He’s a regional coverage. Most of the start-ups Outside, West- popular figure in his district, with an un- boast business models that don’t depend word, and other usual backstory, having spent 27 years as on advertising revenue, relying instead publications and a reporter at the Rocky Mountain , on a combination of philanthropic grants, teaches journal- covering city politics and other beats, un- private sponsors, and reader . ism at til the daily ceased operations in 2009. But these efforts come with questions College. “Now I’m one of the bastards I used to about their long-term sustainability, the write about,” he jokes.452 degree to which they’re reaching their But Flynn doesn’t see anything funny intended audience, and whether that about disaffected and ill-informed voters, audience is large enough and willing to or the decline in coverage his pay enough to keep the coverage coming. city has endured in recent years. In par- Despite the unknowns, it’s clear that a ticular, he finds the paucity of old-fash- major shift in local news is underway. It ioned watchdog —the routine can’t come soon enough for those observ- scrutiny of government operations and ers who believe that a robust local press is public officials—to be downright unnerv- key to an informed citizenry. “I think it’s a ing. “It feels like we could all be getting crisis worse than the deficit,” says Dennis away with murder right now,” he says. “I Gallagher, a former Denver councilman, don’t like it at all.”453 city auditor, and state lawmaker who re- Flynn’s discomfort reflects a wider con- mains active in city politics, advising one cern about the paradox that Denver has of the challengers in this year’s mayor’s become, a burgeoning city with a muted race. “Jefferson said that no nation can media presence. With one of the most be ignorant and free, and it’s true. The superheated economies in the nation,454 press—even though they gouge people the population (now 716,492 and climb- on their death notices—I can forgive that ing) has grown by 100,000 over the past if they inform people about what’s going seven years, while the surrounding metro on in government. That’s what keeps our area has swelled from 2.5 million to 3.2 country together.”457 million since 2010.455 At the same time, local print journalism has been gutted, OR MUCH OF , DenverITS was a HISTORY from the shuttering of theRocky to the Fvibrant two-daily town. In the 1960s and relentless layoffs and greatly diminished ’70s, the Rocky was the scrappy morning output of the town’s remaining daily, The tabloid, the Post the establishment after- Denver Post. noon broadsheet. At their peak in the 1990s, The dilemma: So many stories emerging the two papers competed strenuously for

LOSING THE NEWS 49 readers and scoops, loudly promoted their it has ever been—but those profits have prize-winning muckraking series, and sent come from drastically slashing staff, sell- fleets of reporters to cover every Denver ing off assets, hiking subscription and ad Broncos Super Bowl appearance. The news rates, and moving most of the paper’s op- war had many benefits for readers, includ- erations from downtown to the suburbs. ing incredibly cheap subscription offers. Alden’s strategy, which has generated The competition was good for democracy, protests at MediaNews papers across the too. As the circulation lead shifted back and country, is known as “harvesting cash”—a forth several times in the 1980s and ’90s, vampiric process of sucking all the value both sides ramped up their reporting not out of a company while investing as little only in the traditionally covered urban core, as possible to keep it alive.461 but also in suburban communities, where In the spring of 2018, as the Post st a ff “There is a sense many newly arrived readers lived. Neither was bracing for another round of layoffs, that paper could afford to ignore issues of wide editorial page editor Chuck Plunkett led are not minding public concern, from toxic mine waste kill- a remarkable mutiny, publishing a pack- ing Colorado rivers to nepotism in the city age of articles calling for Alden to sell the the store in administration. The quest for the greatest Post before it died of neglect.462 The move Colorado like possible readership also encouraged lively drew national headlines but didn’t stop we used to,” says and diverse opinion pages, reflecting the re- the layoffs; the now has fewer editor Chuck gion’s changing demographics and evolving than 70 journalists on staff463—less than Plunkett. political perspectives.458 one-third of what it had 10 years ago464—to But the growing expense of the news cover a city that’s 20 percent larger.465 war caught up with both papers. In 2000, Plunkett resigned a few weeks later after years of losses, the Rocky’s owner, and now heads a capstone program for E.W. Scripps Company, agreed to com- journalism students at the University of bine business operations with the Post. Colorado. “To me, it looks like they’re The two dailies continued to operate this doing their best to hold on,” he says of way for another nine years, maintaining a the Post.466 “I don’t see any innovation. I collective newsroom of 500 journalists. know they’re working as hard as they can, But in 2009, after failing to find a buyer but if you only have 70 folks, you can’t for the Rocky, Scripps shut it down.459 do what you used to do. There is a sense Denver joined the growing ranks of ma- that journalists are not minding the store jor American cities with only one daily in Colorado like we used to.”467 newspaper. The current print edition of the Post Supposedly poised to dominate the is a lean, sometimes emaciated product. market, the Post struggled, too. The in- Breaking news is still paramount, but dustry was trending downward; revenues stories about (particularly were plummeting, thanks to the defection higher ed), labor, transportation, subur- of classified advertisers to Craigslist and ban government, and rural communities the decimation of local retailers by the are sparse. Gone are the beat reporters Great Recession and online competitors. who made the rounds of county meet- Modest gains in digital revenue couldn’t ings and sniffed out development con- begin to make up the print losses. In ad- troversies and sweetheart deals as they dition, the Post’s parent company, Me- were unfolding—or put the fear of God diaNews Group, had taken on nearly a in officials so they wouldn’t dare attempt billion dollars in debt in an effort to build malfeasance. Gone are the cityside col- one of the largest newspaper chains in umnists who once offered historically the country.460 informed commentary and insights on Less than a year after theRocky folded, public policy controversies and helped MediaNews faced a reckoning with its readers navigate local elections. The lenders in bankruptcy court. A privately sports section, a significant of on- held hedge fund, Alden Global Capital, line traffic, remains a priority, while arts emerged with a commanding share of the and culture coverage is mostly freelance. company. Under its new owners, the Post The once-celebrated “Voice of the Rocky is reportedly more profitable now than Mountain Empire” has become a whisper.

50 PEN AMERICA online news ventures that are trying to woo an increasingly fragmented au- dience. Others include The Colorado Independent, a nonprofit run by former Post and Rocky that serves up a progressive-tinged mix of public policy reporting and opinion; Denver- ite, a hyper-local news-you-can-use site focused on city and state government, development, and related issues that has had three owners in the past two years; and a host of smaller niche operations that cover politics, education, health, the energy industry, transit, or other topics. All of these outlets have small staffs of around 3 to 12 people and extremely lim- ited visibility in Denver’s muddled media A Denver Post employee holds up a sign landscape. Only a small percentage of during a rally urging the paper’s hedge residents often get their local news from fund owner, Alden Global Capital, to ei- digital-first outlets.472 None have anything ther invest in its news outlets or sell them. close to the reach the Post—which, even after losing half its print readers in re- cent years, still claims more than a mil- AST YEAR, 11 FORMER Post employees, lion weekly print and online readers.473 Lincluding several veteran reporters and Nor can they touch the circulation of editors, left the paper to start a digital news two other long-established local print outlet, The Colorado Sun. The venture is publications: Westword, the venerable fueled by a two-year grant from Civil, a alternative weekly, claims 50,000 print company that seeks to use cryptocurrency readers a week,474 while 5280, an upscale and blockchain technology to promote a city magazine, reports 85,000 a month.475 network of independent newsrooms.468 Many of the digital outlets are reluctant -owned and void of ads or pay- to disclose their actual readership or sub- walls, the Sun aims to persuade readers scription figures. A recent article in 5280 to become regular donors of $5 or more a reported that the Independent claims month by focusing on the kind of narrative, 2,074 individual donors, compared with contextual reporting that’s getting harder to 1,200 paid members at Denverite.476 The find at the local level.469 Sun announced that it has 26,000 sub- At present, the Sun produces only a scribers to its free newsletters and 5,400 handful of articles a day, but they tend paid members.477 A survey conducted last to be longer, more nuanced takes on year by the Colorado Media Project indi- breaking news, what the legislature is up cated that although 39 percent of Colo- to, or growth-related issues in the region radans pay for some of their news, only than can be found elsewhere. Sun staffer 6 percent of those appear willing to pay Jesse Paul says he’s enjoyed the same for a local digital outlet.478 kind of access to lawmakers and other public officials as he did when he had the UT SOME OF THE DIGITAL PROJECTS state’s largest newspaper behind him,470 Bare less interested in profit or total and he points to several big stories that circulation than they are in engaging with the fledgling operation has broken and a concerned audience of stakeholders. other media have followed, such as an Chalkbeat, for example, is an intriguing eye-opening report on a sputtering $230 nonprofit effort to revive and revamp the million state program that was supposed education beat, often one of the biggest to improve reading proficiency for ele- casualties of the local news attrition. mentary school students.471 (Although there’s been some turnover in

DAVID ZALUBOWSKI/ASSOCIATED PRESS PRESS ZALUBOWSKI/ASSOCIATED DAVID The Sun is one of several emerging the position, the Post still has a full-time

LOSING THE NEWS 51 education reporter.) Forged out of the complicated stories on daunting subjects. merger of a Colorado education news site A lot of traditional local news “has with a similar site in , Chalk- moved away from reporting on serious beat now has bureaus in seven states, issues,” says Justine Sandoval, a commu- supported largely by a web of founda- nity organizing manager for NARAL Pro- tions great and small, and provides more Choice Colorado. “They concentrate on specialized education coverage than a the controversy as opposed to the policy, traditional daily or TV station. and it’s been a struggle to get people to Chalkbeat’s Colorado bureau has three pay attention to the issues.” Sandoval reporters assigned to different beats and sees the situation improving in Colorado, a bureau chief who covers statewide is- thanks in part to the emphasis on sub- sues. Melanie Asmar, a former Westword stantive reporting by Colorado Public Ra- reporter, covers Denver public schools dio (CPR) and digital outlets such as the and says that she’s frequently the only re- Sun and Denverite. But she also worries porter at school board meetings. Chalk- that older or less internet-savvy readers beat offers its stories without charge to may not be exposed to those sources. other media organizations, and Asmar’s “It’s harder for the average person to ac- work sometimes gets picked up by the Post cess legit journalism now,” she says.481 or around the state. During a The proliferation of niche outlets has recent Denver teachers’ strike, she was an been good news for state politics junkies, invaluable resource to reporters helicop- since there are now more journalists reg- tering into the fray, the go-to expert who ularly covering the Colorado legislature could explain the context of the dispute as than at any time since the 1990s. (One negotiations stretched into the wee hours. blogger recently tallied at least 17 report- She says she appreciates the opportunity ers at the statehouse.)482 But at a more to dive deeper into education issues than local level, there are deficits in coverage she would at a daily: “Chalkbeat is filling that have deepened during the Post’s de- a need, and I’m so glad it exists. It makes cline and are addressed only sporadically. my stories so much better, I think, than if “I don’t think they have enough people to I was at a general outlet.”479 cover community and environmental is- The tradeoff, perhaps, is that richly re- sues,” says Christine O’Connor, a veteran ported policy pieces are often more likely neighborhood activist who has expressed to connect with an audience of insiders skepticism about several controversial than with the general public. Eric Gor- projects embraced by city officials, from ski, Chalkbeat’s managing editor for local the redevelopment of a Superfund site to news and a former Post reporter, notes: a proposal to bring the Winter Olympics “School superintendents read us. Law- to Denver. “The environmental stuff is just makers read us. We want people to read too damned difficult for most people.”483 our stories, but we also want our report- O’Connor is a fan of the work of Bruce ing to make a difference. We want it to Finley, who covers environmental news at move needles. It’s going to be smaller than the Post and does several comprehensive a general news outlet audience, but it’s a reports a year on subjects such as frack- pretty influential and powerful one.”480 ing emissions and the city’s “green space crunch.” “They’re few and far between, OR THE CIVIC-MINDED, there are some but they’re powerful when they come Faspects of Denver’s new media eco- out,” she says. “If there were more people system that compare favorably with the like him, I think we’d be well served.”484 old. Unlike the Post and the commercial But O’Connor laments the absence of TV news stations, most of the new dig- reporters at most of the community meet- ital outlets are locally owned. Whether ings and planning hearings she attends. or not they are structured as nonprof- Although several outlets prominently cov- its, they tend to be intensely focused ered the Denver’s city council’s approval on their readers (or “members”) rather of a new growth plan, called Denveright, than on clicks or advertisers. And they she points out that the plan and related are, perhaps, less likely to shy away from documents run close to 1,600 pages—and

52 PEN AMERICA there was little discussion in the media people listen. When the neighborhood about just what those pages contain, or is experiencing a spike in homicides and the small fraction of the city’s residents people in the community don’t want to who were actually involved in the outreach talk, you need a paper that’s got a strong process or had any input on its provisions. enough recognized brand that it can go Local journalists “are missing the level of in, keep your name a secret, and get the frustration in the community with devel- truth out. That’s what I worry about.”489 opment,” she says. “I don’t think they’re The fragmented media marketplace really out there talking to people. I think compels consumers to rummage among they get briefed by the mayor’s group, and several news sources to try to make sense then they decide if they’re going to meet of events, a time-consuming hunt that was with someone else.”485 particularly necessary during the 2018 Sandoval believes the local media election cycle. While the midterms were needs to devote more resources to eco- followed closely across the nation, Colora- nomic issues. “People always want to do’s statewide races were haphazardly re- know about taxes and revenue,” she says. ported, particularly at the primary phase. “I get these questions all the time: Where The staff departures at the Post and the is that money going? What are the obsta- scramble among start-ups meant little cles to why we can’t spend it in different consistency in how the campaigns were “ Transportation is ways? I wish there was more coverage on covered. “The race played out in quasi-si- not covered much 486 those issues.” lence, as significant differences between by anybody, and Paul says that he’d like to see the Sun candidates went almost unremarked, im- it’s a huge issue expand its reporting on several fronts portant coverage appeared late, and most once it’s in a position to hire more re- of it was placed in disparate locations,” for Colorado,” porters. “Transportation is not covered journalist Helen Thorpe pointed out in a says journalist much by anybody, and it’s a huge issue column for The Colorado Independent. Jesse Paul. “Law for Colorado,” he says. “Law enforce- “If you were not paying close attention to enforcement. ment. The courts. The federal courts. several websites at once, you probably The courts. The It would be great to have a bureau on missed the entire show.”490 federal courts. It the eastern plains, a bureau in southern Vigorous watchdog reporting can still Colorado. Rural Colorado isn’t getting be found in Denver, though with less fre- would be great much coverage.”487 quency. recently to have a bureau Important journalism is being done made a splash with a months-long inves- on the eastern at several of the niche outlets, many of tigation of the cozy relationships between plains, a bureau them digital first. It’s not clear, though, the city administration and powerful lob- in southern that enough Denver residents have the in- bying firms.491 The Post demonstrated that Colorado. Rural clination or the patience to seek out their it could still make a difference by revealing news in an à la carte fashion, now that that thousands of court cases across the Colorado isn’t there’s no single media source to rely on state have been shielded from public view getting much for comprehensive coverage. “There are by judges’ suppression orders, without any coverage.” more people sitting at the press table in coherent rationale for such secrecy.492 The the city council chamber on Monday night Sun dove deep into the economics be- than there used to be,” notes Councilman hind the lack of affordable housing in ski Flynn. “But that’s too many places to go to towns and maintains a Prom- find my news. I don’t think a single one of ise Tracker, which graphically portrays the my neighbors knows that coloradopolitics. new governor’s progress (or lack thereof) com exists, or Denverite, or The Colo- in delivering on his 125 campaign promis- rado Sun. There’s not one clearinghouse es.493 Leading up to the recent municipal for everything, and the knowledge of city elections, most news outlets managed to affairs is suffering.”488 provide at least brief profiles of all the Plunkett agrees. “Gone is the big news- candidates in the crowded mayoral race, paper-of-record role,” he says. “I like the a distinct improvement over the chaotic idea of a big news organization, so that coverage of the 2018 governor’s race. (De- when it does investigative reporting, stuff spite the gloomy predictions of low turn- happens. When it weighs in on an issue, out, a surge of late ballots made for one of

LOSING THE NEWS 53 the highest levels of voter participation in premier NPR affiliate, has undergone a Denver election in decades, with several an even more dramatic transformation, contests close enough to trigger runoffs.) thanks to its ability to tap into major grants Yet how many of these stories truly as well as its devoted listener base. CPR connected with readers? Some of the has beefed up its news coverage in many most powerful investigative reporting areas, including a new investigative team often arises out of community concerns, (sparked by an anonymous $300,000 and the ability of journalists to tap into gift)497 and a “climate solutions” team tips from informed sources and whis- (backed by a $1.2 million grant).498 The en- tleblowers—a process that relies on the tire operation has grown rapidly in recent kind of persistent beat reporting that’s years and now has close to 50 journalists now in short supply. During his years at on its payroll, with plans for a newsroom “We had to be the Rocky, Flynn recalls, he spent many of 70 in the near future, which would give willing to have “unproductive hours” making the rounds CPR a larger staff than thePost . It’s even hours that didn’t of court and police documents and chat- moving its newsroom from the suburbs to ting up sources. Yet such routines greatly downtown Denver, as if declaring that it’s produce anything enhanced his reporting. “We had to be ready to dethrone the ailing daily as the because that’s willing to have hours that didn’t produce region’s dominant news organization.499 what happens anything because that’s what happens Last March CPR announced that it had when you walk a when you walk a beat,” he says. “I see a acquired Denverite, which had struggled beat,” says former lot of enterprise reporting now, and a lot to find traction as a member-supported, journalist Kevin of it is good. What I don’t see enough of is for-profit outfit under its previous owner, day-in, day-out beat reporting that leads Spirited Media.500 Denverite is transition- Flynn. “I see a to better enterprise reporting.”494 ing to a nonprofit business model and will lot of enterprise remain devoted to hyper-local news.501 reporting now, IKE DENVER’S LOCAL DAILIES, its com- The move should increase the hyper-local and a lot of it is Lmercial TV news stations have experi- news outlet’s visibility while aiding CPR’s good. What I don’t enced years of turmoil, enduring budget efforts to enhance its digital presence see enough of is cuts and consolidation while shifting from among millennials. Working closely with one conglomerate’s portfolio to another.495 the nonprofit media giant seems like day-in, day-out While each station still occasionally tackles a win-win for both sides, says former beat reporting investigative stories, all rely heavily on safe Denverite editor Dave Burdick, now the that leads to and predictable local TV formulas: news managing editor of digital operations at better enterprise about fires, crashes, and crime; feel-good CPR. Partnering with CPR will not only reporting.” pieces about organ donors or local char- increase the digital outlet’s visibility, Bur- ities; gotcha exposés that confront con- dick explains, but also possibly help free tractors over shoddy work or restaurant up Denverite’s five-person staff to occa- owners over bad health inspection reports. sionally step away from the whirl of city But amid the predictable broadcast for- council and county commissioner meet- mulas, public television is thriving. The Den- ings to pursue more in-depth projects.502 ver metro area’s largest While the acquisition was welcomed services receive most of the philanthropic in most quarters, it also underscores the money that’s been pouring into the state harsh economics of the new media en- to support local news. Rocky Mountain vironment. Corey Hutchins, who writes PBS’s investigative news show, Insight With about media issues for Columbia Journal- John Ferrugia, recently won an Alfred I. du- ism Review and The Colorado Indepen- Pont–Columbia University Award, and last dent, described the move as a “bailout” fall its parent company, Rocky Mountain in his weekly newsletter. “There are a few Public Media, broke ground on a $34 million, ways to look at that deal,” Hutchins says. 64,000-square-foot center that will house “One is that maybe we never got to see the news operations, KUVO public radio, the for-profit, hyper-local digital media community media studios, and collabora- experiment play out in Denver before the tive spaces available to other local media money to float it ran out. But maybe we enterprises.496 did get to see that experiment play out, Colorado Public Radio, the region’s and it just wasn’t successful.”503

54 PEN AMERICA As Hutchins sees it, the takeover public policy journalism to keep all the demonstrates the ascendancy of public start-ups solvent? Are there are enough broadcasting in Colorado media circles. consumers feeling generous enough to Nationally, public television and radio re- subsidize public radio’s ambitious expan- ceive the lion’s share of the sion as well as the various news sources money going to nonprofit media, a total that are adopting a similar audience-sup- of $796 million from 2010 to 2015—almost ported model? Can the niche outlets de- as much as all the other nonprofit news velop a significant following for specialized outlets combined.504 (Local and state beat reporting and have the kind of impact nonprofit news outlets collected just 5 that the daily paper once had? Will some percent of the grant money during that of the outlets with like-minded missions period, according to a study by Harvard's ultimately merge, or will the market be- Shorenstein Center and Northeastern come more fragmented? University.)505 CPR has a substantial de- Some of the answers may surface in velopment staff and devotes far more at- the next couple of years as the digital tention to than many of the outlets seek a wider base of support. In digital start-ups, Hutchins notes. “It would the interim, Denver keeps growing, and be great if all the new ventures could find so does its bureaucracy. In 2007, the for- enough devoted readers to survive,” he mer Rocky building was demolished to says. “But you have to wonder what hap- make way for a city jail. Since 2016, city pens when the grants run out.”506 agencies have subleased several floors of Many questions remain about the sus- the former Post building, occupying office tainability of Denver’s experiments in local space where hundreds of reporters once news. Are there enough foundations and roamed. As journalism recedes, govern- private funders interested in supporting ment becomes ever more powerful.

LOSING THE NEWS 55