On November 18, LWVD held a briefing to address the challenges faced by local news journalists. The guest speakers were Larry Ryckman, founder and editor of the Colorado Sun, and David Wolfman, a professor of journalism and media law at CSU.

Larry reminded us that even the politicians who wrote the Constitution were not fans of newspapers, but our Founding Fathers realized that a healthy society needed watchdogs of the government and included protection for freedom of the press along with freedom of speech in the Bill of Rights. Currently, both of these guaranteed rights are at risk.

People have wondered whether the demise of local newspapers is the natural result of the rise of social media. Both speakers disputed this, citing instead the absorption of newspapers as “distressed properties” by huge businesses whose only interest is extracting profit until they “turn out the lights.”

Larry Ryckman is in the documentary film Stripped for Parts: Journalism on the Brink that we recommended to LWVD members in the leadup to this briefing (view it here). He was among 10 journalists who left The Denver Post in 2018 after a hedge fund owner decimated the staff and squeezed their ability to cover local news to a bare minimum. The idea of starting a non-profit online local newspaper was thought to be revolutionary at the time, but what motivated these journalists to develop an innovative model for local news was the loss of community voices and an independent press to hold local officials accountable for their actions.

The Colorado Sun has worked to gain the public trust from its readership and now has about 110,000 subscribers and 30 employees. Small rural newspapers have been particularly hard hit as they cannot rely on a reaching large numbers of readers to sustain their expenses. A good video to understand the plight of small-town newspapers is Truth Be Told.

David Wolfgang urged attendees to think of reliable local news sources as a form of public service that holds communities together, much like libraries, theaters, and museums, which rely on public funding and philanthropic support to be sustained. This new idea of local journalism as a public utility has been used in Europe (the BBC) and here with voters renewing SCFD in Denver, as well as NPR and PBS which have striven to maintain high levels of trust and objectivity. In addition to paying journalism staff, he asked us to consider the funding needed by non-profit news sources for legal fees and fighting to obtain public records among other costs.

As a professor of journalism, David shared that his students are still passionate about upholding the ethics of the right to freedom of the press. They are excited about telling the stories of community members and holding the powerful accountable.  They view social media as a passive way to receive news and would rather their objective reporting prompt people to take in information and make up their own minds.

The State League's (LWVCO) Task Force on News Access and Literacy is holding an event on January 20 on Zoom from 5:00-6:00 p.m. (info here) to discuss the Stripped for Parts documentary and share what is happening to coverage of local news across Colorado. We urge Denver Leaguers to participate.
Susan Stark, Co-Director of Program and Advocacy