'Citizen journalism' is on the hot seat in Denver

The news behind the news in Colorado

👋 Welcome. I’m Corey Hutchins, a journalist and educator, and you’re reading “Inside the News in Colorado,” a weekly inbox newsletter. Learn more about it here. This newsletter is (*checks notes*) 10 years old this month.

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This week, the controversial anonymous social media account DoBetterDNVR abruptly went dark with no explanation.

The account, which had become a household name for posts that were “often inflammatory” and “sometimes false, with tidbits of fact mixed with rumor, speculation and misinformation,” according to the Denver Post, had been the subject of much news and commentary over the summer.

The Denver Post’s reporting about the account, and the paper’s outing of three of DoBetterDNVR’s previously anonymous contributors, had galvanized a debate in Colorado media circles around citizen journalism, ethics, transparency, “doxxing,” verification, and more.

This newsletter reported on the saga last month here (third item down) if you need a refresher.

Now, next Tuesday, Sept. 30, the Society of Professional Journalists Colorado Pro Chapter, of which I’m a board member, is hosting a panel discussion at the Denver Press Club about the role of citizen journalism.

From the announcement:

On websites, blogs and social media, there’s a lot of news being reported by people who aren’t news professionals. Armed with smartphones and drones, these citizen journalists are leapfrogging mainstream media at crime scenes, disasters and other events.

But for the most part, citizen journalists aren’t trained newsgatherers. So what about ethics, fairness, privacy and fact-based reporting?

The Society of Professional Journalists’ Colorado Pro Chapter invites you to join us as an expert panel discusses citizen journalism and how it differs from professional reporting.

Panelists are:

• Vince Bzdek, who is executive editor of the Gazette in Colorado Springs, the Denver Gazette, and Colorado Politics, has written that he believes “citizen journalism is here to stay.”

• Jacob Richards is a citizen journalist and editor of the Revolutionist, an anti-capitalism paper in Western Colorado.

• Vanessa Otero founded Ad Fontes Media and the Media Bias Chart, and has talked about the idea of a certification program for independent journalists.

• Chaim Goldman is the host of The Peak News radio show that recruits and trains volunteer citizen journalists.

Patrick Ferrucci, chair of CU Boulder’s journalism department, will moderate the discussion among the panelists whom I’d helped organize.

Colorado is an appropriate place to host such an event. Denver served as the home of the National Association of Citizen Journalists and has seen its share of debate around the high-profile actions of those who describe themselves as citizen journalists.

Learn more about the event here. Admission is free, but please email Doug Bell at dgoal@aol.com to say you’re coming so we have a headcount.

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As newspapers fade in eastern Colorado, a plains radio station gets a boost

The past year has seen a colony collapse of newspapers on Colorado’s rural Eastern Plains.

This newsletter has chronicled the decline and efforts to mitigate the loss of local news in some of the affected communities. Another such effort, this one across the airwaves, got some ink in Harvard’s Nieman Journalism Lab this week.

Over the summer, the national local news fundraising campaign Press Forward gave a $750,000 grant to the Kansas-based High Plains Public Radio.

From Sophie Culpepper at Nieman Lab:

Over the next three years, the station will build out a regional news contributors network called the High Plains Civic Media Network for the rural communities it serves across the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles, eastern Colorado, western Kansas, and far southwest Nebraska.

Quentin Hope, the executive director and founder of High Plains Public Radio, lives in Denver. He told Nieman Lab that he envisions a model that includes a region-wide “contributors network” coordinated by a small central editorial team.

“The contributors network, meanwhile, will consist of a mix of part-time and volunteer positions (and some in between who might receive modest monthly stipends with an ‘output expectation’), including, Hope expects, some retirees,” Culpepper wrote.

Included in the story was a map of HPPR’s coverage area, which includes KCSE 90.7 located in Lamar, Colorado. The station’s reach includes parts of Baca County, Bent County, Prowers, Kiowa, and Cheyenne counties. (Cheyenne County became perhaps Colorado’s first real news desert in 2022 when the Range Ledger folded.)

Read more about what High Plains Public Radio plans to do with its new grant here.

CSU instructor launches student-reported newsletter ‘The Ramspondents’

Jake Sherlock, a journalism instructor at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, has launched an in-house digital news agency.

“We’re covering public life and safety in Fort Collins, and we publish a daily newsletter with 1-2 full stories that we send right to your inbox,” he said in a LinkedIn post about the effort.

The newsletter, using the Beehiiv platform, launched on Sept. 11. Called The Ramspondents, it’s free and is a publication of the school’s Journalism and Media Communication Department.

“Just solid local journalism about the city of Fort Collins and its inhabitants, in your inbox every morning at 6 a.m.,” Sherlock said.

Recent editions profiled a local business and local artist, explained ranked-choice voting, reported on changes to parking and the opening of a new community center, and more.

Last year, when I researched and wrote a report for Colorado Media Project about the workforce pipeline for journalism in Colorado, this was something I found, emphasis mine:

TENSION POINT: One journalism faculty member expressed frustration with a problem described as the “internship before the internship” as well as a potential newsroom bias that favors students at four-year schools. Because some newsrooms that hire interns might want to see demonstrated work, some students might not yet have it — the reason they are applying for an internship in the first place. At least one faculty member has set up a campus news organization to try and mitigate this problem so students have clips or work to show.

That faculty member might not have been Sherlock, but what he’s doing with The Ramspondents serves multiple goals. One, students can rack up clips to show their chops to potential editors, and two, students add to the local journalism output in their own community beyond campus.

The Center for Community News at the University of Vermont, where I’m a consultant, has been documenting the ways colleges and universities are filling the gaps in local news reporting nationwide.

In an email, Sherlock said that when he was an undergrad at the University of Wyoming in the ‘90s, he was fortunate to work for the Laramie Daily Boomerang. What he learned from being in a professional newsroom was unlike anything he learned in class or at student media.

“Writing stories from fact sheets and reading and discussing journalism are great ways to lay the foundation for solid reporting, but nothing teaches you how to be a journalist like being a journalist,” he said about the new program he launched at CSU.

“I’m a big believer that young journalists need student media, professional media and the classroom to be truly prepared for the industry when they graduate,” he said.

A spoof site emerges to satirize the progressive Colorado Times Recorder

In recent years, Colorado journalists have had to contend with the rapid rise of cheap and easy technology that can compete with their marketshare, rip off their work, and, in some cases, outright spoof their brands.

The progressive nonprofit Colorado Times Recorder digital outlet is learning that this week after a site emerged called the “Colorado Recorder Times.”

The site, which launched using AI around Sept. 24, publishes fake stories under the bylines of fake people. Fake bios for its contributors include names like “Judah Blahs” and “Heidi Beteljews.” (The Colorado Times Recorder has a reporter named Heidi Beedle.) Another made-up contributor is “Al Jimeer,” who the site states “was raised in Islamic Asia where she became transgender, twice, and now dedicates its time to its passion for writing about Israeli Gender Theory.” An anonymous post at the liberal Colorado Pols blog, which the outfit has also attacked, called the new site “wildly racist.”

This comes from the spoof site’s about section:

Our work is partisan, with a regressive disorientation, aimed at promoting and amplifying bigotry, racism, misinformation, and election conspiracies to own the libs and trigger snowflakes while advancing truth. We strive to bring a partisan regressive perspective to Colorado politics, emphasizing stories that advance regressive values such as conformity, hierarchy, privilege, inequality, and supremacy of the Asian races.

The site took 24 hours to create, said James Wiley, the executive director of the Colorado Libertarian Party who was a candidate for Congress last year.

“It was a personal creation of mine, it wasn’t produced at the direction of the Libertarian Party or the Chainsaw Caucus,” he said over the phone on Friday. (The Chainsaw Caucus is a political group he also helped create.)

Earlier this week, Colorado Times Recorder reporter Erik Maulbetsch had published a story headlined “CO Libertarians Say New House GOP Leader Unconcerned by Their Exec Director’s Belief in Anti-Israel Conspiracy Theory About Kirk’s Murder.”

Wiley said he created the site as a direct response to the story.

“They personally called me antisemitic, which, in this day and age, there’s a lot of consequences to such an accusation,” Wiley said. He added that he believed the Times Recorder was trying to shame and silence him, and to get him to change his tone and fear the media.

“So, I went nuclear on the other end of the spectrum,” he said.

Wiley said he uses artificial intelligence tools for nearly every aspect of the site, which allows him to rapidly churn out content, create text, generate images, and turn content into social media posts with scripts and voiceovers.

Using such tools, he said, means the attack site can “meet and exceed the capability of an established traditional mainstream media organization like the Colorado Times Recorder.”

Those at the Colorado Times Recorder might appreciate such a characterization of their outlet. The exclusively digital news and commentary organization, which has been around since 2017, is openly progressive, doesn’t disclose its donors, and is more of a new media entity than a legacy institution. (Despite that, this newsletter has written about its impact on the Colorado journalism scene over the years.)

Maulbetsch at the real CTR had some words for the spoof site’s creator.

“The classic First Amendment solution to speech you don’t like is always more speech,” he said via email. “So, given that this site and its social media accounts were created by Mr. Wiley and are being promoted by the Chainsaw Caucus and the Libertarian Party, it at least appears that these freedom-loving Libertarians have taken that constitutional principle to heart. If Mr. Wiley is upset at being characterized as an antisemite, however, I’m not sure how publishing an overtly antisemitic parody website helps his case.”

Stonewalled on Air Force records, Springs TV reporter uses delay to explain FOIA process

When KOAA News5 Senior Reporter Brett Forrest in Colorado Springs found himself waiting a year for the U.S. Air Force Academy to respond to a federal Freedom of Information Act request, he got fed up.

This week, a year to the day since he filed his request, Forrest used the opportunity to broadcast a segment about the process of open-records requests and government stonewalling.

In the broadcast, he said he didn’t want to reveal yet what he was requesting from the Air Force, but said it was only 64 words.

“I thought it was an easy ask,” he says in the clip. “Now, a year later, there’s still no indication on when I might receive those records. I wanted to pull back the curtain a little bit for you, our viewers, to see what our process journalism is for things like FOIA — what we use to investigate, verify, and see what the government is doing.”

The reporter spoke with a First Amendment attorney about the laws around responding to FOIA requests and how and why some governments seek to get around them.

This type of local journalism turned a weakness in the reporting process into a strength — and a story.

Colorado Public Radio joins the Mountain West News Bureau

Colorado Public Radio has now joined radio stations in seven nearby states with its recent inclusion in the Mountain West News Bureau.

“This partnership reflects CPR’s long-standing commitment to collaboration,” Stewart Vanderwilt, president and CEO of Colorado Public Radio, said in a statement. “At a time when local journalism is under pressure, it is more important than ever that public media organizations work together to ensure people in our region have access to trusted and essential news.”

Here’s more from the announcement:

Founded in 2018 with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Mountain West News Bureau currently includes six managing partner stations: Boise State Public Radio, KANW in New Mexico, KUNC in Colorado, KUNR Public Radio in Nevada, Nevada Public Radio and Wyoming Public Media – along with nearly a dozen other affiliated stations and NPR. The addition of CPR builds on this foundation by expanding the bureau’s editorial capacity and broadening its reach across the Mountain West.

“In an era of tightening resources, crossing state lines to collaborate is essential for sustaining strong, community-focused journalism,” Vanderwilt said. “By joining the Mountain West News Bureau, CPR is investing in shared editorial strength and ensuring that critical stories from our communities are told with depth and context. This model helps fulfill our responsibility to serve Colorado and contribute meaningfully to journalism across the region.”

It’s ‘Journalism Week’ in Boulder

This week, the University of Colorado Boulder is hosting its annual Journalism Week.

Part of it this year involves a partnership with the Poynter Institute. From Poynter:

This fall, Poynter’s MediaWise is partnering with The University of Colorado Boulder to bring the “Moments of Truth” museum tour its campus. From late September through early October, the exhibit will be on display at the university’s Norlin Library, inviting visitors to explore the evolution of journalism and strengthen their media literacy skills.

The city takeover coincides with J-Day, the Colorado Student Media Association’s annual journalism showcase that gathers more than 1,000 high school students at UC Boulder. MediaWise experts will deliver media literacy talks throughout the program, equipping the next generation of journalists and communicators with practical skills for today’s information landscape.

The series also includes a community conversation on how technology has transformed the way news and stories are told, along with a lively trivia night where attendees can put their media savvy to the test.

Find out more about what else is on tap this week here.

More Colorado media odds & ends

🪦 Former Denver Post reporter and columnist Susan Greene was back in the pages of her old newspaper this week with a fascinating obituary for Virginia Culver, who spent 44 years at the Post. The former religion and obituary writer, known among some in the newsroom as “The Rev” or “God,” died at 84. Culver, who became the first female member of the Denver Press Club in 1970, “might have tried micromanaging this obituary from the afterlife were it not for the fact that she didn’t believe in an afterlife,” Greene wrote. “She winced at the verb ‘passed on’ instead of ‘died.’ Once it’s over, it’s over, she insisted, although had recently sought other views about what happens after.”

🔗 Lindsey Halligan, the new U.S. attorney for Virginia who is “expected to pursue charges against former FBI director James Comey,” has a Colorado connection. The 30-something lawyer was a former Miss Colorado, per some national outlets, though I haven’t seen much local coverage of her yet. The New York Post reported she “studied broadcast journalism at Regis University, a Jesuit college in Denver.”

🎬 Donald Zuckerman, “one of the primary architects of the drive to bring the Sundance Film Festival to Boulder starting in 2027,” is no longer the film commissioner of Colorado, John Wenzel reported for the Denver Post.

🎙️ Evelyn Baher-Murphy, a recent Colorado College graduate, has produced a six-part podcast documentary called “Lifeblood: Glen Canyon, Lake Powell, and the Future of the Colorado River.” The podcast counts support from the Hulbert Center for Southwest Studies, Utah Rivers Council, and Colorado River and Trail Expeditions. In it, Baher-Murphy asks “How did we get here?” and “How do we keep going?”

💸 Delbert Sgaggio received $65,000 from the City of Woodland Park, Colorado over a First Amendment rights violation after he was “personally blocked on Facebook by former Woodland Park Police Chief, Miles De Young because he criticized a raid by Woodland Park Police officers,” KOAA reported.

⚙️ Colorado Public Radio is hiring a Morning Editor and will pay $64,200 to $85,500. The nonprofit Colorado Sun digital news organization is looking for an operations manager it will pay $60,000 to $75,000.

📺 Kroenke Sports & Entertainment will “once again make a slate of Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche games available on free broadcast television through a renewed agreement with TEGNA,” Matthew Keys reported for The Desk. “Nearly 3.5 million people in the Denver area will have access to the broadcasts, which will be produced by Altitude Sports using its on-air talent.”

🍻 The Denver Press Club is hosting a “Women Journalists Get Together” on Oct. 1. See all of the Club’s events here.

🙏 Humbled to have been counted among some of the nation’s leading journalism educators who are working on “the broader effort to strengthen local news.”

I’m Corey Hutchins, manager of the Colorado College Journalism Institute, advisor to Colorado Media Project, 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. Most recently, I’ve been contributing to Harvard’s Nieman Journalism Lab and The Conversation. The nonprofit Colorado Media Project 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.