Journalists at Denver’s KUSA 9NEWS have had an anxious year.
A rival broadcaster, which owns FOX31, acquired their owner, Tegna. The deal is currently embroiled in litigation as Denver newsroom jobs hang in the balance.
Despite that, a small team at the nightly newscast “Next with Kyle Clark” is showing just how important KUSA is as a public good during another major statewide Colorado election.
The local NBC affiliate this week hosted the first televised debate among the top Republican candidates for governor — and one for the two Democrats who are running as well.
When it came to the moderated GOP forum, Colorado Public Radio reporters Rae Solomon and Bente Birkeland called it “unlike any political debate in recent Colorado memory.” The “false claims and attacks became so unhinged at times that moments could have been mistaken for a Saturday Night Live cold open, or a spoof reality show like Jury Duty.”
Indeed, the performance was likely eye-popping for normies who don’t follow politics as closely as professional ideologues and others who must do so for a living. At one point, Republican State Rep. Scott Bottoms, a candidate for governor, said he would “probably” offer a role in his administration to a podcaster who has accused some of the state’s leadership of being “Satan Jews” — just “assuming” that role is “not around Jewish people.”
Debate moderators Kyle Clark and Marshall Zelinger offered a master class in how to engage the kinds of state-level characters who have emerged as contenders for high office in the era of Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, Clark’s election-defining interview with Victor Marx, whom he described as the “unconventional frontrunner in the GOP race” for governor, continued to reverberate through the week.
Among other things during the interview, the candidate declined to say how many people he had killed as an adult or how he managed to allegedly call in an airstrike on ISIS as a civilian. He talked about how he performs exorcisms by phone. Clark came with deeply researched questions about the candidate’s past, along with receipts, and sought to get clarity on some particularly remarkable claims Marx has made about himself. “Do you understand why so many of your critics think you’re a con man?” Clark asked at one point.
“I thought that that was one of the first things that potentially really shook up this race, which has felt kind of stuck,” said conservative talk-radio host Ross Kaminsky on his show. Clark spoke with Kaminsky on iHeart Radio this week about his 30-minute interview with Marx.
Asked why he believed Marx, who is leading the GOP pack in fundraising and had been ducking public debates until this week, agreed to speak with Clark for an in-depth grilling, Clark said he thought it was because he’s “unfailingly polite.” Candidates also know he’ll be prepared and won’t say things that are factually inaccurate, he said.
Marx himself said after the interview that “as a reporter, Kyle is professional and he’s researched. And that you don’t see a lot of in social media, so I appreciate it. And he asked the hard questions, which I wanted.”
At one point, Clark told Kaminsky that Marx, who is a ministry leader, had offered to perform an exorcism on him while at his training center around the time of the interview.
“I was taken aback by the offer,” Clark said.
Elsewhere in conservative talk-radio land, host Mandy Connell said on her podcast that despite having a “longstanding ridiculous beef with Kyle,” she applauded the interview. “Every Coloradan needs to watch this,” she told her audience.
As much as Connell said she appreciates the rise of what she called citizen journalism, the interview Clark conducted was an example of what a trained journalist can provide, she said.
In his regular column for the Colorado Sun, liberal columnist Mike Littwin opined that the much-talked-about interview, in which he said Marx showed himself “to be even weirder than one of his two opponents,” is “likely to win him MAGA votes.”
Despite Clark and his “Next” show doing what people across the board have recognized as a consequential piece of public service journalism during this year’s statewide election — if not the most consequential to date — there is a chance that Nexstar might at some point seek to eliminate the “Next” unit if the company is successful in court with its acquisition of Tegna. Why on earth would any local news organization even consider it?
Ballots for the election start going out to voters on Monday.
➡️ This newsletter is proudly sponsored by The Colorado Health Foundation. As a proud funder of Colorado Media Project, the home of Press Forward Colorado, the CHF understands that healthy communities need a healthy news ecosystem.
This year, The Colorado Health Foundation is working to combat disinformation and misinformation, and helping nonprofits build media literacy.
⛰ The Colorado Health Symposium in Keystone is open for registration. You don’t want to miss one of the best events of the year in Colorado.
The Colorado News Collaborative called our annual Pulse Poll a “trove of information useful to reporters.” The Colorado Health Foundation’s Katie Peshek talked to journalists across the state about the poll results, which you can watch here. We also have Pulse Poll slides here, showing how you can use what we found to guide your reporting on topics and bring facts and data to your stories. ⬅️
🌊 This newsletter is in travel mode, meaning content might be lighter than usual, and I might not be as quick to respond to emails, messages, or DMs.
🤖 A new law signed this week by Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis “will restrict artificial intelligence-powered chatbots, regulating the technology amid concern about its role in several suicides by young people,” Jon Murray reported for the Denver Post. Polis also vetoed four bills, “including one that would have imposed new safety regulations on social media platforms and another that would have charged fees on some video game purchases to fund youth mental health programs,” Brian Eason reported for the Colorado Sun.
⛰ Aspen Journalism and the Center for Investigative Reporting are inviting the public on Friday, Sept. 11 “to an event celebrating the vital role of nonprofit, investigative journalism and in-depth story telling. This gathering will feature special guest Al Letson, Peabody Award-winning host of Reveal, the nationally acclaimed investigative radio show and podcast from The Center for Investigative Reporting, in conversation with Aspen Journalism Editor and Executive Director Curtis Wackerle.”
⬛️ Colorado Springs residents who rely on DirecTV to watch NBC affiliate KOAA “may be out of luck for the foreseeable future,” Alex Edwards reported for the Gazette June 1. “The station, owned by the E.W. Scripps Company, is the latest victim in a string of contract fights between media conglomerates and cable and satellite TV providers.”
🗞 “Over the years, I’ve watched local journalism change dramatically,” wrote North Forty News publisher Blaine Howerton. “Many newspapers and media companies now rely on aggressive subscription funnels, ultra-cheap introductory offers, hard paywalls, automated upsells, and endless systems designed to keep readers moving through a marketing pipeline.” But the northern Colorado newspaper is “intentionally trying to build a different kind of relationship with readers — one that feels less like a corporate funnel and more like a trusted local habit.”
💨 Longtime sportswriter Patrick Saunders is one of the Denver Post journalists deciding to take a company buyout, and is calling it “bittersweet news.” This newsletter reported last month that the paper’s hedge-fund owner wants four buyouts. “Saunders has worked for the Post since October 1998 when he began writing about the Denver Broncos,” the site Purple Row reported.
👏 The national Rebuild Local News group applauded Colorado for “prioritizing local media in state advertising,” noting that state agencies now “must develop strategies that give priority to Colorado-based news media in public marketing campaigns.”
💨 Reporter Glenn Wallace is leaving Axios Colorado Springs after just about three months working for the new daily newsletter. “The opportunity to launch a new and innovative form of local media for my hometown has been the honor of my career,” he wrote, adding that he has “personal matters to attend to.” Axios Local is looking to fill the job and will pay between $65,000 and $100,000 for the position. (The salary range for the Springs position when Axios first posted it pre-Wallace was between $60,000 and $90,000. The new salary range matches what the company listed for a reporter in Boulder when it hired one there in 2024.) Editor Gigi Sukin has been authoring the Springs newsletter the past few days this week.
🔗 Michael Rosenblatt, a technology product developer who is on the KUNC board of directors, authored a column in the Boulder Daily Camera newspaper about the upcoming merger between that northern Colorado-based radio station and Rocky Mountain PBS. “This merger positions KUNC and The Colorado Sound to continue growing as trusted, innovative and community-focused public media brands for Northern Colorado audiences for years to come,” he wrote. “It represents the best of both worlds: preserving a strong regional identity while building the scale and sustainability necessary to thrive in a rapidly changing media environment.”
🆕 The Colorado Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists “has named the chapter’s president for 2026-27 and its president-elect, announced new and continuing members of its board of directors, and said thanks and farewell to two departing board members,” the organization, of which I’m a board member, announced. “The changes follow the chapter’s first contested membership board election in several years.” Read who got the nods here.
✍️ Both Democratic candidates for governor, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and Attorney General Phil Weiser, said if they had the job they would sign a bill that Gov. Polis vetoed that would “require social media companies to comply with search warrants within 24 hours of receiving one,” and also a bill to “ban rent-setting algorithms,” Chase Woodruff reported for Colorado Newsline.
🎯 Want to sponsor this newsletter? | Here’s Denver agency SE2 founder Eric Anderson about why he did it
“It’s been great to work with Corey on this sponsorship,” Anderson wrote in a recent post at SE2. “I’d encourage others who want to reach his uniquely influential audience to consider [this newsletter] as a cost-effective way to connect.”
You should feel good about this, too, reader. He called you uniquely influential. If you or your organization would like to sponsor this newsletter, get in touch. 🎯
✍️ Behold our Substack governor: Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis has created a Substack newsletter. “One of the things I’ve missed in recent public life is conversations,” he said on Facebook about why. “Too much of our politics now happens through headlines, sound bites, and brief posts. I wanted a place to explain not just what I think, but why I think it.” The governor’s first Substack post was about his decision to commute the nine-year sentence of Tina Peters, the former county clerk who a jury convicted of participating in a scheme to, according to the Associated Press, “chase election conspiracy theories promulgated by President Donald Trump.” Two weeks ago, “Inside the News in Colorado” wondered why Polis didn’t wait for the ongoing court process to play out. In his first post, Polis answered it. “Some have asked why I did not simply allow the courts to continue the process. The answer is simple,” he wrote. “Any path through the courts would likely have taken years of appeals.” For his next post, he said he planned to “reflect on the reaction I have seen from this decision and what I have learned.”
🤖 The Denver Post’s business team wants to hear from Coloradans about their perspective on “how AI is impacting the workforce in Colorado.” If you or someone you know might be “interested in sharing your experience for an article,” you can fill out a form here.
💨 The Sentinel newspaper in Grand Junction this week offered a tribute to its retiring reporter Dennis Webb. “He was famously even-handed and respected by the people he covered. Even if a story was unflattering to the subject, Webb was never accused of being unfair. That’s a rare achievement in this business, even if it’s the goal.”
🎂 The hyperlocal digital news site Denverite, which is now owned by Colorado Public Radio, is (checks notes) 10 years old. Former editor Dave Burdick posted on LinkedIn about how he felt. “Even though we set out to represent and serve people as well as we could, and even though we felt confident we were going to do something new and different, we were surprised at how quickly and how urgently people told us the city needed something like Denverite,” he wrote. “Readers, then sources, then industry colleagues adjusted their expectations and their behaviors in small but significant ways. (So did we.)”
🏆 A photo by Enrique Quintero published in the Colorado Mesa University student newspaper The Criterion “won the Society of Professional Journalists’ Mark of Excellence Award late last month, in the general news photography category,” the Sentinel newspaper in Grand Junction reported. The photo “showed a firefighting airplane dropping flame retardant over the Turner Gulch Wildfire in an effort to slow the blaze’s spread.”
➡️ As a board member of the Society of Professional Journalists Colorado Pro chapter, I’d like to invite you to join the nation’s foremost organization for journalists. SPJ is a fierce national advocate for First Amendment rights, journalistic ethics, and other values important to a free and vital press. The Colorado Pro chapter offers professional training programs and events, including the four-state Top of the Rockies competition, the region’s broadest platform for honoring journalism excellence. Each year, the chapter provides thousands of dollars in scholarships to the young journalists of tomorrow. At a time when journalists are under fire from all sides, joining SPJ is your chance to make a stand for journalism. Learn more about the chapter here, and find out how to join here. ⬅️
🆕 Following last week’s newsletter that reported on a new nonprofit Western Colorado Journalism Foundation launching on the Western Slope, the group is “now accepting applications for assistance” and “also ready to welcome donations.” Kalen McCain wrote about it in the Sentinel newspaper in Grand Junction. “Those interviewed by the outlet stressed that the nonprofit wasn’t affiliated with Grand Junction Media,” McCain wrote. “Nor will its aid be restricted to newsrooms close to Grand Junction, or of a certain size, or with any particular revenue model.”
📺 The University of Northern Colorado’s Journalism and Media Studies program “opened their studio to give local students hands-on television news production experience,” Sydney Kern wrote. “As a class assignment during the spring semester, sixth-grade students at University Middle School in Greeley were digging deep to uncover answers to four important topics.”
🧐 Alan Franklin, the deputy director of Progress Now Colorado, said on social media this week that he believes “Republicans have been losing in Colorado for so long that the local press considers it their mission to save Republicans from themselves” in part because “competitive races are more interesting to report on and generate more traffic. If you don’t have a competitive race, pretending you do is better than nothing.”
📸 University of Colorado journalism professor Angelica Kalika has a piece out this week in The Conversation headlined “TMZ descends on Washington in a test of whether tabloid tactics can serve the public interest.”
⚖️ “Judicial records belong to the American people; they are public, not private, documents.” So reads the opening of a legal brief the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition submitted this week to the Court of Appeals, “challenging a judge’s suppression order that has made an entire divorce case file and the order itself available only to the parties,” the CFOIC’s Jeff Roberts reported.
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 more than a decade, I’ve 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. I also write the twice-monthly Community Newswire newsletter for the Center for Community News at the University of Vermont. 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.
Next is doing a great job establishing itself on all the social channels. It will be interesting to see its metamorphosis if it gets axed by Tegna.
Polis trying to explain away Tina Peters on Substack? When Polis said he thinks someday his commutation will be recalled with fondness shows how tone deaf he really is. He said Peters showed remorse in her application, then the day after getting out holds a "sorry, not sorry" Zoom. That's what folks will remember