Donations surge to Colorado Sun after GOP ejected its reporter from event

The news behind the news in Colorado this week

Apr 12, 2024

My GOP state assembly press pass from way back

Thousands of dollars have poured into the Colorado Sun this week and dozens of people have signed up as new members of the nonprofit news organization.

The sudden surge in donations and support came after a pro-Trump state Republican Party chairman had Sun journalist Sandra Fish escorted by police out of the GOP’s state assembly in Pueblo.

Fish, a veteran data reporter and journalism instructor who has covered politics since 1982, had been told she wasn’t welcome at the event last Saturday, April 6. Earlier that morning, media reported, a party official let her know her name would not be on a press list of those allowed in.

The party’s chairman, Dave Williams, said he believed Fish’s reporting had been “unfair,” though he offered no examples when asked by some reporters throughout the week. Fish, with purple hair and spectacles, showed up to the assembly anyway and received official credentials to enter.

Roughly an hour later, a tattooed and bearded sheriff’s deputy helped remove her from the arena stands of the State Fairgrounds. Nearby journalists filmed, took photos, and tweeted about her ouster. Local reporter Anna Lynn Winfrey quickly published a story at the Pueblo Chieftain that included original video she shot of Fish’s removal.

In that moment it was clear what would happen next: Journalists, politicians, and journalism organizations would elevate the incident by making public statements condemning the move. The story would swiftly go national. Donations from all over would flood into the Sun newsroom — and might also pour into the coffers of the Colorado GOP.

For the past week, the Sun’s journalist has been in the proverbial fishbowl. News of her ejection from the GOP assembly made its way onto CNN and across the pond into the U.K. Guardian.

“Since this all blew up last weekend we’ve seen dozens of new members and thousands of dollars in donations,” Sun co-founder and editor Larry Ryckman said over the phone Thursday. Most of them, he added, came from within Colorado. “It’s definitely a surge.”

The Sun’s business model is “built around community,” Ryckman said, adding that memberships offer a recurring source of revenue.

As for the Republican Party, “We didn’t attempt to fundraise off of the incident, but it didn’t seem to hurt us any,” Colorado GOP Treasurer Tom Bjorklund said in an email. “I think it was one of the biggest hauls for one day, but I’ll be fair and chalk that up to assembly day.” Overall, he said he thinks it’s a “tempest in a teapot.”

As a practical matter, plenty of other reporters were able to stay and report for their audiences what the Republican Party accomplished at its annual state assembly. (Headline from the progressive Colorado Times Recorder: “Colorado GOP Assembly: Anti-Trans, Anti-Immigrant, Anti-Media.”) But news of Fish’s removal made it into much of the assembly dispatches and set the early tone among press coverage.

One notable aspect of such coverage was that some Colorado journalists and their editors who have known Fish for years and are aware of the Sun’s credibility allowed Williams to call her a liar in their stories without pressing the chairman for evidence or examples. I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that it was an oversight on deadline, but it’s worth thinking about more carefully in the future when handling a politician whose political strategy involves discrediting credible reporting.

For its part, the Colorado Sun, in its own coverage of the incident, might have offered some clues about why Fish was singled out. Sun reporter Jennifer Brown wrote this:

In the past year, Fish has written news articles about the 2023 election of Williams to lead the state party, as well as stories about the party’s financial struggles. In February, she authored a Sun article about the state GOP sending a pro-Donald Trump mailer that attacked William’s congressional primary opponent, calling it “the latest example of Williams using his party leadership position to benefit or defend himself and his allies.” Williams is running to replace U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn in Colorado’s 5th Congressional District.

Sun editor Ryckman said on Thursday he is not aware of any requests for corrections about any of those stories.

News of the controversy seemed to reach former Republican President Donald Trump who is running for high office again. Williams, Trump wrote on social media this week, is under “Fake News assault.”

Colorado Sentinel Editor Dave Perry had some words for Trump — and by extension some of those in the press who might parrot Williams or Trump in their coverage.

“For too many years, we’ve treated the ‘fake news’ slur as opinion, when it is clearly propaganda,” Perry said. “We have a duty to our readers and to journalism to hold those who use this deception accountable. Show the nation what’s ‘fake’ or be tabbed with ‘provided no proof.’”

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Fish flap coverage roundup

Move over Shark Week, another Fish has saturated coverage in the past several days. Here’s a roundup of some of the coverage and reaction:

“Colorado Sun reporter’s expulsion from a state GOP assembly causes uproar,” was the Associated Press headline from local AP reporter Jesse Bedayn.
“Republicans have rebuked the Colorado GOP on Saturday on social media for ejecting a journalist from a statewide event,” reported Rachel Dobkin for Newsweek.
Colorado GOP Chairman Dave Williams “mocked the appearance” of Fish “as a rationale for her ejection from the GOP state assembly,” reported 9NEWS ‘Next’ anchor Kyle Clark, who quoted Williams saying on the conservative talk-radio show KNUS “We don’t have to associate with die-hard enemies, especially those who have purple hair like Sandra Fish.”
The Colorado chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists said it stood with Fish, and condemned “the actions instigated by Colorado GOP leaders and calls on others to condemn these tactics as well.” Interfering with and attempting to “suppress journalists from covering matters of civic engagement is an offense to democracy,” the organization said. “These actions taken by government officials are outrageous and a total affront to the First Amendment,” said SPJ National President Ashanti Blaize-Hopkins. “Politicians don’t get to decide who covers them and doing so sets a dangerous precedent and threat to press freedom. Sandra Fish had every right to cover the GOP assembly.” (I’m not sure Williams is a government official; perhaps the sheriffs deputy is or another one of the others who assisted.)
“Despite all the national attention Sandra Fish received this weekend, the political data journalist took some time for herself on Sunday. She walked around a Denver park, guided by her phone while playing Pokémon GO,” reported Colette Bordelon for Denver7.
The Colorado News Collaborative (COLab), Colorado Press Association, Colorado Broadcasters Association, Colorado Media Project, Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, and Denver Press Club published an open letter “to express our collective dismay” over the incident. “This is not a partisan matter,” the letter read in part. “We agree with the previous GOP state chair, Kristi Burton Brown, who posted on X, formerly Twitter, that the ouster was a ‘dangerous’ move by her successor, adding: ‘Transparency is necessary for our nation.’”
Colorado Newsline reporter Chase Woodruff reminded people that two years ago the Colorado GOP, under Burton Brown’s leadership, denied him access to the 2022 Republican state assembly despite having a valid Colorado Press Association credential. It turns out, he said, that “once an institution starts drawing arbitrary lines between journalism it likes and journalism it doesn’t like, it’s hard to stop.” Woodruff added that it was “pretty disappointing to see these press organizations choosing to co-sign a statement that also included a smear of other news outlets as illegitimate, from a former GOP chair with a documented history of excluding member organizations from party events.”
GOP Chairman Dave Williams “called me a fake journalist. I’m not,” Fish said on KGNU where she talked about her record covering politics in Colorado.
Asked by CNN’s Abby Phillip if she knew why she had been singled out for her coverage, Fish said she didn’t, adding that she and her “peers and supervisors” at the Sun have asked but haven’t been told. (Sun editor Ryckman told me that still remained the case Thursday afternoon.) “I don’t exactly know why just me and not others,” she said, adding later in the interview, “this isn’t about me, this is about democracy.”
“I get that I have written stories about the Colorado GOP’s finances in the past year. They’re not good – first time in at least 20 years that they haven’t employed full-time staff,” Fish said on KSUT radio in southwest Colorado. “I’ve written about the chairman using party resources to promote his candidacy for the 5th Congressional District. And I expect that’s what he is angry about, but I would like specifics because has he called and corrected anything about those stories? Nope.”
Jason Salzman, who runs the progressive site Colorado Times Recorder, noted on social media that their own reporter, Heidi Beedle, was not kicked out and was reporting on the event. (Beedle often reports critically about the party.)
Journalism & Women Symposium, a.k.a., JAWS, “strongly” denounced the removal of a “woman reporter” from the state Republican assembly.
“Williams declined to say what has been unfair about Fish’s reporting,” reported Anumita Kaur for the Washington Post.
Denver Post politics reporter Seth Klamann said “this is the first I’m hearing that we were also apparently barred from covering the assembly” after reading about it in a dispatch by Ernest Luning at Colorado Politics. “At least we’re in good company with our colleagues at the Sun and 9News.”
“This is absolutely the most absurd thing I’ve ever seen! I stand with [Fish],” said Sherrie Peif, a reporter for the right-leaning Complete Colorado site who has spoken about her pride for the Weld County GOP.
“An independent press is central to our democratic republic — it's why freedom of the press is in the Constitution. The press informs, holds public officials accountable, and sparks debate. In Colorado, we are fortunate to have
[Fish] as part of the fourth estate,” Colorado Democratic Attorney General Phil Weiser posted on Twitter/X.
“Dave Williams, chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, did what seemed impossible,” wrote Milan Simonich in a column in the Santa Fe New Mexican. “He knocked publicity-seeking GOP Congresswoman Lauren Boebert out of the headlines by ejecting a reporter from his state’s Republican assembly.”

Meanwhile, next door in Utah the very same week, reporters were barred from attending a county Republican Party nominating convention with at least one attendee saying “we didn’t like the bad press” from a particular Park Record reporter.

Speaking of the GOP state assembly, behold the ‘Trumpet’ newspaper

The Colorado Republican Committee revived the party’s old newspaper, the Colorado Trumpet and Public Ledger, for their April 6 GOP state assembly — and plans to keep publishing it throughout 2024.

The party newspaper first began publishing around the early 1930s, said Republican Tom Bjorklund who helped revive and produce its new incarnation. “It was printed by Denver’s oldest newspaper ‘The Record Stockman’ and ran till about 1968. They had ads and public notifications in it.”

One vintage ad from 1967 reprinted in the April 6 edition suggested the paper was a member of the Colorado Press Association at the time. (How things change.) While an ad in the current publication urges Republicans to “Vote GOP Nov. 6,” the 2024 election will actually take place Nov. 5.

Bjorklund said the party plans to publish the Trumpet each month for the rest of this year with hopes for the newspaper to eventually become a weekly. The party has registered the domain name thecoloradotrumpet[dot]com, but the latest issue isn’t yet online.

The Colorado Trumpet and Public Ledger, 2024 and 1966 editions

Colorado’s Julian Rubinstein wins IRE award for best ‘Longform Journalism in video’

Colorado journalist Julian Rubinstein’s 2021 book “The Holly: Five Bullets, One Gun, and the Struggle to Save an American Neighborhood,” was a masterclass in how narrative nonfiction and slow journalism can sometimes challenge local media narratives that can form through daily journalism.

No surprise, then, that the book, which took seven years to report, won the 2022 Colorado Book Award for general nonfiction and the High Plains Book Award for creative nonfiction a year later.

Now, his documentary treatment, “The Holly,” released last year, this week won the award for best “Longform Journalism in Video” from the Investigative Reporters and Editors organization, know as IRE.

“This documentary provided a raw, rare window into the politics of gang-controlled neighborhoods. The filmmaker’s ability to build trust with reluctant or fearful sources so viewers could hear their insight was a home run,” judges said. “It was old-school street reporting at its best. Judges noted that ‘The Holly’ avoided simplifying the roots of violent crime into good character versus bad character categories. It was well-shot, well-told and memorable.”

The award counted support from Rocky Mountain PBS, which aired the documentary.

🎓 Attention Colorado newsrooms and higher-ed institutions 🎓

It’s internship season for college students who are scouting for summer newsroom positions to help build experience and provide a public service in communities across the state.

In the coming weeks, Colorado Media Project, which underwrites this newsletter, will publish a white paper I helped research about the workforce pipeline for journalism in Colorado with a focus on internships.

Is your newsroom looking to hire interns right now or in the near future? Or are you involved in a higher-ed institution in Colorado looking to place students in a newsroom? Email me at coreyhutchins[at]gmail[dot]com if you’d like inclusion in a roundup to accompany the report.

More Colorado media odds & ends

📻 “It’s no secret there’s a crisis of shrinking local news across the U.S. And we know that in places where local news evaporates, democracy takes a hit,” reported Erin O’Toole for KUNC.

⚖️ Members of a pair of conservative groups have filed a federal lawsuit against Democratic lawmakers in Colorado, Amanda Pampuro reported for Courthouse News Service. They claim they were “unable to freely oppose bills regarding transgender rights because they were required to use preferred pronouns while giving public testimony,” she wrote, adding, “As lawmakers have asked speakers to respect preferred gender pronouns and names during public testimony on these bills, plaintiffs claim their First Amendment right to free speech has been violated. In requiring speakers to follow a ‘pronoun ritual,’ they argue, legislators put their thumb on the scale and skewed the debate in their own favor.”

📺 KKTV anchor Matt Kroschel said the local CBS affiliate in Colorado Springs now has “the most advanced broadcast facility in the region.”

📼 In a court complain filed this week, Yellow Scene Magazine is suing the City of Boulder to require it to release unedited police video “so that, just as the public could judge for itself whether George Floyd was mistreated by Minneapolis police, the people of Boulder can judge for themselves whether the Boulder Police Department is using excessive force or wrongfully killing persons on Boulder’s streets.”

📈 Denver journalist David Sirota announced “new hires” and a “big expansion” at his digital news site The Lever. “Our newsroom is now 19 journalists, and growing,” he said.

🧠 Colorado-based New York Times military reporter Dave Philipps spoke with Ryan Warner for Colorado Public Radio’s program Colorado Matters about how a mass shooter in Maine might have suffered from brain damage following “repeated exposure to grenade blasts during training exercises.”

🤖 Denver communications agency SE2’s Eric Anderson and Creative Law Network‘s Dave Ratner have produced a short guide about how creatives “should and should not use” artificial intelligence in their work.

🌱 Grasslands, which helps underwrite this newsletter, is joining the Denver Film Society and Listen Productions to co-host a special screening of Rolling Papers, the “documentary about Ricardo Baca and the editorial team at The Denver Post as they covered Colorado’s rollout of legal weed ten years ago.” The screening starts at (wait for it) 4:20 p.m. on April 20 at the Sie FilmCenter, and will include a pre-screening panel conversation moderated by Kip Wilson of the ‘Stoned Appetite’ podcast along with Baca, Rolling Papers director Mitch Dickman, and producer Britta Erickson, starting at 3:45. Find tickets here.

⚖️ Registration is open for the University of Colorado Law School’s Mini Law School program, which I can tell you as someone who has previously attended is totally worth the time and modest fee. One of the classes is about artificial intelligence.

📖 University of Colorado media history professor Josh Shepperd has a new book out, “Shadow of the New Deal: The Victory of Public Broadcasting,” that traces the origin of NPR. He spoke with Erin O’Toole for KUNC’s “In the NoCo” program. “Colorado turned out to be the region that created the nomenclature for public radio,” Shepperd said on the show.

⚖️ A Colorado Court of Appeals has “decided that a defamation lawsuit against the Trump campaign and other conservative groups from a former employee of Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems can move forward,” reported Bente Birkeland for Colorado Public Radio.

📺 Denver 9NEWS ‘Next’ anchor Kyle Clark, who created the weekly “Word of Thanks” micro-giving campaign during the pandemic, which raised more than $10 million for Colorado nonprofit causes in its first two years, has reached a new milestone. “Never imagined that we would be here,” Clark said on air this week. “Two-hundred weeks later — two-hundred weeks of your ‘Word of Thanks’ generosity — headed soon into a fifth year of micro giving.”

I’m Corey Hutchins, co-director of Colorado College’s Journalism Institute. For nearly 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. Colorado Media Project is underwriting this newsletter, and my “Inside the News” column appears at COLab, both of which I sometimes write about here. (If you’d like to underwrite or sponsor this newsletter hit me up.) Follow me on Threads, reply or subscribe to this weekly newsletter here, or e-mail me at CoreyHutchins [at] gmail [dot] com.