Layoffs at KUNC, and 'Real Talk' ends at CPR + more news behind the news

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.

Photo by Amador Loureiro on Unsplash

This week’s newsletter is in roundup form. Now, onto the latest…

📡 🪓 KUNC announced this week it was forced to lay off 10 people in what the northern Colorado public radio station called an “organizational restructuring in response to financial challenges.” The move affects every department and accounts for 26% of KUNC’s staff of 38, KUNC’s president and CEO Tammy Terwelp said. In a statement, she called it a “very difficult decision” and added: “Like many media organizations, especially non-profit, we are navigating an increasingly challenging funding environment.” Five of the layoffs came from the news and programming side, she said in an email to this newsletter. The deep cuts follow a Republican vote in Congress to withdraw funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the private, nonprofit corporation that was created in 1968, which has announced it will shut down. Terwelp said in an email that the federal cuts had such an impact on KUNC — about $453,000 per year at least — that she was “forced to go to layoffs.”

✂️ Meanwhile, Colorado Public Radio is ending its years-long partnership with Denver7 on its Real Talk program. Hosted by CPR’s Nathan Fernando-Frescas and Denver7’s Micah Smith, the show launched in 2023 promising to focus on “stories and experiences of underserved communities.” Fernando-Frescas said on social media that he was sad about the move. “But I’m honored to have been a part of this twice Emmy nominated show since day one,” he said. “Lifting up voices, telling stories and creating a safe space for people to be seen and heard.” CPR’s executive editor, Kevin Dale, said the station “loved” being part of the show and the “amazing stories” the hosts brought to light, “but in today’s current fiscal climate, we have to focus on our core platforms of radio and digital.” (Flashback: In February, LaToya Linzey, CPR’s senior vice president of people and culture, wrote in part in an email to staff that “in the face of ongoing challenges, Colorado Public Radio remains clear-sighted and devoted to our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.”) Asked to what extent the recent move to end its partnership with Real Talk might have anything to do with a shifting cultural environment in which Republican President Donald Trump and his administration have assailed DEI efforts and public broadcasting, Dale said, “The administration’s stance on any issue has no bearing whatsoever on our news decisions. This was a resource matter. We tell stories of diverse communities on all our platforms and we will continue that.” Regardless of the reason, the move tracks a national trend. Hanaa' Tameez reported in Nieman Lab this week about DEI efforts in journalism being in decline, and that “race, diversity, and identity products” are “being shut down” at publications including Politico, Bloomberg, and the Washington Post.

🆕 The Colorado Broadcasters Association announced it is launching the CBA Hall of Fame in what it calls “a prestigious new initiative honoring the individuals who have shaped, elevated, and defined the broadcasting landscape in Colorado.” The event will take place Friday, Oct. 24 at The Dome at AMG in Greenwood Village. (See who the CBA will include in its first-ever induction ceremony here.) “This is a long-awaited opportunity to recognize the true titans of Colorado broadcasting,” Justin Sasso, president and CEO of the CBA, said in a statement. “These individuals have inspired generations, broken new ground, and set standards of excellence throughout Colorado. Their legacies deserve to be celebrated not only by our industry but by the communities they’ve touched.”

👀 Two months after a dramatic meltdown at Boulder Weekly, the 32-year-old newspaper that hasn’t printed since early July is “working towards a change in ownership,” according to an announcement on its website. Owner Stewart Sallo confirmed in an email this week that the statement is still accurate but did not yet have any specific details to share.

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🗣️ The Society of Professional Journalists’ Colorado Pro Chapter, of which I’m a board member, is hosting a free-to-attend panel discussion at the Denver Press Club on the evening of Sept. 30 about the role of citizen journalism, ethics, fairness, privacy, and fact-based reporting. Check here for the panelists, and keep checking it as SPJ adds more panelists and information prior to the event.

👀 Shelly Bradbury of the Denver Post reported about official efforts to oust 22nd Judicial District County Court Judge Ian MacLaren after allegations that the Western Slope justice told officers he was a judge during a boating citation, held a frivolous hearing, and lied during a disciplinary investigation. The story also includes this: “MacLaren … called an unnecessary hearing in February — to which he invited a local newspaper reporter with whom he was romantically involved — solely to air his displeasure, the Commission on Judicial Discipline’s complaint alleged.” The reporter, “who said she left the Cortez Journal earlier this year, denied she was in a romantic relationship with the judge and said they socialized minimally and only as friends before she cut off contact with him,” Bradbury reported. “Trent Stephens, executive editor at Ballantine Communications, which owns the newspaper, said the staff had no knowledge of a romantic relationship between the reporter and the judge aside from MacLaren’s description of such a relationship in his response to the judicial discipline commission. ‘We believe that the judge tipped off the reporter about a significant development in the case,’ he said in a statement.”

🔼 The Knight Foundation has tapped Amalie Nash, who lives in Colorado, as its vice president of journalism. “It is an honor to join Knight at such a critical time for journalism,” Nash said in a statement. “Having spent my career in local news, I recognize Knight’s vital role in informing communities and building vibrant democracies. I look forward to working with the Knight team and its partners to advance innovation and sustainability across the field.” Knight is a major journalism funder — as is Press Forward where Coloradan Melissa Milios Davis serves as the national organization’s network manager.

❌ Last week’s newsletter stated that Suzie Glassman works for Colorado Community Media. She works for the Colorado Trust for Local News, which is a separate entity. The newspaper that closed was the Eagle Valley Enterprise, not the Vail Valley Enterprise.

🎂 Celebrating its seventh birthday, the digital statewide Colorado Sun news outlet said it “has more than doubled in size since our launch in 2018 and continues to evolve as a nonprofit.” The organization said it has “learned a lot about running this business amid challenging times in our industry.”

🏈 University of Colorado football coach Deion Sanders threw more shade on media this week, saying he believes that “nobody gives a dern about being correct, and right” and opining that “everybody” just wants to be first. “I would love the integrity we once had with media,” he said.

👏 The Denver Woman’s Press Club awarded scholarships to two students for this academic year. “Kaelyn Diep, a student at Metropolitan State University of Denver, received the Frances Belford Wayne Merit Award,” the organization stated. “Hannah Olsson, a graduate student at the University of Colorado Boulder, received the Ruth Murray Underhill Award.”

📻 Colorado Public Radio Morning Edition Host Mike Lamp is retiring after more than 40 years in the business. He sat down with Ryan Warner of Colorado Matters for an interview as he leaves. “I have enjoyed doing this, and it's been nice to be identified with this operation and to be identified with the role, but I’ve never felt like this is who I am,” he said at one point. “So it's very easy to know who I am without this position.”

🥾 Karrin Vasby Anderson, a professor of communication studies at Colorado State University, published a piece for The Conversation this week headlined “Why journalists are reluctant to call Trump an authoritarian — and why that matters for democracy.” One of the reasons, she wrote, is that “because authoritarianism is most visible in hindsight, people often don’t recognize it until it’s too late.” Meanwhile, an “imperative for balance sometimes results in a ‘both sides-ism’ that misrepresents what authoritarianism actually looks like.”

📦 The Associated Press packed up and moved out of its office at COLab in the Buell Public Media Center in Denver this week. “Our lease ends at the end of the month, but our footprint in Colorado remains unchanged,” said AP spokesperson Nicole Meir. “Our journalists will continue to be based there, working in the field.” Meir did not respond to a follow-up question asking to what extent the move has to do with cutting costs as the editor of the Colorado Sun reported in a social media post.

📉 A planned closure of The Limon Leader newspaper, as reported in this newsletter last week, “would leave another ‘news desert’ on Colorado’s Eastern Plains,” Kevin Simpson reported for the Colorado Sun. In January, Editor and Publisher Catherine Thurston “announced in a bylined story that rising expenses necessitated an increase in both subscription and advertising rates,” he reported. “A subscription currently costs $80 per year, which includes both the print edition and access to the online version. An online only subscription costs $50 annually. Still, at that time she expressed optimism about the paper’s future, owing at least in part to a poll that indicated local readers support and value the paper. She wrote that asked if the Leader is still important to the community, readers responded positively by a 53-1 count, and voted 53-18 that they would be willing to pay more for the coverage.”

🆕 El Comercio de Colorado is one of “seven of the leading Spanish-language publishers” in the United States to collaborate on a project called LatidoBeat. The Local Media Association launched it this week to leverage “their credibility, reach, and deep community roots to create a united platform for Latino voices, following the proven Word In Black playbook.”

⚖️ The Colorado Supreme Court ruled 4-2 to uphold “the rare disbarment of an elected district attorney on Monday, concluding disciplinary officials correctly barred Linda Stanley from practicing law as a result of her inappropriate comments to the media and her improper attempt to remove a judge from a high-profile murder case,” Michael Karlik reported for Colorado Politics.

🎥 In reviewing the new TV show “The Paper,” which is a kind of spinoff of “The Office,” Denver Gazette columnist John Moore wrote about a script he once drafted called “Dirty Little War” that was “based on the everyday absurdities of working in the sports department at the Denver Post, which was then locked in perhaps the last great newspaper war with the rival Rocky Mountain News.” The newsroom “went through a revolving door of sports editors. One was easily distracted and rumored to be an alcoholic, but we joked that he lacked the discipline and commitment all that heavy drinking requires to be an actual alcoholic,” Moore dishes. “The Rocky had not long before fired its editor in chief for erratic behavior resulting from legendary cocaine abuse. Everyone was a made-for-TV character.”

💉 “Several people seem to think I am some kind of RFK fan-boy,” Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis wrote during an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit. “Obviously the media just loves anything about that guy, and because my message is more nuanced it attracts a lot of attention. I am FOR anything he, or any HHS Secretary does to promote healthy nutrition and chronic disease prevention. I am AGAINST anything he or any HHS Secretary does that is based on pseudo-science, bad science, or casts aspersions on vaccinations.” Polis responded to other questions about RFK “by arguing that what he wrote wasn’t an endorsement of Kennedy, that he had been critical of Kennedy’s statements about vaccines and other areas of medical science, and that the media had made too big of a deal of it,” John Ingold wrote for the Colorado Sun. He quoted Polis saying on Reddit: “So the way the media works is that I can say 9 things bad about RFK and one thing positive, and they cover the one nice thing I say. Every time.”

⚙️ Clara Shelton is no longer at Colorado Public Radio, where she was a senior specialist for marketing and communications. She is now the executive director of Voices Rock.

🗣 A collaboration between the Peak News show on the conservative Salem Media channel and a Colorado Springs school district got some recent play on TV. Meanwhile, two contributors to Peak News, which describes itself as a “broadcast and internet news source” for “liberty-loving people who want to be informed about local news,” alleged “sexual fetishism” during the public comment period of a local council meeting “regarding concerns about Manitou Springs Pride Fest, which took place July 12 at Soda Springs Park,” Heidi Beedle reported in the Pikes Peak Bulletin. “Peak News recently announced a partnership with Colorado Springs School District 11, where the group will be teaching a class on ‘journalistic ethics’ to students.”

⚙️ Jeremy Moore, who previously served as senior production manager and director of journalism at Rocky Mountain PBS, is now the new content director at Wyoming PBS.

📡 “Colorado’s broadcasters sincerely thank Congressman Gabe Evans who joined the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act in August,” the Colorado Broadcasters Association stated on Aug. 20. “This brings Colorado’s supporting congressional members to a total of four. Representative Evans joins Reps. Crank, Neguse and Pettersen in supporting free and accessible public safety communications for Coloradans.”

🎬 Rick Goldsmith’s documentary “Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink,” much of which takes place in Colorado, will air on Rocky Mountain PBS beginning Oct. 1. “The broadcast and nationwide streaming couldn’t be more timely, with local journalism on the ropes, PBS and NPR just stripped of funding, and journalism itself, nationwide, constantly under attack,” Goldsmith said.

🪦 Denver photojournalist and sign-preservationist Corky Scholl died at 48 this week, media reported. “Corky was a man whose immense talent was matched only by his exceptional humility,” 9NEWS anchor Kyle Clark wrote. “Corky approached every person with an open mind and an open heart. What countless Coloradans gave Corky in return was honesty and openness — because Corky’s quiet presence was so welcoming, so warm — they’d forget he was carrying a camera.” Seeing a story Scholl worked on about 20 years ago called “King James” was an inspiration to Clark. “King James and Corky led me to join 9NEWS,” he said.

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.