Local developers buy Indy alt-weekly and Colorado Springs Business Journal
The news behind the news in Colorado
Two high-profile businessmen and major developers in Colorado’s second-largest city have become the new owners of the defunct Indy alternative weekly and its sister publication the Colorado Springs Business Journal.
Kevin O’Neil and J.W. Roth are behind the effort to revive the troubled free weekly newspaper that had served the Springs for three decades until it ran out of money and shut down in December.
In a Feb. 15 news release, the newly formed Pikes Peak Media stated it would publish 30,000 copies a week “directly mailed to households and placed in traditional distribution racks across the Pikes Peak region.” (Disclosure: The new owners had approached me about a possible advising role on the project. It didn’t — or hasn’t yet — happened, but I had a few free thoughts for them about the nature of local media ownership, which I’ll mention further below.)
Reporter Debbie Kelley wrote about this week’s news in the Gazette:
Roth is founder, chairman and CEO of Notes Live, a Colorado Springs entertainment company that’s building the 8,000-seat, open-air Sunset Amphitheater on the city’s north side and owns Bourbon Brothers Smokehouse & Tavern restaurants and Boot Barn Hall live music venues.
O’Neil is founder and CEO of the O’Neil Group, a business and real estate acquisition firm that developed the Catalyst Campus for Technology and Innovation business park on downtown’s eastern edge and is one of two developers behind a proposal to build a 36-story apartment tower near the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum. …
The revived Independent will remain “left-leaning” as many people view it, Roth said, and add “a platform for a variety of voices” to its repertoire “to foster a healthy diversity.”
There are some other notable quirks to the story.
One is that O’Neil, who backed the campaign of the city’s recently elected new mayor, Yemi Mobolade, owns the building that houses the Gazette newspaper in downtown Colorado Springs.
Another is that while Roth, who supported Mobolade’s opponent Wayne Williams, is indeed the brain behind the new Sunset Amphitheater in the Springs, he has also brought on the Anschutz Entertainment Group to help. Roth was quoted last summer — in the Indy no less — saying, “anytime you can do business with an Anschutz company, it’s an honor.”
Why might that be notable? A June Gazette story about the new amphitheater came with this disclosure: “AEG is controlled by the Denver-based Anschutz Corp., whose Clarity Media Group owns The Gazette.” (On a personal note: If both our city’s print newspaper owners are behind this new development project at least we’re getting The Beach Boys.)
So, why revive the Indy?
“As a 5th Generation Coloradan, I take great pride in providing my hometown with another trusted, civic driven, and relevant publication,” Roth said in a statement. “This opportunity offers the Independent and the Business Journal a chance to thrive under unprecedented stability.”
O’Neil said in a statement included in the same news release that as a native of the region he’s invested in many Springs businesses and organizations. The opportunity fit his focus on “building a stronger community where a diverse range of voices are heard,” he said. A robust media landscape “telling all our stories makes our community better,” he added, “so I am pleased to be in a position to support this effort for Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak Region. We are excited to engage with our unique neighborhoods, industry, arts and culture, academia, non-profits, civic organizations, and the military to showcase what makes us one of the best places to live and work.”
Over the phone on Friday, O’Neil said they don’t yet know how large of a newsroom they’ll create and how much they will rely on other news feeds. He said, though, that investigative reporting would be a priority.
Since the announcement, he said he’d heard positive feedback from the community about bringing back what he described as “historic institutions” in the city.
On social media, whether it was Facebook, Twitter, or Reddit, reactions were mixed. Several noted the backgrounds of the alt-weekly’s new owners.
“So...the gazette, but smaller,” one said on Facebook. (Personally, I think they want a counterweight to the Gazette.) “O’Neil is the guy that wants to build the way-too-tall building downtown. Will The Independent write in support of the project because of this or report the real local sentiment on the matter?” asked another. “What does a prepared food distributor and a private equity guy have in common—apparently, an affinity for (hopefully) independent, local news,” said a third. “Wow... capitalism at its best... no longer independent and progressive... won’t be turning to the ‘independent’ for anything now... way to ruin it,” was another assessment. Others applauded news that two locals stepped in to revive an important newspaper or opined that critics should relax until there’s a product to evaluate.
Former Indy marketing staffer Tracie Woods was one of them.
“There’ll be plenty of time for judging it on its merits,” she said. “We need local independent journalism.” She added in another comment: “They and their folks come from very different backgrounds and need to be given some grace (they are, after all, the folks who have stepped up; any chance we stand to move the Indy forward lies in their hands).”
Adding to the intrigue is what a former Indy staff writer, Heidi Beedle, who is now at the progressive nonprofit Colorado Times Recorder site, said upon learning the news.
“Please share the story of how your new owner tormented my wife and bankrupted my family,” Beedle wrote on Twitter/X, along with an unflattering tweet thread offering details about a scenario she said led to “one of the worst years of our lives.” Public analytics on Twitter/X showed Beedle’s post had gotten more views on Friday than the Gazette’s post about the Indy’s purchase.
Asked about it, O’Neil called the accusation “incomplete” and said it doesn’t represent all the facts. Out of a desire to avoid fanning accusatory flames, he said, “I prefer not to respond on this legal matter.”
Nationally, some recent news stories from coast to coast about wealthy local newspaper owners have highlighted the potential for scrutiny. Whether it was headlines about the billionaire owner of the L.A. Times meddling in coverage of a dog-bite story involving his rich friend, or the wealthy new local owner of the Baltimore Sun clashing with employees over “editorial influence,” it’s clear people care about who owns their local papers and why.
It’s prudent to note that the Indy in its former iteration and ownership wasn’t immune to questions about influence, either. A decade ago, members of the editorial staff were up in arms over an incident that led to a 2,500-word note to readers (and staff) from then-owner John Weiss explaining why he had secretly participated in a political group that sought to embarrass Republican Congressman Doug Lamborn.
Weiss, who founded the Indy more than 30 years ago, said over the phone Friday that he has concerns over potential conflicts involving the new owners but is willing to give the new paper the benefit of the doubt.
For me, approaching this newsletter edition was trickier than usual.
I had learned about the interest of these potential buyers in the fall but had been in and out of the loop to certain degrees for months. At times I wondered if it might have fallen through. I attended a meeting in January and afterward was invited to offer a proposal for a potential advisory role; I sent along a memo about the pitfalls of local media ownership and about how local news is a public good. I’d offered to help try and set up a diverse community advisory board, among other things, but I didn’t hear much after that. This Thursday’s public announcement came as a surprise.
So a late-afternoon Friday phone call with O’Neil for this piece was a bit awkward on my end. When I broached that part, he said he still considered me a “valuable player” as they hammer out details. We’ll see what that means moving forward, and I suppose I need to figure out what I want to do, too. I haven’t taken any money, but I did get a free breakfast. Regardless, I’d want the ability to write in this newsletter about any potential involvement whatever it is — even if it’s just breakfast.
As for the editorial side of this new venture, Fran Zankowski, the Indy’s former publisher, who also publishes Boulder Weekly, will oversee the latest iteration in an interim publishing role and hire the new Indy’s writers. Over the phone on Thursday, he said he hasn’t yet hired staff but planned to post an editor job for around $75,000 to $80,000 and a graphic designer job for $40,000 to $50,000.
“We’re trying to put things together,” he said.
Asked how the Indy’s coverage will handle the inevitable financial conflicts real and perceived involving new ownership, Zankowski said he has spoken with the owners about editorial independence and being “hands off” — and has a basic agreement about that. (Asked about editorial independence, O’Neil said, “I think it has to be that way.”)
Whatever journalists wind up filling the newsroom of this revived paper, Zankowski said they will write what they “need to write.” He said he expects relevant disclosures will be “standard practice” so readers can make up their own minds about coverage and editorial focus.
The proof, he said, will be in the eventual product.
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Mike Nelson, a Denver weathercaster not afraid to talk about climate change, plans to retire
A weathercaster who came to Denver in 1991 to work at 9NEWS, Mike Nelson, said this week he will retire from Denver7 the end end of this year.
Something the writeups about his pending departure had in common was the word “climate.” From Denver7:
In addition to his many awards and accolades for his on-air work, Nelson was also named the Colorado Broadcasters Association Citizen of the Year in 2001 for his volunteer work teaching weather and climate to the public.
From the Denver Post:
And throughout his nearly 50-year career, Nelson has presented about weather, climate change and science to an estimated 1 million school children. He played a part in some of them pursuing science themselves, including Denver7 morning meteorologist Lisa Hidalgo.
From 9NEWS:
"I am retiring, but not just yet! My final broadcast will be on 12/12/24 - it has a nice ring to it. Add up those numbers, they equal 48, which is how long I have been in TV," Nelson posted on social media. "It has been a privilege to tell you about the weather and climate change!"
On the topic of talking about climate change as a TV weathercaster, he told Katie Langford of the Denver Post: “Our strength is explaining something complicated to our viewers and people invite us into their homes to do it, so why would we shy away from one of the most important threats we face as a civilization?”
A “major loss for Colorado news to subtract one of if not *the* only meteorologist in the state who’s unafraid to routinely talk about climate change and actively confront denialism,” said one Colorado journalist.
Update on that BusinessDen ‘prior restraint’ case? Meh…
About two months ago, a Colorado judge made the remarkable decision to threaten BusinessDen reporter Justin Wingerter with contempt unless he returned documents he said he lawfully obtained.
Wingerter declined to do so, and his media attorney, Ashley Kissinger, asked the judge to set aside the order, calling it a classic example of unconstitutional “prior restraint.”
In the meantime, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press filed a brief with the judge also asking her to reconsider. The group’s brief counted as supporters the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, the Colorado Press Association, the Colorado Broadcasters Association, COLab, and the National Freedom of Information Coalition.
In January, First Amendment lawyer Seth Stern wrote about the development in Columbia Journalism Review for a piece headlined “When contempt of court is deserved.” In the piece, he noted that The Freedom of the Press Foundation’s US Press Freedom Tracker has documented “eleven prior restraints in 2023—the most since it started recording them, in 2017.”
This week Denver District Court Judge Kandace Gerdes responded to Wingerter with three words: “NO ACTION TAKEN.”
“Wingerter and BusinessDen still face the possibility of being held in contempt for not complying with Gerdes’ order to give back documents Wingerter obtained by making a records request,” wrote Jeff Roberts for the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition. “To remove the threat, the judge presumably would have to vacate her order or indicate she will not enforce it.”
CSU journalism prof surveyed journalists about their bosses
For a new academic paper in the journal “Journalism,” Colorado State University journalism professor Samuel M. Tham and University of South Florida professor Gregory P. Perreault wanted to understand “an aspect of the work experience material to an individual employee’s happiness—their relationship with their supervisor.”
So they interviewed journalists and gained an understanding about “perceptions of what constitutes an effective leader in journalism.”
Perreault wrote about some of the findings in NiemanLab this week. They include:
“In many cases, journalists perceived their leaders as a model of exemplary leadership.”
“In line with other recent studies, the journalists we spoke to encountered difficult working conditions, but they largely understood these as qualities of the field and not a reflection on their leaders.”
“On occasions when journalists did experience poor leadership, they perceived it as a lack of journalistic expertise and felt it impacted the overall tenor of the newsroom; in particular, a leader’s poor communication skills and poor news sense.”
Find the full findings at the links above.
A bipartisan CORA clampdown at the Capitol?
Two lawmakers from differing parties have introduced legislation that would give governments the ability to keep more public records secret in Colorado.
From Jeff Roberts at the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition:
Records custodians would have the power to deem someone a “vexatious requester” and bar that person from obtaining public records for 30 working days under a bill introduced Wednesday in the Colorado House that also lets government entities take longer to fill most requests made under the Colorado Open Records Act.
House Bill 24-1296, sponsored by Reps. Cathy Kipp, D-Fort Collins, and Matt Soper, R-Delta, additionally establishes a broad new CORA exemption that allows the withholding of “any record containing information that, if disclosed, would invade another individual’s personal privacy.”
The proposed new law also sets out to distinguish who can obtain certain records.
For instance, it makes a government employee’s calendar “that is kept and maintained primarily pursuant to the employee’s employment” off limits to public inspection, Roberts wrote, “except for the calendars of elected officials or ‘employees in leadership positions.’ Such records, however, would be available to journalists.” (Calendars would be available to a “newsperson,” as defined by Colorado’s shield law, he wrote.)
Colorado journalist Robert Davis said he wondered how such a law might hinder freelancers who “could easily fall under the 30-day ‘for the direct solicitation of business or pecuniary gain’ exception.”
Instead of fixing “the real problem with our open records laws, governments charging citizens thousands of dollars to access open records, this bill would make sure that misconduct by the government is hidden,” said lawyer Andy McNulty.
Roberts quoted CFOIC board president Steve Zansberg, a media lawyer, saying: “It is sad that at a time when we are being bombarded with misinformation and disinformation, lawmakers are seeking to curtail the public’s right to receive accurate information, through public records, on a timely basis and without having to borrow funds to obtain them.”
Such steps backward, he added, “should be vigorously opposed by all who believe in transparency and accountability.”
More Colorado media odds & ends
➡️ Colorado’s local and statewide newsrooms and nonpartisan community and civic groups “are invited to join forces with Rocky Mountain Public Media, Colorado State University’s Center for Public Deliberation, the Colorado Press Association, Colorado News Collaborative,” and the Colorado Media Project, which underwrites this newsletter, “in a statewide campaign to reclaim and reimagine the public square across all of Colorado’s 64 counties. Join us for an Information Session on Friday, Feb. 23, 10-11 a.m. MT.”
📺 Denver 9NEWS anchor Kyle Clark this week wondered about his peers: “the failure to cover and contextualize extremism and unprecedented political behavior is even more pronounced at the local news level, especially on local TV news. Why?” He later said, “I’m not talking about regurgitating national news; local TV journalists should be covering extremism in our backyards: armed militia groups, influencers calling for killings, the ties between a fringe thirsting for violence and ‘mainstream’ political leaders in our communities.”
🤝 The Colorado News Collaborative reported this week that because the group known as COLab works so closely with the Colorado Press Association, “and because so many of the newsrooms we serve overlap,” the two journalism advocacy organizations now will be “sending a joint weekly email to catch you up on everything we have to offer.”
🚜 An editor position is open to oversee three Alden Global Capital hedge-fund controlled newspapers on Colorado's Eastern Plains. The pay is listed at $55,000, and, according to the posting, the ideal candidate for this rural Eastern Plains newspaper editing job will have the “ability to constantly assess trending content.”
🗞 Love to see this line from a recent item about an $18 million higher-ed donation, making it the largest cash gift ever given to Colorado College: “During his time at CC, he served as editor-in-chief for the Tiger, CC’s school newspaper at the time.”
📡 Colorado Public Radio is looking for a climate and environment reporter it will pay $61,100 to $76,300.
🪦 Former Colorado journalist and author Stephen Singular died at 73, according to an obituary at a funeral home. “In the 1980s, he moved to Colorado and worked at The Denver Post as a features writer,” it read. “Stephen published 25 non-fiction books, including two New York Times bestsellers, and appeared in numerous national television appearances.”
🏛 Government transparency rules “are only as good as government officials’ commitment to follow them,” Colorado Newsline Editor Quentin Young wrote this week.
👀 You might recall last year when this newsletter turned a spotlight on the proliferation of creepy fake news sites that publish “obituaries” of people who haven’t actually died, including Colorado USA Today journalist Trevor Hughes (who is still not dead). The Verge this week went in-depth on the “unsettling scourge of obituary spam.”
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.
Editor here: Roth is the "brain." The Sunset Amphitheater is the "brainchild."