Media mergers hit Colorado TV, radio and print all at once

The news behind the news in Colorado

It’s mergers and acquisitions all the way down in Colorado this week.

Fresh off big news that FOX31 owner Nexstar closed on its purchase of 9NEWS owner Tegna (more on a snag in that one later) is an announcement that the NPR station for northern Colorado, KUNC, is exploring a merger with Rocky Mountain Public Media.

Meanwhile, on the Western Slope, the largest regional newspaper in the area is gobbling up two smaller ones.

That’s what’s filling this week’s newsletter, and more.

Now, onto it…

---

➡️ 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.

• 👀 Our new legislative district profiles provide 2025 data and insights for every House, Senate, and congressional district in the state.

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. ⬅️

---

Rocky Mountain PBS and KUNC are exploring a merger

KUNC public radio in northern Colorado is exploring a merger with a large statewide public broadcaster — and it’s not Colorado Public Radio.

The community radio station is looking at linking up with Rocky Mountain Public Media, the large statewide public TV broadcaster.

“Recent federal funding cuts have created a unique challenge and uncertainty for public media, and this partnership presents an opportunity to strengthen the ecosystem while remaining deeply rooted in the communities they serve,” KUNC wrote in a statement this week.

In September, KUNC laid off 10 people — or 26% of its staff. “There are no plans to reduce staff,” KUNC stated in its announcement this week.

Alongside news about a potential merger, KUNC announced it had “secured a no-cost 10-year lease” for a building in Fort Collins thanks to a donation from the Fort Collins-based Bohemian Foundation founded by the liberal billionaire Pat Stryker.

“Bohemian also supports KUNC’s journalistic mission through the Colorado News Philanthropy Lab, a cohort that focuses on developing sustainable funding models for local journalism,” BizWest reported.

BizWest reporters Dallas Heltzell and Christopher Wood “spoke to several current and former KUNC staff members who asked to remain unidentified” for a March 26 story.

One source for BizWest questioned the merger and another said they “felt very discouraged as a staff over the past few years” and questioned the station’s leadership.

Some worried about KUNC losing its independence, according to the story.

“KUNC and The Colorado Sound will continue their history of service to Northern Colorado and now have an opportunity for that service and our community connections to grow and deepen. We remain committed to our audience and supporters. This potential merger allows public media to be stronger and more resilient for all,” Tammy Terwelp, President & CEO of KUNC, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, newspapers are consolidating on the Western Slope

Not to be outdone by their TV and radio counterparts, a family owned newspaper company on the Western Slope is getting in on the media consolidation game.

From an announcement this week:

Seaton Publishing Company, which owns the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, is acquiring the Montrose Daily Press and the Delta County Independent. The deal is expected to close Friday, finalizing the transaction.

The Daily Press and the Independent are currently owned by Wick Communications, but the Seaton Publishing Company — which owns other newspapers in other states such as the Manhattan Mercury in Kansas — made the move to have the region’s three largest newspapers operate under shared ownership for the first time.

”We are tremendously proud to be entering the Montrose and Delta communities. These are truly special places in Colorado,” said Sentinel Publisher Jay Seaton in a statement. “We see synergistic opportunities for both news reporting and advertising reach through this arrangement. I want to thank the Wick organization and the Wick family for this opportunity and for being such good stewards of these important community assets.”

He added that the newspapers will continue to operate independently beyond newsroom and advertising synergies.

The Montrose Daily Press operates a printing press in Montrose. The Sentinel retired its own printing press in 2021.

Seaton told his own paper’s reporter that he thought he had sworn off buying newspapers and acknowledged that it’s a tough business these days.

“But community newspapers are a community trust. They’re an institution,” Seaton said. “We owe it to these communities to commit to excellent journalism, and we’re going to find a way to remain sustainable. The days of 30% profits are long behind us, but we can continue to serve our mission here, and that’s a First Amendment mission.”

On TV, Comcast Xfinity customers in Colorado lose access to Scripps stations

Whatever happened between the E.W. Scripps Company, which owns local TV stations around the country, and the cable and internet provider Comcast Xfinity must not have gone well.

As of Wednesday – April Fool’s Day — nobody in Colorado could watch a Scripps-owned channel if they subscribe to Xfinity as their provider.

In Colorado, those stations include Denver7 in the state’s capital city and KOAA in Colorado Springs.

“Our contract with E.W. Scripps Company has expired,” Xfinity wrote to customers in an email viewed by this newsletter. “Despite our best efforts,” the company added, “we have not been able to reach a new agreement.”

As for Scripps, the stations were telling those who want to watch their news programs to buy an antenna, stream their apps, or try other options like YouTubeTV.

The news was news even to those who work for Scripps.

“Thing is, nobody in our newsroom was aware this dispute was even happening and the only reason we learned anything was when viewers began emailing and calling our newsroom,” a Colorado source familiar with the matter told me. “Seemed very sudden and abrupt and our newsroom (non-managers at least) were caught very much off guard. We had to deal with customer service on top of getting our work done.”

This is the second Colorado TV news distribution SNAFU in a month.

Just a few weeks ago, residents in Colorado Springs and Grand Junction who use a Dish Network satellite and streaming service lost access to TV stations owned by Gray Media after the two companies failed to come to a renewal agreement.

Colorado radio stations win lawsuit with NPR against Trump. But it won’t restore lost funds

A federal judge has sided with three Colorado radio stations and NPR in their lawsuit against Donald Trump over an executive order the Republican president signed that aims to cut funding for NPR and PBS.

“The First Amendment draws a line, which the government may not cross, at efforts to use government power — including the power of the purse — ‘to punish or suppress disfavored expression’ by others,” wrote U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss in his ruling this week.

He issued what is called a permanent injunction that stops the Trump administration from implementing the executive order.

“It is difficult to conceive of clearer evidence that a government action is targeted at viewpoints that the President does not like and seeks to squelch,” Moss wrote in his ruling.

The ruling, however, “will not reverse the Trump-led campaign to strip NPR and PBS stations of federal funding,” Brian Stelter reported for CNN. “Last summer, Republicans in Congress rescinded federal support over objections from public media advocates.”

Still, NPR and the Colorado stations are doing a victory lap because of the implications.

Colorado Public Radio, Aspen Public Radio, and KSUT tribal radio in the Four Corners region had taken a risk with their lawsuit when they became the tip of the spear for local public media against Trump and his attacks on the press.

Here’s what some of the station leaders had to say this week about the news in statements to media:

• “While we are thrilled to have this Executive Order overturned, it will unfortunately not restore the federal funding Aspen Public Radio has lost, so we need the continued strong support of our listeners,” clarified Nicholas Bowen, chair of the Aspen Public Radio Board of Directors. “Thanks to this community, Aspen Public Radio continues to receive unprecedented levels of funding from members, which will be required to keep the station reporting on the news we need and providing the emergency broadcasting services we all rely on.”

• “KSUT’s mission has always been rooted in service to our listeners,” said Tami Graham, Executive Director of KSUT Public Radio. “Today’s ruling protects access to trusted news for rural and tribal communities who depend on it.”

• “This ruling makes it clear that the government has no role in directing, impeding or punishing independent journalism,” said CPR’s President and CEO Stewart Vanderwilt. “The First Amendment exists to prevent exactly this kind of interference.”

“The Constitution does not permit the government to punish journalists or broadcasters for coverage it disapproves of,” First Amendment attorney Steve Zansberg, who represented the stations, told Aspen Public Radio. “We made that clear in our argument, and today the court protected the editorial decisions of a free press.”

Gazette editor pounds the drum for more state support for local journalism in Colorado

The editor of a large Colorado news organization with a conservative owner whose opinion pages favor Republican politicians is once again advocating for more state support for local journalism.

In an opinion column in the Denver Gazette this week, executive editor Vince Bzdek praised New Mexico for passing a law that provides tax credits to businesses that employ local journalists and prints newspapers.

He urged Colorado lawmakers to take a cue from their neighbor. From the column:

Let me point out right here that the government has always underwritten journalism to some degree exactly because it is so essential to the smooth working of democracy. A lot of us have just forgotten how essential.

To make their brand-new of-by-for the people democracy succeed, our founders knew they had to get information out to every citizen in the country so they could run it themselves. So the founders passed the Postal Service Act of 1792, which created deeply discounted mail rates for newspapers, about 1-1.5 cents per copy versus 6.25 cents for letters. And they allowed free exchanges between publishers.

So my question is this: When is our state going to do its share to make sure democracy doesn’t crumble further into dust?

Bzdek lauded the idea of business tax credits to help support the state’s local news industry.

The column came less than two weeks after the Sentinel newspaper in Grand Junction similarly praised New Mexico and argued that “Colorado should do something similar.”

Somewhat relatedly, this week Tim Regan-Porter, who runs the Colorado Press Association, sent a note to members saying that the Joint Budget Committee at the Capitol had unanimously approved a footnote to the state budget that “directs departments to spend their marketing budgets with local news outlets.”

That’s a modest but notable step for sure.

Legendary SPJ board member, journalist, and editor Fred Brown has died at 85

Fred Brown, a longtime Colorado journalist who helped craft the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics, died this week at 85 after suffering a stroke.

Brown, whose email address was EthicalFred@aol.com, worked at the Denver Post from 1963 to 2002 where he was a politics reporter, editor, and columnist.

From an obituary by Elliott Wenzler in the Denver Post:

After his retirement, he went on to leave his mark on the next generation of journalists in his role as a media ethics instructor at the University of Denver. He has also influenced media ethics nationally, with his name appearing on the cover of the Society of Professional Journalists’ ethics guidebook.

More from the obit:

• “Brown was remembered as a kind, witty gentleman who dressed well and kept spirits high, even when tensions rose in a fast-paced newsroom.”

• “Mark Harden, who also worked with Brown at The Post and sat on the local SPJ board with him, said he was a “deeply centered guy” who kept the newsroom grounded and cared greatly about the journalism profession.”

• “When it came to journalism ethics, Fred was true north on the compass,” said Doug Bell, the immediate past president of the local chapter. “He literally wrote the book on it, and he was the first phone call for many of us when faced with a sticky ethical situation.”

Indeed, he had taken phone calls from me for this newsletter and other reporting throughout the years, and I’m humbled to have served with him on the state SPJ board for about a year. (Check the SPJ Colorado website for more tributes to Brown.)

On a personal note, when I’d first arrived in Colorado and was working on a year-long project for the Center for Public Integrity that assessed Colorado’s risk for corruption, Brown served as a respected peer reviewer and offered helpful institutional knowledge and memory.

In 2019, he visited my Politics, Ethics & Journalism class at Colorado College where he went around the room asking each student to describe their dream job.

He sounded very much like he had lived his own.

Judge temporarily halts FOX31 from taking over 9NEWS, Denver Press Club opposes merger

A federal court judge in California has pumped the brakes on a merger between Nexstar and Tegna, who own KDVR FOX 31 and KUSA 9NEWS respectively in Denver.

U.S. District Court Judge Troy L. Nunley issued a temporary restraining order “to stop all actions of consolidation, continue operating as separate companies (including employees), and continue control of all retransmission fees,” Nicole Vap reported for the Colorado Sun.

The move comes after Democratic attorneys general in eight states, including Colorado, filed suit to block the merger they say would be bad for the people of their states.

The judge didn’t rely on their lawsuit, but instead one filed by DirecTV. The attorneys general, however, have the same judge and similar arguments.

The Denver Press Club, which recently elected a new board of directors, released a statement opposing the merger, saying Denver is among the markets “most affected” by the consolidation.

“The Denver Press Club urges federal regulators and lawmakers to examine the consequences of this merger and to uphold policies that protect competition, local ownership, and the long-term sustainability of journalism,” the statement read.

Whether this is merely a brief positive development in an otherwise inevitable shit-show situation or will actually stop this megamerger choo-choo from coming down the tracks remains to be seen.

Gov. Jared Polis to declare April 9 ‘Local News Day’ in Colorado

Here’s the proclamation Colorado’s governor plans to make on April 9, calling it ‘Local News Day’ in Colorado.

Folks will gather at the Denver Press Club at 5 p.m. that day to honor local media.

---

🌿 This week’s newsletter is proudly supported by PR firm Grasslands: A Journalism-Minded Agency™, founded by Ricardo Baca (ex-Denver Post, ex-Rocky Mountain News, and current Colorado Public Radio board of directors). We understand journalists because we were journalists — and we’re here to help. Need expert sources or compelling stories? Our diverse client roster includes beloved Colorado institutions (Naropa University and Illegal Pete’s), innovative wellness brands (Boulder County Farmers Markets, Naturally Colorado, Eden Health Club), bold natural products businesses (Wild Zora, Flatiron Food Factory, Flower Union Brands), and other purpose-driven organizations. As creators of the Colorado Journalist Meet-Up and longtime champions of quality journalism, Grasslands recognizes the essential role reporters play in our communities. Our team is ready to connect you with sources, data, and unique perspectives that elevate your reporting.

Have a story you’re working on? Email Ricardo directly: ricardo@mygrasslands.com. Together, we’re crafting better narratives — one story at a time. 🌿

---

More Colorado media odds & ends

🎊 Thanks to Denver’s alternative weekly newspaper Westword for honoring this “Inside the News in Colorado” newsletter you’re reading with its award for “Best Journalism About Colorado Journalism” in its annual “Best Of” awards.

🗓 Colorado’s Democratic governor, Jared Polis, is set to declare April 9 “Local News Day” in Colorado with a proclamation. I’m told it will call the day “inclusive and nonpartisan” and will invite “people across Colorado and the nation to come together in support of local news and the role it plays in strengthening communities.”

💳 Beginning in April, Summit Daily News “will ask our most frequent readers to subscribe in order to maintain unlimited access on SummitDaily.com,” Nicole Miller wrote this week. “This news marks a significant change in our business model, which has been 100% advertiser funded since our inception in 1989. The reason is simple: innovation is key for sustainability.”

🍻 The Denver Press Club elected Nathan Fernando-Frescas as its new president. It also elected to the board: Matt Larsen (treasurer), Cass Ballard (secretary), Danny Zimny-Schmitt, Marques Haley, Jody Beck, Tori Mason, Tim Jackson, and Joe Boven.

📺 Longtime Colorado Springs progressive activist and politician Richard Skorman has sold his venerable Poor Richard’s bookstore, cafe, and toy store to “former FOX21 News Anchor and News Director Joe Cole, alongside his wife, Sarah Gibeau-Cole,” FOX21 reported.

⚖️ Five years after the Colorado Sun and 9NEWS sued the state Department of Human Services, the Colorado Supreme Court “ordered the agency to disclose to the news organizations aggregate child-abuse hotline statistics from three residential care facilities,” Jeff Roberts wrote this week for the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition.

🔀 The Denver local news site Bucket List Community Cafe has rebranded to Bucket List Community News. “We’ve outgrown our origin story and this makes our mission more clear,” founder Vicky Collins said in a statement.

⚙️ COMINGS & GOINGS: Manny Sotelo is retiring after 42 years as a photojournalist at 9NEWS. McKenna Harford, who had bylines in Colorado Community Media and City Cast Denver, is joining Sentinel Colorado to cover Aurora and local governments.

🚫 🤖 Denver Post reporter John Wenzel wrote about Denverse Magazine, which launched in 2024 and is calling itself “the first magazine with an AI-free guarantee.” The promise that “humans created all words and images runs counter to the bro-tech culture of artificial intelligence that has infected and degraded Hollywood and social media like brain-eating amoebae,” Wenzel reported. “The Denver Post and other publications are currently suing generative AI companies OpenAI and Microsoft for stealing copyrighted work for their plagiarism machines, so you can imagine why Denverse’s message appealed to me,” he added.

🐯 Three Colorado College students, Veronica Bianco, Sydney McGarr, and Bella Houck, won top awards from the Society of Professional Journalists chapter. This year’s contest was the most competitive in recent memory, said SPJ Colorado’s immediate past president, Doug Bell, who oversaw the awards. Find all the student scholarship winners winners here.

⚙️ Denver journalist Scott Carney is looking for a managing editor and producer to hire for his independent investigative journalism YouTube channel. “If you are ready to help navigate the frontiers of investigative journalism and human potential, let’s talk,” he said. Send a brief intro, your resume, and any examples of content you’ve had a hand in creating (writing, video, or social) to scott[at]foxtopus[dot]ink. Use the subject line: “Second in Command.”

🆕 “Veteran marketing pro and journalist Claire Lardizabal Moser has joined Sentinel Colorado as its new advertising and marketing executive,” the Aurora-based weekly announced.

📈 An anecdote about the Colorado Sun led a story in Harvard’s Nieman Journalism Lab by Joshua Benton headlined “Nonprofit news outlets had a strong traffic month in January.”

🗞 Jim O’Rourke, who runs the O’Rourke Media Group that owns a string of local newspapers in Colorado, sketched out a local media playbook that explains why he’s still buying newspapers and how he’s building a scalable platform.

👻 A story in the Denver Post this week included this eyebrow-raising line about someone who works for a sitting U.S. congressman: “A spokeswoman for Evans’ campaign who declined to give her name called the Democrats’ stance on gas prices ‘hypocritical’ in a statement.” The unnamed spokesperson continued: “For years, they have pushed radical climate policies and overregulation, banning natural gas for residential heating, eliminating jobs for hardworking families, and handcuffing the very oil and gas workers who ensure reliable and affordable resources for Coloradans,” her statement read. “Now they expect us to believe they care about gas prices?” Jon Murray, the paper’s senior editor for public affairs, told me the paper’s goal is to push back consistently as its reporters interact with campaign representatives “who are used to DC rules of engagement that default to too much unnamed sourcing. In this instance, facing a tight deadline, we thought the Evans camp’s overall statement was worth including as a matter of fairness but we intend to push for attribution in the future.”

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. 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.