National Trust SELLS most of its Colorado newspapers to an Arizona media company
The news behind the news in Colorado
This week, the National Trust for Local News, which ran the string of more than two dozen Colorado Community Media newspapers in the Denver area, dropped a bombshell.
The nonprofit, which was founded to help keep local newspapers in local hands, abruptly announced it would offload 21 of its Colorado titles to a media company in Arizona.
A CCM news release about the development described it as a “restructuring of its Colorado operations,” a “transfer of ownership,” and a “strategic partnership” with the Tempe, Arizona-based Times Media Group.
A translation of that corporate-speak would be that the Trust sold the newspapers and laid people off, including Executive Director Brooke Warner and Linda Shapley, the director of editorial and audience engagement.
The Trust will keep seven of its newspapers and run them under a new name, the Colorado Trust for Local News. (The seven reporters and one editor there will get raises of between 15% and 20%, a Trust executive said.) The national nonprofit will also continue to operate its Trust Press printing facility in Denver that it purchased last year.
In lieu of a traditional news story or column about the sale, below are some nuggets of reporting meant to save time and space in this newsletter:
How did the sale come about?
The news came as a major surprise and startled those close to Colorado Community Media, which had closed two of its neighborhood newspapers in Denver earlier this year.
Colorado Community Media had been in trouble. It was losing money and laying people off. Amalie Nash, who is based in Colorado and serves as the nonprofit’s head of transformation, told this newsletter in late February that Colorado Community Media was not profitable. She said the Trust would be doing a top-to-bottom assessment to determine CCM’s staffing needs and how to better position the organization for the future — and she couldn’t rule out closing more papers. Even more layoffs came after that.
Upon learning of the Trust’s troubles, Times Media Group, which is based in Tempe, Arizona, approached the National Trust to see if the CCM papers might be for sale. Meetings ensued.
“Many times I wasn’t sure whether something like this would work or if it made sense,” said Steve Strickbine, who owns TMG and its fleet of newspapers in Phoenix, Tucson, and in multiple areas in California. “But eventually it did.”
The new owner said over the phone that he plans to dig into the 21 newspapers he has acquired, assess what their needs are, and will try his best to keep them going. Those decisions, he said, won’t be easy. “It’s all in the interest of — as always — keeping the journalism sustainable,” he said. “That’s the bottom line.”
What should we make of this development?
Absent the sale, it is not a stretch to imagine that the National Trust might have wound up closing as many newspapers as it just sold to TMG.
This hasn’t been a good look for the Trust, which launched in 2021 as an effort to keep local newspapers in local hands. (That philosophy obviously changed over time.)
For some close to the Trust in Colorado who have worked with and around it, they saw a high-minded and well-compensated national nonprofit whose ideas looked good on a whiteboard or sounded solid in a boardroom. But when those ideas met the realities on the ground, they shattered. Execution was a problem.
A CCM reporter gave a quote to this newsletter earlier this year that reflected a broader view among those working for the Trust in Colorado: “I think the work CCM is doing is so critical and the people there are dedicated to doing it well. It needs and deserves support, but it’s unclear what support the Trust is providing at this point, and it’s never been obvious to me that they know who we are and the importance of the work we do.”
Shapley, who once was publisher and later editorial director, wrote on social media, in part: “There’s some regret in that we were unable to properly capitalize on our standing as a newly-formed nonprofit to really become the community partner that residents needed, and to emphasize that value in the community to build the support we needed. I would often talk to the teams about not putting the urgent ahead of the important, and in a lot of ways, that’s what happened with our small staff, with too little left in the tank to put our eyes on the big picture.”
Former CCM Editor Mark Harden said he believed the Trust did not adequately support CCM financially in the way he expected when he was editor, and as a result the papers had four years of financial struggles and staff turnover. He said he believes the Trust “should have focused on adding journalists and building capacity for better journalism, which would have led to a stronger value proposition for readers and communities and advertisers and subscribers.”
The Trust has said in the past that raising money through philanthropy for things that take continued ongoing investment is hard and is easier to do for big projects like a new printing press or, say, to buy newspapers.
One CCMer described Shapley as like a captain going down with a ship who should be commended for doing what she could to help people onto lifeboats if they asked her.
The Nieman Lab story heard ‘round Colorado
Following the sale announcement, Sarah Scire wrote a May 14 story for Nieman Lab that did not exactly fill those in Colorado with a sense of encouragement about this sale. Its headline: “National Trust for Local News sells 21 newspapers to a company with a history of gutting local outlets.”
She called TMG “to put it mildly, an odd choice of buyer for the mission-driven National Trust for Local News,” and reported what happened when TMG took over some papers in Arizona and California.
Here was her conclusion: “Looking through the dozens of outlets bought by the Times Media Group in recent years, nearly all remain open and publishing. The shrinking mastheads, though, are less than encouraging. If Times Media Group’s track record in Arizona and California serves as any indication, Colorado’s newly acquired community newspapers may survive but with fewer local journalists and an out-of-state chain newspaper owner calling the shots — precisely the outcome the National Trust for Local News was founded to prevent.”
Denver Post Editor Lee Ann Colacioppo said in a Facebook post that the Trust should be “ashamed of themselves,” accusing the organization of talking a big game but not taking the right steps to ensure sustainability. From the outside, the newspaper editor said, it looked to her like the Trust “failed these papers entirely” and should be “held to account.” (Her page is private and multiple people sent me the post; I didn’t talk to her about it.)
Will Nelligan, the National Trust’s chief growth officer, said had seen critical comments from others following the sale and indicated he didn’t have time to dwell on them. “We’re trying to figure out a path forward for a really challenging business and in the process maintain meaningful local journalism in communities in Colorado,” he said.
Steve Strickbine of TMG responds: ‘My heart’s in the right place’
Steve Strickbine, who owns TMG, said he had not yet read the Nieman Lab piece when I spoke with him on the day it came out. But he defended his track record as the owner of a company that buys community newspapers.
“I’ve heard this for a while, and being in this business, it’s tough,” Strickbine said. He can’t always keep everybody, he acknowledged, and he said he understands that there might be some in newsrooms when he acquires them who see him as a kind of corporate raider. That’s not why he does it, he said.
A onetime accountant who didn’t like the work, Strickbine said he started out in the newspaper business selling advertising door to door and writing copy at night in Scottsdale. “I loved doing this and I didn’t really know why, and I stayed in it,” he said. He started buying community newspapers. He called local journalism a calling and a worthy cause. “I’m trying my best, and it’s not always going to please everybody, but my heart’s in the right place,” he said. He added: “I’m an honest person, and I’ve always done business that way and I’m as transparent as is practical, and I don’t mean to sound like I’m perfect or something, but I do have a lot of integrity and I do business the right way. … I’ll tell you the truth, that’s the bottom line.”
As for his new Colorado papers, he said he looked at the deal a few times in recent weeks and thought: This is going to be a tough one. “But, I really like these people. I really like what they’re doing, and I feel like I can help them, I really do, I really feel like this will get better,” he said. “And it’s not going to be perfect and it’s not going to be overnight. But I’m different. I can say that honestly and I sleep well at night because this is who I am. This is what I do.”
The Healeys speak: ‘We will be disappointed’
Jerry Healey, who sold CCM to the National Trust in 2021, said over the phone this week that when he owned the papers they were making a small profit but were stretched as thin journalistically as they could get. He acknowledged he had to make some tough decisions in his day. Four years later, he worries that there are even fewer journalists at the papers now.
Healey had two options when he sold to the Trust, he said. While he wouldn’t name the other potential buyer, he said he saw the Trust as the best alternative. “I kind of bought into their vision,” he said. “But after a while, I realized that it wasn’t working.” He also is disappointed with the advertising community around the papers who he said better “wake up” and realize if they don’t support them they might go away.
Healey had to approve the movement of assets for TMG’s new papers because of some outstanding owner financing that he had provided as the original owner. “Prior, we asked several times about Times Media Group’s commitment to journalism. Each time we were assured they have a strong commitment to journalism,” Healey said. “It’s one of the reasons why the NTLN felt it was a good fit. We will be disappointed if we learn otherwise after approving the asset transfer such as the names of the newspapers, subscription lists, advertiser lists, domains, furniture, equipment, etc.”
As for the 21 papers TMG is taking over, Nelligan declined to say what assurances the Trust got, if any, that the company would not cut, close, or diminish them.
The National Trust might not be done with Colorado — but is its own trust done with Colorado?
In February, Amalie Nash of the National Trust for Local News acknowledged the frustrations employees and others had with CCM under its ownership and said such questions they had were fair, particularly around the low pay for journalists while executives were making more than $100,000.
The seven newspapers retained by the National Trust are the Brighton Standard-Blade, Fort Lupton Press, Canyon Courier, Clear Creek Courant, Northglenn-Thornton Sentinel, Westminster Window and Golden Transcript.
In an interview, Nelligan of the National Trust said they decided which papers to keep as part of the Colorado Trust for Local News based on their unique value.
The eventual plan, he said, will be to become a “first-rate provider of local journalism and building a great audience around that local journalism in those seven places and then position ourselves to grow to the many other places in the state that are like those places, which are not metro Denver.”
He described the National Trust’s legacy in Colorado as “still in the first or second inning of this thing,” and added: “This is an opportunity to start the next chapter of our work. Our commitment to the state is only going to grow, our impact on the state is only going to grow.”
If that’s the case, the group that stated it wanted to rebuild local news might have to rebuild some local trust in Colorado.
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A ‘weakened public media’ would mean a ‘weakened Colorado’
This week, Colorado Newsline Editor Quentin Young authored a searing column about Republican President Donald Trump’s attack on public media, which would affect Colorado.
“Loss of federal funding would hurt local stations most,” he wrote. Trump’s “real objection” to public media, he argued, “is that accurate, independent journalism exposes him to scrutiny.”
Here’s more from the column:
CPR and Rocky Mountain PBS get most of their funding from individual, business and foundation contributions. This suggests an answer to a tyrant’s attacks. There’s little that individuals can do to counter, say, Trump’s efforts to shut down the U.S. Education Department. But individual community members who value trusted institutions like CPR and Rocky Mountain PBS can act as a form of immediate, grassroots countermeasure to MAGA hostility.
Young noted how Colorado Public Radio is “the only outlet in Colorado with a Washington, D.C.-based reporter focused on Colorado issues. He mentioned that for almost 20 years, “Colorado governors have regularly sat down with CPR for interviews, which often present insights about state policy that are not available anywhere else.”
A weakened public media in the state, he wrote, “would mean a weakened Colorado.”
KFFR radio in Grand County is expanding its reach — again
“With the launch of KWTR 89.1FM and the relocation of KFFR’s 88.3FM antenna to Granby Ranch, we’re expanding our radio coverage connecting more people through music, local news, and community voices,” the station also known as Fraser Valley Community Media, announced.
Last year, Tara Alatorre reported for the Sky-Hi News in Grand County that the station had a goal of reaching the entire county by 2027.
From the 2024 writeup:
The local media organization secured a second frequency, 89.1 FM, that will operate under the call sign KWTR that reflects “its identity as a community station at the headwaters of the Colorado River.” This expansion took years of planning and is possible through collaboration with local organizations and leaders. Members and listeners of KFFR also helped get this project off the ground by funding a feasibility study, which identified Granby Ranch as an optimal location for KFFR’s new broadcasting location. …
“Together, these stations provide Grand County with a powerful, people-driven media resource,” KFFR stated about its recent expansion.
Founder Denis Moynihan said this week that the station is also working on a partnership with Sky-Hi News.
🌿 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.
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More Colorado media odds & ends
🌤 Jesse Paul of the Colorado Sun has a wild and troubling story about former Democratic Congresswoman Yadira Caraveo’s behavior that was “frightening and traumatizing to staff.” The story also reveals this: Caraveo’s team responded to the Sun’s questions about one particular incident “with a cease-and-desist letter from a lawyer sent a day before the election, threatening a lawsuit should the Sun proceed with a story. The Sun was unable to complete its reporting before Election Day. When Caraveo lost to Evans and stepped out of the public eye, the Sun ceased reporting on the incidents. But in light of Caraveo’s decision to run for Congress again, the Sun resumed the reporting, which led to interviews with the former staffers.”
🆕 The Center for Collaborative Journalism unveiled a project called the Collaborative Journalism Resource Hub at the Collaborative Journalism Summit in Denver on May 15.
🎬 Rick Goldsmith’s film “Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink,” which has a big Colorado connection, is coming to Denver on June 5. Check the site for details about the screening.
⚖️ “A judge cited Colorado’s press shield statute in deciding last week that the editor-in-chief of 5280 Magazine isn’t required to testify in a legal dispute between the owners of a Greenwood Village luxury home and an interior designer,” Jeff Roberts reported for the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition.
🍻 The Denver Press Club is “calling working journalists of all stripes who are interested in meeting other journalists” with a “new initiative is a great way to network and commiserate.” The Journalism Meetup is Wednesday, May 21 at 6 p.m. This month’s event is cosponsored by the Colorado chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists.
🎰 Gannett, the nation’s largest newspaper chain, is “using AI to pump brainrot gambling content into newspapers across the country,” Maggie Harrison Dupré reported for Futurism. “The pattern continues over in Colorado,” she wrote, where the chain owns multiple newspapers.
🏛 Longtime Colorado statehouse reporter and Denver Press Club President Marianne Goodland took five questions from Bucket List Community Café about her job. “We’ve seen less toxic behavior in 2025,” she said of this year’s legislative session.
🎙 Colorado Ethnic Media Exchange Director Brittany Winkfield attended the Local Media Association’s annual summit in New York City and talked about it on her podcast Back2Basics, including a demo of Google’s powerful NotebookLM AI tool.
⚖️ The Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition “is asking a private judge to set aside a suppression order that makes an entire divorce case file unavailable to the public,” its director, Jeff Roberts, wrote.
🎙 Longtime Colorado reporter Carol McKinley, who recently retired, sat down with Ryland Scholes of the Denver news outlet Bucket List Community Café for a podcast interview about her career.
🥾 Ariama C. Long wrote a story for the New Amsterdam News in New York headlined “Garden of the Gods: A Black journalist’s journey through Colorado’s rocky wonder.”
⏮ Eric Larsen, who left last January as editor of the Coloradoan in Fort Collins to become editor of the Indianapolis Star, has now left that paper. “He will be returning to Colorado with his family of five,” the IndyStar reported.
📡 “This is community organizing 101,” Breeze Richardson, the executive director of Aspen Public Radio, told Columbia Journalism Review about responses to Trump’s attack on public media. “We’re taking turns leading joint initiatives, writing to Congress, and preparing to act.”
🏆 Find out which Colorado news outlets won this year’s regional Edward R. Murrow Awards.
📈 April was a “record-breaking month for North Forty News,” wrote Publisher Blaine Howerton. “Our articles saw over 118,000 views in April alone, making it our most successful month of the year. That’s not just a number — it’s a sign that our stories are resonating, our digital presence is expanding, and the Northern Colorado community is more engaged than ever.”
🗣 Journalist Ben Ryder Howe will deliver the commencement address at Fountain Valley School. “Ben, a graduate of the Fountain Valley School Class of 1989 and current president of the FVS Alumni Association, is a regular contributor to The New York Times and New York, having produced widely read articles on topics ranging from environmental issues and the luxury economy to disruptive technology.”
➡️ The American Press Institute’s “Local News Summit on Civic Discourse Across Generations” will take place June 11-12 in Denver.
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. 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.
Love reading your updates, thanks for doing this (from a Denver PR lady) :)
Always meaningful. But the link to "Stripped for Parts" didn't seem to work, at least via Safari. Would love to see it. Not a reporter anymore but journalism has become sort of like a car accident. Can't look away, and heartbreaking.