Some journalists 'compounded' pain in coverage of the Boulder attack
The news behind the news in Colorado
Following the June 1 firebombing of demonstrators in Boulder who were rallying for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza, members of the Jewish community complained about the conduct of some journalists who covered the story.
Boulder Reporting Lab’s John Herrick reported that in the aftermath “some community members said the way this story has been covered has compounded their pain.”
From the June 10 story at BRL:
Several described aggressive doorstep interviews, persistent texts and calls, entering synagogues during events, filming near religious buildings and premature naming of victims despite requests for privacy. All this has left some feeling overwhelmed and invaded.
Unlike a media swarm in Aurora during The Great Venezuelan Gang Story of 2025, which involved a slew of social media and YouTube personalities, the lament in Boulder revolves around more traditional outlets.
Consider this excerpt:
In the days after the attack, TV crews showed up outside the Boulder JCC and Congregation Bonai Shalom. Some filmed from public streets. Others tried to get inside, according to Rabbi Marc Soloway of Bonai Shalom.
On the Tuesday after the attack, after leading a Shavuot service and giving multiple interviews, Soloway said he was exhausted. Then a local TV crew rang his doorbell. He described such interactions as an invasion of privacy. He declined the interview.
If you’re rolling your eyes about someone thinking a journalist shouldn’t ring the doorbell of someone at the center of major news coverage, here’s more of what seems to have chafed Soloway.
Many journalists, he told Boulder Reporting Lab, called and asked if he could connect them with victims since six of them belong to his congregation. (That’s not an unusual or unethical reporting tactic.) But few, he told the news organization, asked how he or his community was doing.
The rest of the story carries anecdotes that might bring to mind a famous and controversial quote by journalist Janet Malcolm of the New Yorker:
“Every journalist who is not too stupid or full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible. He is a kind of confidence man, preying on people’s vanity, ignorance, or loneliness, gaining their trust and betraying them without remorse.”
Since Malcolm wrote that in “The Journalist and the Murderer” in 1989, there have been movements afoot in journalism to mitigate bad acting among the profession. Some include rethinking the publication of mugshots, the Right to be Forgotten movement, media reparations, better training around empathetic reporting, and plenty more.
But details in Herrick’s story for Boulder Reporting Lab could strike a chord with some who might look askance at disaster reporters as a click-hungry pack of sociopathic vultures.
Some more excerpts from the piece:
“In another instance, an NBC journalist showed up at the home of a Holocaust survivor burned in the attack, despite a sign on the door stating she did not want to speak with the press. NBC later published an “exclusive” using her name and quotes from that visit. According to people close to her, the survivor may not have fully understood the nature of the interaction. Once her name was published, it spread across dozens of other news outlets.” (Surprise, “the reporter and a senior editor did not respond to a request for comment” from Boulder Reporting Lab.)
“When a media outlet’s scoop and story becomes more important than a trauma survivor’s privacy, safety and emotional well-being, that seems like it would be a clear violation of ethical standards,” Stefanie Clarke, Boulder JCC’s communications strategist and co-founder of Stop Antisemitism Colorado, told BRL.
“At least one Colorado journalist, Steve Staeger of 9News, has noticed the impacts of ‘parachute’ journalism in the aftermath of the Boulder attack. In a post on X, he said he and others are looking to have a community conversation about a better way to report on these events.”
In his Twitter/X post, Staeger said he had been hearing about what he called “some pretty disgusting tactics being used by national media to try to interview victims of the Boulder attack.” He added: “Most local reporters I know do this much differently than our national counterparts.”
Meanwhile, Hillel Goldberg, the editor and publisher of Intermountain Jewish News, also had a media critique of national coverage of the Boulder attack.
In a column last week, he found fault in a front-page New York Times story for the way journalists in a multi-bylined piece used the term “said to be” when describing victims.
For his Boulder Reporting Lab story, Herrick also quotes sources who offer advice for how reporters can cover distressed communities without re-traumatizing people in the process.
Read the whole story here.
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The ‘life and death’ of YourHub at the Denver Post, née, the Rocky Mountain News
A recent announcement by the Denver Post that it would shut down its longstanding community journalism project YourHub led Westword’s Michael Roberts to pen something of an obituary.
Roberts noted that the closure comes at a time when the paper is in what he called “another of its intermittent downsizing cycles,” citing this newsletter’s recent reporting on the paper’s first layoffs in five years.
And he used the opportunity to check in with former Rocky Mountain News Editor John Temple, who came up with the YourHub vision 20 years ago.
From his Westword story titled “Denver Post's YourHub: Community Journalism Project’s Life and Death”:
The plan was for the tabloid to deploy 39 zoned Web versions of YourHub, each corresponding to a different portion of the metro area. Temple made YourHub sound practically altruistic: "We can fulfill a role of helping to connect the community. Readers will be able to share their lives — and we're giving them a platform to do it," he proclaimed. But profit was clearly the goal, with salespeople already pitching advertisers about the concept; contributors wouldn't be paid for their articles or photographs.
Despite the lack of remuneration, Temple was confident the sites would attract lots of submissions — and he was right. Some people penned pieces about local subjects that simply interested them, but YourHub was particularly attractive to business-oriented individuals … who wanted to hype events or services; the model gave promoters the ability to micro-target their message at a specific audience.
By 2025, YourHub's 39 zones had dwindled to six tabs representing Denver and Aurora plus four counties: Adams, Arapahoe, Douglas and Jefferson, each with numerous community sites — Adams County includes Brighton, Commerce City, Federal Heights, Northglenn, Thornton and Westminster — populated with items intended to appeal to residents of each place.
Elsewhere in the Westword piece, Temple riffed on his former rival.
After the Post’s decision to kill YourHub went public, Temple reveals, “I got a really nice note from someone who was very active in the nonprofit volunteer community, saying, ‘Thanks for doing YourHub and giving us a place to shine the light on good things that are happening in the community.’ And that’s important, because newspapers are far more than just accountability journalism. I'll bet you that the Denver Post, shell of itself that it is, still publishes a horoscope.
Read more about what Temple thinks the Post could have done with YourHub here.
🤠 Howdy! I’m Skyler McKinley. You may remember me from your television sets on slow news days, my work at the Denver Press Club, or the historic little saloon I own in Routt County, Colorado. Well, I reckon I’m still doing all that stuff, but I’m doing a new thing, too: I get a real kick out of connecting public policy makers, stakeholders, and reporters like you. Some folks say that I’m “the lobbyist who loves the media.” Sure enough: If you’ve got a story on a pressing matter of public concern, let me know. I just may be able to help! I’m at skyler@wzstrategies.com or 303-720-9200. 🤠
Journalists Heidi Beedle and Jason Salzman talk about Colorado’s conservative media
Earlier this month, journalist Heidi Beedle tackled a particular segment of Colorado’s local media scene for her “Fever Swamp Review” podcast.
Beedle is a reporter for the progressive nonprofit digital Colorado Times Recorder site and writes for the nonprofit Pikes Peak Bulletin newspaper.
On the interesting podcast episode, she delved into the realm of Colorado’s conservative media and its influence, including a deep dive into a new partnership between Colorado Springs School District 11 and a conservative local talk-radio program.
Beedle also riffed on former Republican gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl’s Rocky Mountain Voice publication, which this newsletter has covered. In one part, Beedle posted a clip of Ganahl saying she believed 9NEWS, the Denver Post, the Colorado Sun, Axios, Colorado Public Radio, the Pueblo Chieftain, and the Durango Herald were “under the thumb of Jared Polis.”
At the end of her pod-slash-videocast, Beedle chatted with Colorado Times Recorder founder and editor Jason Salzman, who offered a counter-take to conservative critiques about Colorado media.
“You get a lot of criticism from the right that the Colorado media is skewed to the left,” he said. “In fact, it’s skewed to the right, if you ask me.”
As evidence for that, Salzman pointed to what he called the “No. 1 and most stable news outlet” in the state being the “Anschutz empire.”
He was talking about the Gazette in Denver and Colorado Springs having conservative editorial pages and being owned by a conservative billionaire who gets involved in politics. (Colorado Politics is also under the Anschutz-owned Clarity Media company.)
Meanwhile, as a progressive, Salzman said he would “hardly call the Denver Post a liberal, progressive newspaper.” He also mentioned that conservative voices dominate talk radio in Colorado.
Listen to the episode at the link above.
The Colorado Springs Indy is kaput — and its replacement won’t cover politics
The Colorado Springs Independent alternative weekly that served the city for three decades might be gone for good.
It’s hard to say for sure, since the venerable paper has seen its demise before, risen from the ashes, rebranded from the Indy and then back again, and most recently crashed and burned only to be bought and resurrected — again.
Or … maybe not?
The paper’s new owner, Dirk R. Hobbs, has scrapped the name in favor of a new one: the Southern Colorado Insider.
Fran Zankowski, the Indy’s former publisher who is now working with the new owner, said on social media the product will become a “new glossy magazine spotlighting the best in arts, entertainment, sports, and culture throughout the Pikes Peak region” with its first issue appearing July 10.
Writing about the new incarnation of the one-time alt-weekly paper, the Gazette’s Debbie Kelley reported “politics will be missing” from coverage.
“Politics is one of the things people either loved or hated about the former renditions of the Indy,” Hobbs told the reporter, citing results of focus groups. “As far as politics and right vs. left, I think people are so fried from all the anxiety between the left and the right, we’re going to try to simmer it down and showcase what connects our communities.”
Hobbs also owns the Southern Colorado Springs Business Forum & Digest, NORTH magazine, and others. The outlets serve to boost the reputation of the Springs as a place to do business.
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More Colorado media odds & ends
💰 Applications are due Monday, June 30 for two active calls for proposals from Colorado Media Project, which underwrites this newsletter. The grants address newsroom sustainability and community coverage gaps. Apply for a grant here.
📺 Kehiry Castillo has been named co-anchor for Noticiero Telemundo Colorado alongside Yesmani Gómez on weekdays at 4, 4:30 and 5 p.m., TVNewsCheck reported. “Kehiry’s passion for storytelling and dedication to our community make her a natural fit for this expanded role,” said Griselle Sierra, news director for Telemundo Colorado. “Her growth in the newsroom has been exceptional and we’re excited to see her continue to connect with our viewers in this next chapter.”
📡 Halle Zander has been named news director of Aspen Public Radio. “The Roaring Fork Valley has been my home for the past eight years,” she wrote in a letter to the community. “I’m not parachuting in; rather, I’m approaching the job with a lot of love for this community and a deep respect for the power of audio storytelling. But it’s a team effort, not just within the newsroom. We need your eyes, ears, and lived experience to inform our coverage.”
📸 Helen H. Richardson, the legendary photojournalist for the Denver Post, has left the paper for Oregon. Her departure was not because of cutbacks at the paper, she said, but for personal reasons. “To say I’ll miss the paper is a huge understatement,” she said in an email. “It’s like leaving and losing family.” (To say her departure is a loss for Colorado is also a huge understatement.)
🗳 The conservative Colorado radio station KNUS apologized for promoting unsubstantiated election rigging claims, Denver’s 9NEWS anchor Kyle Clark reported. “KNUS played a key role in elevating the claims that Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems and one of its executives, Eric Coomer … rigged the election against Donald Trump,” Clark said. “Yes, this is the same claim that led a jury in Denver to find MyPillow guy Mike Lindell liable for defamation yesterday.”
💸 Meanwhile, the Denver-based federal appeals court this week “upheld a $1,000-per-day sanction against a conservative podcaster who absconded from the courthouse where he was required to sit for a deposition — and instead returned home to record a podcast and insult the judge,” Michael Karlik reported for Colorado Politics. “A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit also concluded Joe Oltmann and his attorney, Randy Corporon, ‘crossed the line’ by making at least one frivolous argument divorced from the facts of the case.”
📺 Denver7 Chief Investigator Tony Kovaleski will retire later this year, “bringing to an end an illustrious 42-year broadcasting career that included a combined 20 years across two stints with Denver7,” the station reported.
🆕 Briana Heaney has joined KRCC as a reporter for the Colorado Springs-based station. Heaney comes from West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
💨 Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton is leaving the Denver Post as its immigration reporter for the Seattle Times where she’ll cover “tribal business, Seattle’s economic drivers and more,” she said on social media. (She’ll join former Denver Post reporter Conrad Swanson at the Times.)
💪 Government funding of news media is “inherently corruptive,” opined Ari Armstrong for Complete Colorado, the news and commentary arm of the libertarian-leaning Independence Institute think tank.
🆕 Taylor Dolven is the new politics and policy reporter for the Colorado Sun. “I care deeply about our state and am looking forward to bringing you accountability journalism you can rely on,” Dolven wrote in an introduction to readers. “I’d love to hear from you about what needs digging into.”
💸 Colorado governments and local newspapers “need a public notice divorce,” opined Cory Gaines for Complete Colorado.
🤖 The Denver Post was surveying its readers last week. One question asked: “Have you used at least one GenAI tool to obtain news content in the past two months?”
💨 “This is one of my last stories for CBS News. After three years, I have left the company in search of my next opportunity,” wrote Nicole Vap on LinkedIn.
✍️ For Rocky Mountain PBS, Peter Vo profiled Drew Litton, “the man behind Denver’s iconic sports cartoons.”
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.
Hobbs is a knob.