'Weird' press restrictions by new Colorado congressman. 'Absolutely not' normal

The news behind the news in Colorado

Of all the results and storylines tumbling out from the latest statewide election in Colorado, something on the Western Slope alarmed one of the state’s veteran political reporters.

Charles Ashby, who works for the Sentinel newspaper in Grand Junction, has spent the last 50 years as a journalist. About half of that has been covering politics.

That’s a long time — his social media handle is OldNewsman — and throughout that half century in the media business, “I’ve never heard of what happened during U.S. Rep.-elect Jeff Hurd’s election night watch party occurring anywhere else,” he wrote in a recent column.

Dramatic? Let’s see.

Ashby was talking about the new Republican congressman, a Grand Junction lawyer recently elected to represent a massive swath of the western part of Colorado. So, what on Earth happened?

From the column:

While it's not uncommon to corral the media at political events, or even bar them from entry, what Hurd's campaign did to the print, radio and television press at The Warehouse 25Sixty-five Kitchen & Bar on Tuesday night was unprecedented.

I wasn't at that event, we had another reporter manning that assignment, but I've attended many such election night events at that and other locations.

This time, however, the Hurd campaign sequestered the media in a curtained area away from everyone, but then required any of them to be escorted by a Hurd staffer if they attempted to go anywhere in the establishment, including to the bathroom.

Ashby spent the rest of the column checking in with journalists who were on the scene and collecting their takeaways from the event.

“My one-word summation of that gathering would be ‘weird,’” said Nancy Lofholm, a longtime Western Slope journalist who was credentialed for the Colorado Sun.

More from Lofholm in the piece:

“From the giant lanyard things hung on us at the door, to being herded up to the dark-curtained press pen, to being shepherded everywhere by an overeager young intern, including out the front door, it was just weird … And then to have Hurd come in to the pen for a brief interview that included a statement that ‘I will be accessible to the media.’ On what terms? As a political newbie, does he maybe not realize that this is not normal?”

I reached out to Hurd earlier this week via his campaign website’s contact form and a DM on Twitter/X, and hit him up via email at his law firm address on Thursday and again this morning, but didn’t hear back. I’ll update this if and when I do. (Having not corresponded with Hurd before, I can’t be sure he got the messages.)

Jace DiCola, a new reporter for the Sentinel, asked Ashby if the conditions that he’d experienced covering his first Election Night watch party were normal.

“The 10 or so reporters from various newspapers and TV stations were sequestered in a makeshift room on the venue’s second floor, where we could not leave without a Hurd staffer’s direct supervision,” he told Ashby. “Yes, that included using the restroom.”

Furthermore, “those members of the media were told that if they happened to hear something through the curtains, that they were to treat it as off the record unless they gained specific permission from the Hurd campaign, which, by the way ignored two of my [inquiries] into the matter over the past couple of days,” Ashby wrote.

He added that he told the young reporter that, no, such conditions are “absolutely not” normal.

Read the whole piece here.

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‘A lot of expansion opportunity for what we do in Colorado,’ says O’Rourke Media CEO

Last spring, an Arizona-based newspaper publisher bought a string of newspapers in Colorado’s Central Mountains region.

The new owner was O’Rourke Media Group, which also owns papers in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Vermont, Delaware, Virginia, Arizona, and New Mexico.

This week, the man behind the company, Jim O’Rourke, talked about what has worked in local newspaper ownership with Colorado Press Association CEO Tim Regan-Porter on an episode of the podcast Local News Matters.

“I don’t know if we could do a better job in Pagosa,” O’Rourke said at one point, spotlighting the Pagosa Sun, which he purchased last fall and calls a “very, very, very profitable business.” And he teased that he might be trying to expand in the state.

Regan-Porter described O’Rourke as having a “contrarian mindset” toward industry trends like paywalls and philanthropic funding. And also sponsored content in the community journalism space, which the two spoke about at length.

“Paywalls and digital subscriptions are not the solution for the local news media industry,” O’Rourke said at one point in the conversation.

O’Rourke also spoke candidly about what it’s like running a printing press in Colorado, noting at one point how hard it can be to find somebody these days to “come in and run a community Goss press,” especially in a mountain town where the cost of living can be out of reach. (Fun fact: The Aurora Sentinel currently prints in Salida where O’Rourke owns the Mountain Mail.)

He also got into the weeds about the effect of tariffs on local community newspaper printers in the United States.

Here are some more parts that jumped out at me while listening:

• “I think we've done a fantastic job in the sponsored content space,” O’Rourke said. He added: “The sponsored content story goes in print. It goes in newsletters. It goes on the customer's website, the customer's Facebook. I mean, there are just so many viral connections to doing sponsored content really well, and our news teams have been great.”

• Also about sponsored content: “We have editors and reporters that help also, and when they do so, they get a spiff. You know, we try to pay them extra for it because it’s additional to their core reporting duties.” Also: “This will lead to a whole network of freelancers that specialize in sponsored content-type stuff. And guess what else? You know, when you delve into the analytics, the sponsored content stuff we do, it’s some of the most read news on our websites. So people love it. People love their high-interest stories, and businesses are willing to pay for it.” On identifying sponsored content: “It’s very clearly tagged. There is separation,” O’Rourke said, but, “to have an editor or publisher embracing that instead of, like, saying, ‘Oh, no,’ you know, ‘that goes against the grain.’ That’s what wouldn’t work in our company.”

• On artificial intelligence: “It's not hardly embedded in our newsrooms right now. I'm sure certain editors are tinkering with it and, you know, using it where it makes sense, but we're finding that still requires editing and checks for your accuracy as well.” But, “We have great success with AI on the business side. We're using it to write copy on websites.”

• On potentially converting to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan company: “That’s the goal because I think it could be really impactful. I think how we run the culture within our company, it really drives a sense of engagement that if we keep having success and we're able to grow the business, I would like nothing more than for people making that happen to be rewarded in ways that they won't be on the regular course.”

• On expansion: “I love Colorado. I think there’s a lot of expansion opportunity for what we do in Colorado. … In some markets, it could be starting new or going into a market that's not being served the right way now. I’ll keep that quiet, but I have a real specific town in place where I know what we do could work with the right investment. And I think there’s a lot of family owners that are gonna look to exit over the next 3, 5, 10 years.”

Listen to the whole podcast or find the entire episode transcribed here.

Plainsman Herald in southeast Colorado is looking for ways to ‘keep it rolling’

This summer, the Plainsman Herald newspaper in the southeast Colorado town of Springfield announced it would likely close by the end of the year.

“The current plan is for the final issue of the Plainsman Herald to be printed the last week of December 2024, but plans are still in development,” the paper told its readers.

But this week, owner Kent Brooks said in a phone conversation that after some polling in the community and hearing from residents, he is seeing what might be done to salvage the only newspaper serving Baca County.

“We’re looking for a way to keep it rolling,” he said, adding that he would likely need to make a decision fairly soon. “We’ve been in several conversations with folks. We’re still open to not closing. … We’re still looking at our options.”

On its Facebook page this week, the paper told its followers what it’s up to — and what it needs.

From the post:

Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete our recent survey. We’ve been studiously hunting for ways to keep the Plainsman Herald running, but to make this happen, we would need help covering essential community meetings, including those of the county commissioners, town council, and school board.

With that in mind, we’re reaching out for volunteers or contractors who can assist in reporting on these important events. This is a unique opportunity to play an active role in keeping your local newspaper alive and thriving. This may be our most important issue in making our final decision whether to continue publication of this 137 year old paper.

If you’re interested, please email us at editor@plainsmanherald.com or stop by the office to learn more. Keeping the Plainsman Herald going will require a true community effort—together, we can make it happen!

Sure would be nice to see this paper survive.

The Gazette is lowkey looking for freelancers ‘throughout Colorado’

In September, the Gazette’s executive editor, Vince Bzdek, casually announced toward the end of a personal column that the Colorado and Denver-based paper would create a statewide freelance initiative.

The editor put a date of Oct. 15 on the launch of what he called The Colorado Network, saying it would be a “digital platform that will enlist freelance journalists around the state to cover news for The Gazette.”

That date, in the swing of a big statewide and presidential election, came and went with no larger announcement.

But this week, Clarity Media, which owns the Gazette, put out a job listing stating it is “looking for freelance writers and photographers to cover stories in all corners of Colorado.”

More from the listing:

We’re looking for regional freelancers on the West Slope, in Eastern Colorado, Southern Colorado, the San Luis Valley, and throughout the Rocky Mountains. Writers should specialize in covering issues important to residents of rural areas, including cost of living, water, energy, agriculture, healthcare, population growth, affordable housing, wildlife, outdoor recreations, arts and entertainment.

Writers and photographers also should have experience in covering breaking news, so that we can tap journalists in specific locations when news happens out around the state. Writers and photographers should have 2- to 5-years’ experience covering news events and working on longer-range enterprise projects, trend stories and feature stories.

Freelancers are independent contractors (self-employed). They will be vetted by Gazette editors and entered into our Colorado Network database.

The listing calls payment “negotiable.”

The development of a new freelance network in Colorado is a state-based version of a national model pioneered nearly a decade ago by the Washington Post.

The move also comes on the heels of the nonprofit Colorado Sun’s recent announcement that it has plans to set up “regional hubs” across the state.

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More Colorado media odds & ends

🆕 The Fort Collins Report, calling itself “an independent, nonprofit newsroom dedicated to providing Fort Collins residents with accurate, accessible, and community-driven news,” quietly launched this week. I hope to have more details about it in the next edition of this newsletter.

🎥 Get your tickets for the World Premiere of the Youth Documentary Academy in Colorado Springs taking place tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 16. Find more info here about this important and impactful event and initiative that “trains young people how to locate stories from their lived experiences and direct their own documentary films.” (Seriously, check it out. The Journalism Institute at Colorado College is a sponsor.)

🪦 Bill Husted, a longtime self-described gossip columnist on the Denver society beat, died at home this week at 76 after a battle with cancer, multiple media outlets reported. “Husted was a fan of cigars and great books and Key West and the correct pickles,” wrote Patty Calhoun of Westword. “He was obsessed with the electoral college, an odd interest for an entertainment columnist. He did not care so much about spelling. But he cared about his work, and he cared about this town.” Hired away as a server from Boccalino, Husted took on the town-and-gown crowd for the Rocky Mountain News in 1983 and later wrote for the Denver Post. “The news media ecosystem at the time supported more than one of those jobs in town,” wrote the Post’s John Wenzel this week in a remembrance.

🆕 Rocky Mountain Community Radio announced this week it has hired Caroline Llanes as the network’s first rural climate reporter. “In this role, Caroline will focus on telling the stories of rural communities across the region, examining how climate change impacts the people, environments, and economies of the Rocky Mountain West,” the coalition said in a statement.

🤦‍♂️ Speaking of … in an item in last week’s newsletter, I mistakenly left out Rocky Mountain Community Radio, known as RMCR, from a list of news organizations benefiting from a recent grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

🎬 Former local Denver journalist and current Denver City Councilman Kevin Flynn’s work on the new film “The Order,” about the neo-Nazis behind the assassination of Jewish Denver radio host Alan Berg that stars actor Jude Law, is a “win for journalism,” wrote John Moore of the Denver Gazette.

🗽 Greg Maffei, the president and CEO of Colorado-based Liberty Media, is stepping down. “The company says the 64-year-old Maffei will leave his role when his contract expires at the end of the year and become an adviser,” the Associated Press reported. “Liberty Media’s 83-year-old chairman John Malone will be the interim CEO.”

🙏 Thanks to Denver PR pro Jeremy Story at GFM|CenterTable for shouting out this newsletter’s reporting in his Denver Public Relations Blog, where he rounds up a list of “Who Had the Worst Week.”

⚖️ Colorado’s second-highest court agreed this week “that a former executive of Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems may proceed with a defamation claim against Rudy Giuliani for his unproven accusations of election rigging in the 2020 presidential race,” Michael Karlik reported for Colorado Politics.

🆕 Amanda Gilbert is the new “northern Colorado multi-skilled journalist at 9NEWS. Viewers can find her “writing, shooting and editing a lot of stories somewhere north of Denver.”

🗳 More than 50 Colorado College students over the past two years “worked tirelessly to create a judicial retention election resource, which was published in the Colorado Springs Independent in September,” Julia Fennell wrote for the college.

🗣 9NEWS Investigates obtained an audio recording of a top deputy to Democratic Colorado Secretary of State Jenna Griswold telling county elections clerks the office didn’t want to alert the clerks about a voting machine passwords data breach because the office was afraid of a “media storm.” The county clerks were upset because they learned about the breach in the news. Elections security experts have said the leaked passwords alone “were not enough to compromise” the state’s election system, a 9NEWS anchor said.

🔎 Notable data story of the week: Hannah Metzger of Westword relied on state motor vehicle registration data to find out which Colorado counties have the most Tesla Cybertrucks. (No spoilers here, she deserves the click.)

📈 Eric Anderson of Denver agency SE2 saw a post-election LinkedIn post of his go viral that said: “Exhausted political reporters are waking up to questions about whether the sun has set on the influence of legacy #media outlets, at least when it comes to national politics. My generation was inspired to pursue journalism by role models like Bob Woodward, who changed history. Who or what will inspire [today’s] teens and young adults to pursue #journalism careers now defined by poor pay and abuse?”

🪧 Federal prosecutors have accused three supporters of Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade, who is Black, of staging a racist cross-burning in front of the candidate’s sign along with a racist slur in the final days of his April runoff campaign. Shelly Bradbury of the Denver Post reported the indictment describes the three as “associated with the nonprofit organization Family Flavors the Slide WBN, which ‘marketed itself as a minority-owned independent broadcasting and multimedia organization.’”

☀️ The American Journalism Project published a little item this week titled “Strengthening local news in Colorado: A look at our new support for The Colorado Sun,” and said its “new $1.4 million investment … will help the nonprofit news organization expand and broaden its reach across Colorado.”

💸 “I can sympathize with [a] fellow Boomer letter writer, who has reluctantly given up his subscription to the printed Camera,” Lenna Kottke wrote in a letter published in the Boulder Daily Camera newspaper. “The recent series of eye-popping rate increases has made the luxury of a physical paper less and less affordable.” The letter continues: “Yet I hope to continue to fund my subscription and the outstanding work of hardworking local reporters like Amber Carlson and editor Gary Garrison because I want to read about what’s going on in my community without having to stare at a computer or my phone.”

🗣 “For now, real journalism has never been more important. Americans may be selfish and inattentive, but they’re not stupid,” wrote Aurora Sentinel Editor Dave Perry. “All Americans, and responsible journalists, know that winning the election did not absolve Trump of his past, nor change who he is. He is not just another U.S. politician and president. The slate was not wiped clean on Nov. 5.”

I’m Corey Hutchins, manager of the Colorado College Journalism Institute and a board member of the state Society of Professional Journalists chapter. 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. (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.