Why should concerned citizens and residents, including state and local officials, care about what’s happening in Colorado’s local journalism industry? What new models and trends are transforming Colorado’s local news landscape — for better and worse? And who must be involved in ensuring that all Colorado communities have equitable access to trustworthy local civic news and information that equips and engages all residents — particularly those historically left out and left behind — to shape the future of our state?
On September 21, 2023, Colorado Media Project convened 130 stakeholders —journalists, nonprofit leaders, community members, policy staffers, philanthropy and business leaders — from across the state and beyond to celebrate and reflect on the five years since our launch.
To set the stage for the 2023 CMP Summit, we released a new report, “Reimagining Colorado’s Public Square”, which lifts up:
Global trends that are shaping local news and civic engagement
A growing body of research that answers the question: How do we know local news is good for democracy?
Current, state-specific data on who’s producing local news in Colorado, including new analyses on ownership and the amount of original, local content being produced
Highlights from a statewide audience survey exposing: What do Coloradans want from local news?
Recent investments and current priorities for CMP and its funders — from hyperlocal and statewide newsrooms, to ecosystem-strengthening “big bets”, to multi-pronged efforts to advance equity in local news
“Reimagining Colorado’s Public Square” is an update to CMP’s 2019 report, “Local News is a Public Good” — not only refreshing key data points, but also spotlighting what we know Colorado communities want, need, and expect from local news, and challenging all of us to rise to the occasion.
At the 2023 Summit, we asked the question: What does a healthy local news ecosystem look like in five years? And most importantly — how do we get there?
Participants were treated to five inspiring “flash talks” — visions for the future of local news, provided by Colorado community and journalism leaders:
Tiya Trent, Project VOYCE: "Our stories are getting out — but mainstream media still has a megaphone to the broader public. So, it’s essential to consider how youth are portrayed and how news about people of color reaches those in power. We have to stop gatekeeping — we really need to understand that youth are the future — they are the present, and the future."
Maeve Conran, Rocky Mountain Radio Coalition: "Collaboration works, and this is true across all platforms, including digital. It is possible to collaborate, share resources and content, while still maintaining the unique identity and voice of your own news outlet, and while still staying true to our primary platform."
Kyle Clark, 9NEWS: "Sitting this one out — letting some other journalist or some other news outlet cover threats to American democracy — isn't impartiality or editorial discretion. It's a decision to enable those threats to democracy. It would be as if a local TV station decided not to cover a wildfire racing toward homes and people. It's OK to be anti-wildfire. And it's OK to be pro-democracy."
Corey Hutchins, Colorado College Journalism Institute: "We should probably accept the number of legacy or traditional journalism jobs that we lost over the past several years really aren’t coming back — at least not in the ways they previously existed. The ones that emerge over the next five years are likely to look different. Might they be more in digital development, audience engagement, curation, artificial intelligence. The metaverse or the blockchain. Might they be fact-checkers cleaning up Nextdoor and funded by sources we aren’t yet thinking about, including publicly funded sources."
Olga González, Cultivando: "In five years, a healthy news ecosystem would include newsrooms partnering with promotoras — as translators, as connectors — and even compensating them for their time, expertise and social capital. These are not transactional relationships - your typical source-reporter relationship is not enough. I challenge all of us to think of these roles and the value that they bring as you consider who belongs in your newsroom, in order to represent and reach all of Colorado’s residents."
Olga González, Maeve Conlan, Corey Hutchins and Tiya Trent at the 2023 Colorado Media Project Summit
Participants spent the majority of the Summit engaged in table conversations — facilitated by one journalist and one non-journalist table host, and captured by a scribe — and narrowing down the most important qualities of a healthy local news and civic information ecosystem, the most important priorities we can focus on NOW in order to get there, as well as the tradeoffs and threats that must be addressed.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Thanks to everyone who participated, we are now synthesizing key takeaways from the 2023 CMP Summit into an Executive Summary, and will share a draft with participants in October and the public in November.
In late October, as part of the Denver Democracy Summit, CMP hosted a follow-up workshop with state and national media leaders, to continue shaping an ecosystem-level vision for supporting Colorado communities and newsrooms in replacing local news deserts and polarization with powerful storytelling and civic news, public accountability, engaged residents, and meaningful civil discourse.
Corey Hutchins (Colorado Media Project/Colorado College), Arun Venkataraman (Google News Initiative), Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro (National Trust for Local News) and Jim Brady (Knight Foundation) discuss “The Critical Role of Local Media in the Democracy Ecosystem” at the 2023 Denver Democracy Summit, hosted by the Korbel School at University of Denver.
CMP is also using these conversations to shape our grant opportunities in 2024 and beyond — beginning with our third round of Advancing Equity in Local News funding. Applications for the open-call grant opportunity will be posted in late October 2023.
Finally, the 2023 CMP Summit was held against the backdrop of a historic $500 million commitment and ongoing Press Forward fundraising campaign to engage more national and place-based philanthropic leaders in supporting the fields of journalism and civic engagement. So these conversations are also a part of CMP’s goal to keep Colorado — its newsrooms and its communities — on the forefront of the national conversation.
We hope that you will continue to engage with us on this journey!