"Demand has gone down for printed newspapers, but the supply chain for providing newspapers in a printed format is collapsing faster than the natural interest in a printed newspaper."
Just before Thanksgiving last year, Melissa Milios Davis was contacted by Jerry Healey, the co-owner along with his wife, Ann Healey of Colorado Community Media, which publishes 24 weekly and monthly newspapers in the Denver suburbs. The Healeys were approaching retirement and looking to sell, and they were hoping to avoid turning over…
285 Hustler
The papers, acquired from Colorado Community Media owner-publishers Jerry and Ann Healy, will be operated by the Sun under the banner of the Colorado News Conservancy, a public-benefit corporation, Ryckman’s blog post said. COLab and the Colorado Press Association will provide support.
The National Trust for Local News is supported by funding from the Denver-based Gates Family Foundation, Colorado Trust, American Journalism Project, Google News Initiative, Democracy Fund and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
“There is a growing coalition of people and institutions in Colorado who realize that trustworthy, nonpartisan local news is a public good that we all play a role in sustaining,” Melissa Milios Davis, director of the Colorado Media Project and vice president for informed communities at the Gates Family Foundation, said in a prepared statement. “Hyperlocal newsrooms are often the only ones covering what’s happening at city hall, in our public sch
The rise of online media has been devastating for community newspapers print publications that often serve as the only homegrown information source in small towns across the country, including many in Colorado. By one recent estimate, over 1,800 newspapers have closed across the United States since 2004, including about 1,700 weeklies.
The 24 newspapers and two advertising-based shoppers in the Colorado Community Media chain could have easily wound up suffering the same fate. For co-owners Jerry and Ann Healey, keeping the operation going has been a work-intensive labor of love for nearly a decade, but they ve reached a stage in their lives when they want more free time. The odds of finding a buyer for CCM seemed small, and without one, operations such as the
Press release content from Globe Newswire. The AP news staff was not involved in its creation.
24 Community Newspapers in Colorado Acquired by Local and National Funding Consortium
National Trust for Local NewsMay 3, 2021 GMT
Denver, CO, May 03, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) A first-of-its-kind local and national partnership has facilitated the purchase of a network of 24 weekly or monthly newspapers in Colorado, preserving local mission-focused community ownership.
This new collaboration creates a viable and replicable alternative to national consolidation of local news outlets by private equity or hedge funds. The transaction points a new way forward for communities in danger of losing control of local news enterprises that are in many cases the only independent news sources providing critical coverage of community issues.