At 125 years old, The Post is just getting started

As we at The Denver Post prepared to celebrate our 125th anniversary, I had the opportunity to spend time reviewing our past — the historic front pages and photos that captured great joy and great sadness, the colorful characters who worked for this institution and the fine journalism we created.

The honor and responsibility of serving as editor of this news organization are not lost on me.

The challenges facing our industry are, to be sure, daunting. But our history teaches us that The Denver Post has fought through repeated challenges over its 125 years. Years of fat profits morphed into years of financial instability. A model that worked in one part of a century had to be scrapped as habits and sensibilities evolved.

We transitioned from our splashy early days to the respectability brought by my predecessor, Palmer Hoyt. We switched from an afternoon paper to a morning one. We’ve gone from a business locked in an epic newspaper war to a victor immediately confronted by the task of navigating a digital environment that arrived long before we understood its power.

From our earliest days, change has forced us to make many difficult decisions that were not universally embraced by our readers. It also compels us to examine what we do, how we do it and why.

I’m confident we will never again own a circus or sell coal, as we once did.

But there is much I expect we will do.

Our editorial voice will not be silent when confronted with injustice.

We will tell your stories using the many tools now at our disposal. We will keep holding the people with power accountable. We will do our best to explain that which is complicated and important. We will try every day to give you some news you can’t find anywhere else, something so interesting you will want to talk it over with your friends and family. Of course, we will keep you informed. We will entertain you a bit and maybe make you re-evaluate an old idea.

To the readers who have been with us for decades, I thank you for your support and loyalty.

To those who have joined us more recently, welcome. I think our journey has just begun.