Cuts to local newspapers hurt all local news
The heartbreaking decline of The Denver Post is a calculated strangulation by vulture capitalists who own and still profit from the business. But this isn’t the only extinction-level media event we’re witnessing.
The staggering cuts to newspapers nationally is an urgent problem because newspapers fuel an entire media ecosystem. What’s lost when a community loses a daily paper goes well beyond what rolls off the printing press each day.
TV stations begin their editorial meetings by combing the local newspapers to set the story lineup. Gutting the local print outlet in turn debilitates local electronic and digital outlets. A skimpier rundown on the evening newscast and a more superficial impression results.
Cloying but true: “Democracy dies in darkness.”
Newspapers traditionally were a different animal than the newer media, more capable of research and thought, with deeper staffs, greater resources and wellmaintained libraries.
Denver, the No. 19 TV market, not so long ago had two competitive daily papers to help shape public discourse and keep an eye on democracy. If The Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News weren’t always brimming with life-changing exposés, they at least contained faithful attention to public meetings and government committee hearings, background on business achievements and disputes, profiles of colorful characters and investigative work — you know, the stuff of civic life.
Newspaper beat reporters sifting through dull government agency filings regularly turned up hints of what would become juicy stories, played out over days and weeks in newsprint, then copied and amplified on local radio and TV news.
The amplification process now extends to the blogosphere and social media, too. It’s loud out there, but the source material is minimized. Instead of hundreds of print reporters competing for the latest story, fanning out across the city and around the state to reflect the current reality, we now have a vastly diminished newsroom relocated outside Denver.
The number of stories that go uncovered climbs as the number of watchdogs shrinks. The talent and institutional memory that walks out the door each time another round of layoffs and buyouts is announced is staggering.
Admittedly, those of us who lived and loved newspaper life hold a romanticized view of the role of local journalism. The daily grind isn’t about Pulitzer Prizes. It’s about sitting through school board meetings, chasing down a rumor, making routine calls to sources and, not least, sizing up local arts and entertainment options. (Still, romance is part of the package. Who didn’t share goosebumps when The Washington Post’s presses rolled in the movie “The Post” or the Boston Globe’s in “Spotlight”?)
The unglamorous grind by a large and dedicated staff is what it takes to produce such historic breakthroughs. Sadly, Denver’s one remaining daily paper is being ground down and hollowed out by owners who care nothing for journalism but seek only more profits. Presumably they’ll declare bankruptcy in a few years and sell the place for parts.
The latest wave of talent will exit The Post on Monday. What can be done before the traditions and mechanisms of heavylifting local journalism are completely lost? An increasingly vibrant city deserves a daily dose of thoughtful, nonpartisan, well-researched and carefully edited reportage, opinion and features.
My more traditional peers will disagree, but the format is increasingly beside the point. The “dead tree product” may not be the way forward; digital-only may have to do, as long as the staff is large, skilled and supported enough to deliver a journalistically solid product.
Whether the answer lies in some form of public-private partnership, a nonprofit foundation assuming the role of publisher, an employee-owned enterprise, or a local Jeff Bezos-like billionaire riding to the rescue, the situation is dire.
A growing population has access to great new restaurants, a thriving arts scene, light rail, a truly international airport, a booming tech sector — this should be a moment to celebrate. If we are to once again “Imagine a great city,” we’ll need a great newspaper.
Joanne Ostrow was The Denver Post’s TV critic from 1984-2016.