Who will step up and save The Denver Post?
People constantly ask me how I feel about the deep cuts and layoffs that have been chipping away at The Denver Post. Well, I’m sad but I’m also angry.
I left in March 2016 after 14 years as editor because I was done laying off journalists. At the time, I referenced a staff photograph hanging in our vestibule (the same photo that is on this page) and said far too many folks in it were gone. Enough was enough.
Naively, I hoped my departure might stanch the bleeding. I’m sad because it has continued, and I’m angry because I now realize The Post might not endure.
We were a pretty good newspaper for a real long time (winning nine Pulitzer Prizes over our 125year history). We have provided a rich variety of news, opinion and information every day. I will miss it if it is gone. We all will.
The journalists who remain will try their best, as they always have. But there is just so much they can do with the dwindling resources they have. If the paper’s demise comes to pass, there will never be another Denver Post.
The question is whether we who care about quality journalism will let it happen.
The Post has been an integral part of progress in Colorado. It supported building Denver Inter-
national Airport, the 16th Street Mall, the Colorado Convention Center and Mile High Stadium. It helped the community heal after fires, floods and unspeakable gun violence. It explained how we were changing politically and demographically, and it exposed corruption and malfeasance. It has provided a window and a mirror to help us become a better community.
I don’t know how long The Post is going to be around, but I can tell you the watchdog as we know it is being put to sleep.
The Post cannot do its job starved of resources the way it
is now. Deep investigations can take months, running down news tips can take days, gathering and analyzing records can cost thousands of dollars, and getting the right photograph that tells a story better than words ever can takes patience. All of that is at stake with the relentless cutting taking place.
What happens when government refuses to release records or demands extreme payment for them? What happens when communities are flooded or are on fire? Do we think bloggers and “citizen journalists” will risk their well-being to tell those stories or fight those fights? Is it even reasonable to expect them to do so? No, and I don’t think it will happen, either.
Only professional journalists
will get the job done. And only a properly resourced news organization can cross swords with other powerful interests and come out on top.
What has happened to the newspaper industry cannot simply be explained by the rise of the internet. A lack of imagination and entrepreneurial thinking is also to blame. Bereft of ideas, most owners have embraced cost cutting to maintain profit margin over trying to grow the business.
It is heartbreaking to watch. But metro Denver and the rest of Colorado should not suffer because of those decisions. Personally, I can’t imagine our community without The Post. I don’t want to see power go unchecked or the soundtrack of our community
snuffed out.
We still miss the Rocky Mountain News since it closed in 2009, when 200 journalists lost their jobs. We will mourn The Post even more if it disappears — which would make us the only major metropolitan area in America without a daily newspaper.
I alone don’t have the answers about what can be done, but collectively we might.
Government, business, media, community and civic leadership should brainstorm solutions and come up with a strategy to preserve The Post. Not everybody loves it, but everybody needs it — whether they know it or not.
Solutions could include a private-public partnership for funding it, finding a buyer, creating a foundation, establishing some kind of trust, or convincing the current owners to invest in the product with, possibly, some incentives and guarantees. Withdrawing support altogether and focusing on a new product seems the least promising approach, but maybe that is what it will take.
Maybe new thinking and energy can change the trajectory of The Post and the public interest.
As much as any institution, The Denver Post has made Colorado what it is today and it can continue to play an important role in the future if we act now.