by Nancy Watzman

We began 2019 at Colorado Media Project with new investments and partners to build community support for local news in Colorado.

We end the year stronger. CMP’s work with partners enjoys more investment from local and national funders. We have many more partners, including our new fiscal sponsor, Rose Community Foundation. And thanks to the hundreds of Coloradans who have participated in CMP projects and events this year, we know that there’s a strong vein of public concern about the future of local news in our state.

And yet the challenges before us remain enormous. Consider:

One in five Colorado newspapers has closed since 2004.
The number of Colorado journalists declined by 44% between 2010 and 2018 -- while the state's economy and population were booming.
PR pros now outnumber journalists nearly 10 to 1 in Colorado.
Coloradans feel overwhelmed by information from social media at the same time they feel disconnected from trusted community news sources.

That’s why in 2020, Colorado Media Project will focus on two major initiatives:

Engaging More Coloradans in the Future of Local News and Civic Participation: Building on the release of CMP’s “Local News is a Public Good: Public Pathways for Supporting Coloradans’ Civic News and Information Needs in the 21st Century and community conversations about the report, CMP will invest in seeding more local conversations and design thinking across the state about the future of local news. We’ll focus on strengthening ties and building trust between newsrooms and communities so that more Coloradans have the information they need to participate in democracy and civil society.
Supporting a New Mission-Driven Collaborative for Colorado Newsrooms: Opening in 2020, the COLab at Rocky Mountain Public Media’s new downtown building will be a hub for this work, starting with the core group of 10 Colorado newsrooms and support organizations co-locating there. CMP is funding strategic and business planning for the future partners, who are setting the vision and goals for how they’ll collaborate among themselves — and with news organizations and communities throughout the state. CMP also plans to invest in staffing and resources to support the new collaborative. Watch future COLab partners talk about collaboration!

Want to learn more about either of these initiatives? Join us on Wednesday, January 22 from Noon to 1 p.m. for the first in our 2020 CMP Brown Bag Webinar series. RSVP today.

In addition, at the end of 2019, I will be stepping down as director of Colorado Media Project, and transitioning to the local advisory committee. I won’t be going far. In 2020, I’ll be working on several projects in Colorado and beyond to help journalists and researchers with the training, tools, and information they need to detect and track online viral mis- and dis-information. We know we are not prepared for the deluge that is already underway. More details on that soon.

Meanwhile, CMP Executive Committee member Melissa Davis, V.P. of Informed Communities for Gates Family Foundation, will direct the project in the interim, taking CMP forward in 2020 and supporting the vision of Colorado local news as a public good. Andrew Elliman and Alan Gottlieb remain with the project, and we’ll be adding a full-time Project Manager to the team — please share the job description with your networks! We’re also delighted to welcome Lindy Eichenbaum Lent to the executive committee of the Colorado Media Project in 2020.

We thank you for your support, now and going forward. Onward!

Nancy Watzman

Director, Colorado Media Project