Colorado Community Media sold to journalism partnership of NTLN & Colorado Sun

Colorado Community Media acquired Evergreen Newspapers - Canyon Courier, Clear Creek Courant, and 285 Hustler - last October.

'Tell stories that matter:' Colorado Community Media sold to journalism partnership
Colorado Sun, national foundation to take the reins of two dozen Denver-area newspapers
By David Gilbert, Colorado Community Media, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | Posted Monday, May 3, 2021 11:09 am

Colorado Community Media, the company that produces two dozen newspapers around the Denver-area suburbs — including this one — has been acquired by a local and national partnership with the goal of building a sustainable business model for local news, its ownership announced on May 3.

Jerry and Ann Healey, the couple who built the company over the past decade, sold the network of papers that now spans eight counties and dozens of communities to a joint partnership between the National Trust for Local News, or NTLN, and The Colorado Sun.

The acquisition is the first for NTLN, a nascent nonprofit that seeks to leverage national foundation funding to buy and bolster local newspapers threatened by faltering business models and the encroachment of hedge funds and corporate conglomerates.

The Colorado Sun, a statewide news outlet founded and run by former Denver Post journalists, will oversee daily operations at Colorado Community Media.

Colorado Sun with National Trust purchases 24 Front Range newspapers
A note from our editor: We’re proud to ensure that these community newspapers will remain in local hands and continue serving readers from Castle Rock to Brighton and beyond
By Larry Ryckman, The Colorado Sun, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | 9:30 AM MDT on May 3, 2021

I have an exciting announcement for you today: The Colorado Sun is now part owner and operator of 24 suburban newspapers in the Denver metro area.

The Sun has partnered with a new nonprofit called the National Trust for Local News, which is using this endeavor with us as a pilot project to show that national funders and local journalists can collaborate to keep newspapers in local hands.

Together, The Sun and the National Trust have purchased Colorado Community Media, which has 24 weekly and monthly newspapers serving eight counties including and surrounding Denver. Some of these newspapers are more than 100 years old (the Golden Transcript alone is 153 years old), and they range from Castle Rock to Brighton, Evergreen to Arvada, Parker to Denver’s Washington Park and beyond. Check out the new site coloradonewsconservancy.com for further details. You’ll also see a full list of newspapers later in this column.

The Sun and the National Trust will own and operate these newspapers together under the new title of Colorado News Conservancy, which — like The Sun — is a public benefit corporation dedicated to serving Colorado readers.

National Trust For Local News

WHO WE ARE
The National Trust for Local News is a nonprofit dedicated to keeping local news in local hands.

We work with communities to catalyze the capital, new ownership structures, and business model transformations needed for established local and community news organizations to thrive and remain deeply grounded in their communities.

The Colorado Sun - About Us

Our Mission

The Colorado Sun is a journalist-owned, award-winning news outlet based in Denver that strives to cover all of Colorado so that our state — our community — can better understand itself.

In this way, we believe we can contribute to a more vibrant, informed and whole Colorado.

We are committed to fact-based, in-depth and non-partisan journalism. We cover everything from politics and culture to the outdoor industry and education.

Our goal is not to turn a profit. Our goal is to produce the best possible journalism. We do that with the help of you, our readers, and community backers.

Every dollar we take in goes directly toward the journalism we produce. Period. That’s our promise to our readers — along with striving to make sure each and every one of our stories are worth your time.

We launched on Sept. 10, 2018.