In Denver, Civic-Minded 'Colorado Sun' Acquires Suburban Newspaper Chain

A group of disheartened former Denver Post editors and reporters launched an upstart news site 2 1/2 years ago, called it The Colorado Sun, and hoped it could rescue local news coverage from the dictates of hedge fund owners and Wall Street investors.

On Monday morning, The Sun announced it had acquired and would operate a family-owned chain of 24 suburban newspapers around Denver.

"These are the folks who are covering school boards, city councils, county commissions that no one else is covering," Larry Ryckman, the editor-in-chief of The Colorado Sun, tells NPR. "They provide unique local coverage. And we're doing this so that we can preserve those voices."

The idea of a new digital start-up acquiring old-fashioned print newspapers might seem illogical: Many launch precisely because they do not see a sustainable path in print. As coverage of many communities withers or even disappears, Ryckman says he hopes to provide a sustainable financial model for outlets to provide hyperlocal news reporting.

The acquisition occurred in partnership with the National Trust for Local News, a new nonprofit that becomes a co-owner in the new venture and is an offshoot of the Lenfest Institute. The institute was set up by the late Gerry Lenfest, an entrepreneur and philanthropist who bought the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News and transferred their ownership to a major local foundation.

In Denver, the dominant paper is the Post. Its owner, the hedge fund Alden Global Capital, is known for buying newspaper properties in financial distress and then squeezing greater profits from them. Alden appears poised to take over the newspapers of Tribune Publishing, which includes the Chicago Tribune and the Baltimore Sun, among other major metro dailies, and the suburban papers in the regions that surround them. (The Maryland hotel magnate and philanthropist Stewart Bainum Jr. is seeking partners to outbid Alden.) Ryckman says his team was intent on preventing that from happening in Denver.

Some of these papers date back more than a century: Ryckman noted the Golden Transcript is 153 years old.

"All too often these days, we all know who is first in line to buy newspapers, and that's hedge funds or the occasional billionaire," Ryckman says. "We couldn't count on a benevolent billionaire galloping up on a white horse. And we were worried about a hedge fund coming in. And this seems an ideal way for us to ensure that these community voices can continue and thrive and operate under local ownership."

The Colorado Sun, which will drive the papers editorially, is a public benefit corporation, which means it is a for-profit outfit that promises to perform a civic good in a way that is responsible and sustainable. The papers will now be run under the banner of the Colorado News Conservancy. It is also receiving help from the the Colorado Media Project, an initiative supported by the Gates Family Foundation.

The papers have been owned by Jerry and Ann Healey, the owners and publishers of Colorado Community Media.

"We've worked hard to preserve the local integrity of these newspapers. They give their communities stories, information and government accountability they can't get anywhere else — and connect businesses directly with readers," Jerry Healey said in a statement. "This exciting partnership allows Ann and I to step back with a sense of gratitude, knowing these local voices will continue to be heard and that these news sources will not only thrive, but also innovate as they move forward under new local leadership."

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