{"id":1319637,"date":"2020-04-26T18:48:51","date_gmt":"2020-04-27T00:48:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=995961"},"modified":"2020-04-26T18:48:51","modified_gmt":"2020-04-27T00:48:51","slug":"guest-column-local-news-collaboration-in-the-time-of-covid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/guest-column-local-news-collaboration-in-the-time-of-covid\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest column: Local news collaboration in the time of COVID"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"699\" height=\"435\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/04\/COVIDClm-gpi-042720.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/04\/COVIDClm-gpi-042720.png 699w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/04\/COVIDClm-gpi-042720-300x187.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 699px) 100vw, 699px\"><figcaption><strong>Journalists from around Colorado meet via Zoom for a COVID Diaries planning session. Courtesy of Melissa Milios Davis.<\/strong><br \/><em>COVIDClm-gpi-042720<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The image is familiar, even mundane, to most of us now: a dozen or more faces peer out against various backgrounds \u2013 some real, some green-screened \u2013 talking and planning across many miles. Together, apart.<\/p>\n<p>But it was an unprecedented group that first gathered on April 1 \u2013 in more ways than one. First, the faces were of journalists from newsrooms from across Colorado, who in previous years have been more accustomed to competition than collaboration. Second, the group was finding unity in a common purpose \u2013 how working together could help each of them reach more Coloradans with accurate, timely, potentially life-saving updates and rigorous reporting in the unprecedented time of COVID.<\/p>\n<p>Since that first Zoom call less than a month ago, nearly 100 journalists representing over 40 newsrooms across the state have joined the<i class=\"fas fa-external-link-alt\"><\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/colabnews.co\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Colorado News Collaborative<\/a><i class=\"fas fa-external-link-alt\"><\/i> \u2013 which now includes the state\u2019s largest and smallest newspapers, radio and television stations, digital news outlets, and professional journalism associations. A major factor prompting each to join the COLab, as it\u2019s called, is a common need to figure out how to do more with less.<\/p>\n<p>Why? While online news traffic is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/03\/20\/business\/coronavirus-news-sites.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">surging<\/a><i class=\"fas fa-external-link-alt\"><\/i> due to reader demand for trustworthy local news and information, Colorado\u2019s newsrooms themselves are running on fumes.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row gspi-donation gspi-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Some of this isn\u2019t new: With Google and Facebook gobbling up more than 60 percent of local digital ad revenue annually, the number of journalists in Colorado has declined by 44% between 2010 and 2018, and nearly one in five Colorado newspapers has closed its doors since 2004.<\/p>\n<p>Last fall, the<a href=\"http:\/\/coloradomediaproject.com\/public-good\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Colorado Media Project reported<\/a><i class=\"fas fa-external-link-alt\"><\/i> that at least 30 Colorado counties \u2014 most of them rural \u2014 have been left with only a single source of original local journalism.<\/p>\n<p>Now, with local advertising plummeting to historic lows, the COVID crisis is already<a href=\"https:\/\/www.coloradoindependent.com\/2020\/03\/26\/colorado-coronavirus-newsrooms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> further expanding Colorado\u2019s news deserts<\/a><i class=\"fas fa-external-link-alt\"><\/i>, reshaping the local news landscape in ways it may never recover.<\/p>\n<p>The formation of the Colorado News Collaborative is a bright spot in these dark days. Participating newsrooms are joining forces to coordinate coverage to avoid duplication and maximize resources; cover more stories about people and communities statewide that are currently going untold; collaborate across newsrooms on data-driven accountability journalism; and facilitate wider distribution of stories, in both English and other languages, in order to better serve the public.<\/p>\n<p>Today and throughout the coming week, in front-page newspaper stories and broadcast features across Colorado, COLab partners are releasing their first major collaborative storytelling project: <a href=\"http:\/\/colabnews.co\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">COVID Diaries Colorado<\/a><i class=\"fas fa-external-link-alt\"><\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>On April 16, the deadliest day to date in the U.S. coronavirus pandemic, scores of reporters from across Colorado set out to find how people were coping. They found stories of grit, ingenuity and hope. You can find some of their stories in this publication, and all of them are online at <a href=\"http:\/\/colabnews.co\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/colabnews.co<\/a><i class=\"fas fa-external-link-alt\"><\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>So now if you\u2019re sufficiently inspired, and wondering: How can we support these dedicated local journalists \u2014 among the short list acknowledged as <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1O1EDCY6-A6QBKxzDImCSF8bBBdOOI3Km\/view\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">essential workers<\/a><i class=\"fas fa-external-link-alt\"><\/i> by Governor Jared Polis \u2014 in this challenging time?<\/p>\n<p>Most subscription-based newsrooms have already taken down their paywalls to allow free, full access to their COVID-19 coverage.<\/p>\n<p>So for readers who have room in their budgets, now is the time to sign up for a subscription to your local newspaper, to show that you value the hard work that your local journalists \u2014 your neighbors \u2014 are putting in each day. Nonprofit and public-benefit newsrooms are also hoping that local readers and philanthropists will donate generously, to demonstrate they agree that independent reporting on local news is an essential service.<\/p>\n<p>As Coloradans, many of us are rallying to support our local restaurants, retail outlets, and service workers \u2014 let\u2019s add local newsrooms to our list of worthy causes.<\/p>\n<p><em>Melissa Milios Davis is acting director of the <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/coloradomediaproject.com\/\"><em>Colorado Media Project<\/em><\/a><em> and vice president for informed communities, <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/gatesfamilyfoundation.org\/\"><em>Gates Family Foundation<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/opinion\/guest-column-local-news-collaboration-in-the-time-of-covid\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Journalists from around Colorado meet via Zoom for a COVID Diaries planning session. Courtesy of Melissa Milios Davis.COVIDClm-gpi-042720 The image is familiar, even mundane, to most of us now: a dozen or more faces peer out against various backgrounds \u2013 some real, some green-screened \u2013 talking and planning across many miles. Together, apart. But it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1319637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-04 00:42:20","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1319637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319637\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1319637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1319637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1319637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}