In The NoCo

From AI to fading sunshine laws: "A difficult year" for Colorado's local media

By In The NoCo,

Erin O'Toole, Robyn Vincent, Ariel Lavery

Published April 3, 2024 at 3:45 AM MDT

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"The trend was that these giant printing presses were just crumbling... the National Trust for local news says let's see if we can actually bring one back," said Corey Hutchins, co-director of the Colorado College Journalism Institute.

It’s no secret there’s a crisis of shrinking local news across the U.S. And we know that in places where local news evaporates, democracy takes a hit. Government corruption tends to increase when powerful entities realize there's less media scrutiny on what they're doing.

"This year has been particularly difficult for the local media news business," says journalist Corey Hutchins. The co-director of the Colorado College Journalism Institute writes a weekly newsletter that goes behind our state’s headlines.

He recently sat down with In The NoCo's Erin O'Toole to discuss the health of Colorado media, including a few happenings that could have far-reaching impacts on our democracy.

You can subscribe to Corey Hutchins' weekly newsletter here.

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In The NoCo

KUNC's In The NoCo is a daily slice of stories, news, people and issues. It's a window to the communities along the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The show brings context and insight to the stories of the day, often elevating unheard voices in the process. And because life in Northern Colorado is a balance of work and play, we celebrate the lighter side of things here, too.

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Erin O'Toole

As the host of KUNC’s new program and podcast In the NoCo, I work closely with our producers and reporters to bring context and diverse perspectives to the important issues of the day. Northern Colorado is such a diverse and growing region, brimming with history, culture, music, education, civic engagement, and amazing outdoor recreation. I love finding the stories and voices that reflect what makes NoCo such an extraordinary place to live.

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Robyn Vincent

I wear many hats in KUNC's newsroom as an executive producer, editor and reporter. My work focuses on inequality, the systems of power that entrench it, and the people who are disproportionately affected. I help reporters in my newsroom to also uncover these angles and elevate unheard voices in the process.

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Ariel Lavery

Ariel Lavery grew up in Louisville, Colorado and has returned to the Front Range after spending over 25 years moving around the country. She co-created the podcast Middle of Everywhere for WKMS, Murray State University’s NPR member station, and won Public Media Journalism awards in every season she produced for Middle of Everywhere. Her most recent series project is "The Burn Scar", published with The Modern West podcast. In it, she chronicles two years of her family’s financial and emotional struggle following the loss of her childhood home in the Marshall Fire.

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