Local news providers have their work cut out for them and need the public's help

The past week provided a couple of opportunities for the Coloradoan to hear from you on what you want from your local news and information outlets.

Last week's Coloradoan Conversations question asked for insights on that topic, ahead of an in-person discussion event at the Old Town Library in Fort Collins.

We asked: What are your hopes for the future of news in Northern Colorado, and how do you see the role of local news providers playing out today? With an increasingly diffuse media landscape to follow, how might community stakeholders improve your ability to find factual, trustworthy news of local relevance?

Review the conversation here:A recent survey counted 25 news providers in Larimer County. What do you want from them?

Between the two discussions, there were plenty of insights on the desires, shortcomings and funding ideas for local media. Here are just a few.

Andy O., in Coloradoan Conversations, said he and others just want fact-based news without opinion. "Obviously, people who consume quality, fact based news media want more of it," he said.

But "in order to provide more, the media organizations have to figure out their funding conundrum," he said.

When asked how he personally defines quality news, he said: "Quality news is simply fact based news without opinion. Who, what, when and where."

David R. asked for something deeper: "The best journalism (in my opinion) reports on the politics of a region, how policies enacted by elected officials will affect our environment and pocketbooks, and holds elected officials accountable."

Harry S. said more collaboration could help readers get "more": "I would like to see a number of Front Range papers merge. We are impacted by what happens in other cities such as Denver, Boulder, Greeley, Longmont, Loveland, and even Colorado Springs, but with separate newspapers covering those cities, we can't afford to subscribe to all of the news outlets."

"Other solutions would be for the papers to start sharing articles or to have some sort of bundled subscription that gives access to all or a group of papers," he said.

Dylan T. said: "Newspapers need to be released from corporate control. The Coloradoan, Denver Post, Loveland Reporter-Herald, Longmont Times-Call, and dozens of other papers all over the region are all owned by two or three nationwide corporations. Since those massive media companies purchased the papers years ago, the quality within each paper has been steadily on the decline. I think papers should use an approach similar to the Colorado Sun, where the journalists essentially run the company and are at the forefront of the business model, rather than CEOs, managers, and editors. Profits should be driven by donations, as opposed to paywalls that keep people from engaging with good local journalism."

The library event, moderated by Martin Carcasson, director of Colorado State University's Center for Public Deliberation, used an interactive format that encourages participants to vote with their feet: Carcasson posed an "I" opinion statement, then individuals in the room lined up across the room according to how much they agreed or disagreed with the statement. Participants were then invited to say more about their viewpoint.

Both last week's question and the library event were informed by a recent survey by Colorado Media Project asking residents questions focused on developing "a deeper understanding of how residents consume, evaluate, and trust state and local media."

"When asked what they would like to see more of in state and local media, most Coloradans said they wanted reporting of facts without taking positions on issues (58%) compared to 22% that wanted to see clear positions on issues," the survey report stated.

So at Wednesday's event, the group was asked how to rate where they stand on this statement, "I have a strong preference for local media to report facts without taking positions on issues."

A strong majority of people in the room indicated they agreed or strongly agreed with that statement, while only a few disagreed or strongly disagreed. Some were neutral.

On the agree side, participants said a news outlet's opinion casts doubt on the facts they present and leaves out the full story. On the disagree side, it was noted that knowing a news outlet's position at least provides transparency and that it can actually be harmful to not know what is informing their reporting. A neutral viewpoint is that if a news organization mixes opinions into news, it should be transparent about its intention to do so.

When survey respondents were asked to identify the most important attributes for local media to have, holding leaders accountable ranked No. 2, after providing information about emergencies: 62% of those surveyed said it was very important that state and local media hold leaders in politics, business, and other institutions accountable.

But unfortunately, when asked how media is doing, holding leaders accountable ranked as second-lowest of all the desired attributes: 17% said local media does a poor job with this task while 52% said they did an excellent or good job. (For comparison, 80% said media does an excellent or good job at providing information about emergencies and just 4% said it does a poor job.)

Event participants were asked to decide whether they agree or disagree with this statement: "It is important to me that local media hold leaders in politics, business, and other institutions accountable for their actions."

Again, a lot of people crowded together on the side of the room indicating they were in agreement.

One journalist in attendance said his accountability journalism is what sparks the most interest and support for his work. A person in attendance said journalism can be the record of misbehavior that would otherwise be forgotten when elections come around.

And just like in the survey, the majority moved over to the other side of the room to indicate their disagreement with the statement: "I believe that our local media holds leaders in politics, business, and other institutions accountable for their actions."

That's a gloomy disconnect, for sure. Maybe some accountability journalism is just going unnoticed or being forgotten. But it's clear that the decline in the ranks of local journalists is being felt, no matter how committed journalists are to serving the community in good faith and with a transparent code of ethics.

Related:Gannett announces layoffs in its news division, citing a 'news cost base' that is too high

Both the in-person and online conversations revealed disappointment in the effects of reductions at local news outlets, from fewer offerings to a loss of quality, including at the Coloradoan.

There are a lot of potential ideas for solutions out there, and some good reasons to be hopeful, including examples within Colorado's news ecosystem, none of which we have time or space to explore here.

But there's one silver lining: The disappointment and criticism of local newsgathering is an encouraging sign that quality information is strongly valued by the community.

If that's true for you, please support local news by subscribing to the Coloradoan or other sources like the Colorado Sun, North Forty News, Loveland Reporter-Herald and the Denver Post or donating to nonprofit newsrooms like KUNC.

The library hosts The Scoop: NoCo Community Conversations monthly, as part of the Deliberative Journalism Project, a partnership among local media, CSU's Center for Public Deliberation, Poudre River Public Library District, the journalism and political science departments at CSU, and others. The event is designed to dig into local news topics through public discussion and showcase different viewpoints to keep our community in touch with the diverse range of backgrounds, positions and opinions that make us great. The next event is scheduled for Jan. 18. Stay tuned to Coloradoan Conversations for the topic.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Local news providers have work to do, need the public's help