Ruh-roh. The free speech group FIRE has entered the chat at a Colorado high school that reassigned its media advisor: coloradomedia.substack.com/p/free-speec...

Department of: A newspaper can never love you back

“The newspaper that broke the Roswell UFO story is shutting down”: nm.news/2026/07/13/t... “The Roswell Daily Record, in operation since 1903, says it’s pursuing a possible sale but has offered no guarantees”

Sheesh, this story: wetmountaintribune.com/2026/07/14/c... “While the Red County Blue Nation podcast has only a few dozen active listeners each week, the podcast has managed to become central to local politics.”

TOWNFALL: "A growing number of South Carolina towns and cities have become dens of corruption or incompetence as experienced administrators quit and public officials botch the books or flat-out steal from the people they’re supposed to serve." www.postandcourier.com/news/special...

Hoo boy. The national free speech group FIRE is on the case today with a letter to the superintendent:

A college communications director in Illinois explains in detail her role at the school and some of her frustration with student journalism in a column published by the campus student publication: elginobserver.com/25058/news/d...

Remarkable. A South Carolina judge orders a popular podcaster to pay $171,500 in legal fees and a $5,000 fine, holding her in contempt for skipping a deposition in a civil case she is not a party to because he didn't buy that she feared for her personal safety: www.fitsnews.com/wp-content/u...

New edition of Community Newswire is out. News and analysis about the intersection of higher-ed journalism and community news across the U.S.: mailchi.mp/communitynew... #academicsky #journalism #news

The Associated Press reports it was a helicopter: apnews.com/article/pilo...

Quite the email newsletter subject line from the South Carolina Post & Courier newspaper this morning

"The appearance of federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects." www.nytimes.com/2026/07/11/b...

Here's another journalist acknowledging he should have covered the Gonzales-Hickenlooper U.S. Senate race more closely. The first, @chasewoodruff.bsky.social, is quoted in this week's Colorado media newsletter about what he'll do differently in the future: coloradomedia.substack.com/p/it-was-a-c...

Did you know it was a Colorado photographer who snapped that viral image of white nationalists in D.C.? coloradomedia.substack.com/p/it-was-a-c...

Vince Bzdek, top editor of ColoradoPolitics, said he thought Kirkmeyer would "emerge as sort of the level-headed person with the most experience, and when people actually start voting that she’ll kind of win them over." Longtime Westword editor Patty Calhoun also said she thought Kirkmeyer would win

Does the governor of Colorado really *squints* have only 120 Substack subscribers?

👏 Hear, hear: “Nothing beats hands-on experience. I never took a journalism class or attended journalism school. Local papers (those that still exist) are magical places to work at and can be just as if not more rewarding than working for a national publication.” open.substack.com/pub/yourfirs...

I said to a programmer, @jamditis.bsky.social, could we take everything I've published online, give it a common home on the internet, and then make searchable everything in that home? "Yes," he said. The background: pressthink.org/2026/07/jay-... The Archive itself: pressthink.org/j/rosen-arch...

"It’s been more than a month since New Jersey newspaper editor Charlie Kratovil published surveillance camera footage of a high schooler getting busted for bringing a BB gun to school — and just about as long since a county judge ordered him to take it down." san.com/cc/how-a-sch...

"Hazelwood is the training-wheels version of free speech. It’s past time the Court revisited it." expression.fire.org/p/hazelwood-... I saw Roe get overturned in my lifetime, so anything is possible. #HazelwoodWatch

Good grief. "Now we’re getting AI fake news complaining about how AI fake news is the death of real news": www.niemanlab.org/2026/07/now-... No, that did not happen in Alabama.

"Rocky Mountain Public Media has filed with the FCC to acquire Community Radio For Northern Colorado" radioinsight.com/headlines/34...

“Press freedom debate in MCPS highlights tension between oversight and student journalism rights” www.mymcmedia.org/press-freedo...

"Douglas County taxpayers helped bring Lara Logan to Castle Rock to tell Republicans that Katy Perry is eating babies. Perhaps that helps explain how Victor Marx is the gubernatorial frontrunner." coloradotimesrecorder.com/2026/07/doug...

At ~6 points, the answer is very, very poorly, I'm afraid. A major collective miss by Colorado's political press corps, and a real disservice to voters to have aided (whatever any individual or organizational intentions were) Hickenlooper's oxygen-deprivation strategy.

Don't call it an upset: coloradomedia.substack.com/p/what-is-an...

When scanning headlines and news coverage following Tuesday’s elections, one word was nearly unavoidable when it came to the race for Colorado governor: "upset."

"Staffers at Indiana University’s student newspaper recently won national awards for sports photography and opinion columns that criticized IU’s administration for stopping the paper’s print edition and firing the paper’s adviser": www.aol.com/articles/iu-...

Phil Weiser beating the pants off Michael Bennet in La Plata County and a big lead in Montezuma County. Hard not to believe a big reason is because of what he did about their “orphan county” status: www.cjr.org/united_state... (they would get news from New Mexico instead of Colorado via satellite)

Alleged upset

"This sort of shit should not happen," he said: www.npr.org/sections/npr...

People might be still filling out ballots in Colorado and researching candidates online with polls closing at 7 p.m. More than 100 downloads within the past few hours on this podcast interview I did with Phil Weiser, the AG who is running for governor: coloradomedia.substack.com/p/interview-...

Reminder to Colorado journalists: if you’re interviewing a winning candidate who usually claims that elections are rigged, ask them why this election was rigged in their favor.

If Nina Totenberg accidentally published her pre-write before she was supposed to and blew Alito's retirement announcement, I am going to die laughing at my desk

"Deleted photos, silenced voices: ICE walkouts most censored story of the year": splc.org/2026/06/dele...

Students in Colorado College’s “Wildfire Journalism & Ecology at Colorado Firecamp” class interviewed the governor and earned certifications as wildland firefighters as part of the course: youtu.be/ItftipOSp7M?...

Interesting conversation on some topics not usually posed to a gubernatorial candidate (Full disclosure: Involves a discussion of AG Weiser's suit to stop the purchase of 9NEWS by the parent of FOX31)

👇

Thank you for doing this.

Over time it's become more and more difficult to paper over these contradictions, as we've seen especially during the Polis era. Arguably Bennet-Weiser is what it looks like when the Lamm consensus fades, and other races, including CD1, represent a total fracture.

"While the fire-ban development involves local circumstances, it’s a snapshot of a broader issue: increased and prolonged fire bans during a time of extreme drought, and how that might affect the training of wildland firefighters across Colorado — and the nation." arkvalleyvoice.com/prolonged-fi...

In the Dem primary for governor in Colorado, Phil Weiser spent an hour talking about local news, civics, AI, public policy for media, the First Amendment, and more. Michael Bennet's campaign didn't make him available after four months of saying they would: coloradomedia.substack.com/p/interview-...

Glad @coreyhutchins.bsky.social did a deeper dive on this. I respect journalists who come to different conclusions on this as long as people are thoughtful and willing to explain their choice to the public.

Reaching the age where half the candidates on your ballot for attorney general are younger than you is definitely a feeling.

The top editor of The Gazette & Colorado Politics, Vince Bzdek, is now joined by Westword editor Patty Calhoun in predicting Barb Kirkmeyer will win the GOP nomination for gov. (13:35) www.pbs.org/video/june-2... Columnist & longtime analyst Eric Sondermann predicting Weiser beats Bennet on Dem side

Some Colorado journalists are deciding to vote in the party primaries this Tuesday. Here' why — and why others are not: coloradomedia.substack.com/p/why-colora...

Full interview with Colorado AG Phil Weiser, who is running for governor, about local news issues here: coloradomedia.substack.com/p/interview-...

Colorado continuing to become an interesting place when it comes to taxpayer support for local media 👇

Good morning! I’m in Castle Rock for Day 1 of the Rocky Mountain Voice Freedom Festival.

This interview with AG Phil Weiser is a must listen for all Coloradans. Thank you, Corey Hutchins for doing it. 👇