Upwards of 80 people filled the Border Burger Bar seating area for the Pikes Peak Bulletin’s forum, “A Stronger Newsroom Creates a Stronger Community.”
Hosted by the inimitable journalist/filmmaker/playwright Warren Epstein, the panel speakers were media consultant Carol Wood; Colorado College Journalism Institute Manager Corey Hutchins; media consultant Bill Densmore; and Natalie Johnson, whom Epstein described as “possibly the most quoted” person in the area as she serves on the Manitou Springs City Council and the D14 school board and is the director of the Manitou Arts Center.
The panelists discussed the importance of local news as well as the many challenges including the decline of print advertising and a president who calls the press “the enemy of the people.” Hutchins spoke of educating the next generation of journalists and other students who will not make journalism a career but are interested in how news is communicated. Wood and Densmore related how they each take what they’ve learned through decades in the news industry to help news outlets thrive today. Johnson talked about the importance of local news in informing the public and how lost a community can become without it – including the time the Bulletin was inactive before being revived as a nonprofit in 2023.
On tables at the event were paper for posing one “open question” and nine ways to participate in the Pikes Peak Bulletin.
Open question
“What would it take to inspire you to engage with – and support – a community newspaper that fosters participatory democracy and connection for Manitou Springs and the Pikes Peak region?”
Nine ways to participate with the Pikes Peak Bulletin
1. Financial support: donations, grants, buy a gift subscription for a family member or friend
2. Send us your story tips and ideas including public affairs, inspiring stories, events, etc.
3. Write op-eds and letters to the editor, or to our advice columnist Mrs. Hughes
4. Connect us with local business owners and others who may wish to advertise
5. Visit with the publisher and editor at coffee hours to discuss issues of local importance
6. Apply to be a board member
7. Re-post our stories on social media and/or share your issue of the Bulletin with others
8. Join the Bulletin in creating a sense of community, tolerance, safety, inquiry and belonging by attending our civic forums
9. Volunteer to deliver papers, write grants, help organize civic forums, proofread – whatever you have to offer, we need you!
Send comments and feedback to Community@PikesPeakBulletin.org or call the editor, Heila Ershadi, at 719-373-1150. See page 2 for a note from the editor about what the Bulletin is doing now and ideas for the future.
