As many of you know, the Bulletin has a long history in Manitou Springs, existing in various iterations for over a century. When the Bulletin ceased publication along with a number of other newspapers a few years ago, community members including our publisher Lyn Ettinger-Harwell rallied to bring it back as a nonprofit.
Why we expanded our coverage area to Downtown COS
Old Colorado City and Green Mountain Falls have been part of our coverage area since reincorporating as a nonprofit because they had recently lost their hyperlocal newspapers – a serious and growing problem in Colorado and the nation. But it became apparent fairly quickly that this coverage area was not generating enough advertising dollars, grant opportunities or subscriptions and donations to be sustainable. We were headed toward financial crisis.
But, as the saying goes, in every crisis there is an opportunity. We saw a need and a want for public affairs coverage and other community-oriented stories that would appeal to a broader audience. Expanding our coverage into Downtown Colorado Springs made sense – we were already covering most of the Avenue Creative Circuit; now we cover all of it.
We have kept the Manitou coverage, and the Manitou ethos of community spirit, but increased what we cover to be meaningful and relevant to a wider audience, opening the door to new advertisers, subscribers, donors and grant opportunities.
What we do now
As your community newspaper, we cover Manitou Springs local government and school board – no other outlet does this consistently. And we have coverage of Colorado Springs City Council now as well. Heidi Beedle is our Manitou Springs town hall and school board reporter, Karin Zeitvogel just started covering Colorado Springs city council, and both cover other important public affairs issues.
Daniel Mohrmann, who runs an online high school sports website that covers the entire state, is a Mustangs alum and covers MSHS athletics. This is an area we’d love to expand to celebrate the athletic achievements of more young people at Coronado and Palmer High Schools, and we are exploring how to make that happen.
It’s not going to be enough to just put out a great newspaper.
We also publish student journalism, and events and achievements in areas like music, theater and robotics. Again, this would be a great area to grow – we want young people to feel connected to their community newspaper, and to form a lifelong relationship with local news.
We preview upcoming events that bring people together and foster community spirit – recently, CarniBall and Carnivale, and the Manni Awards – plus small business and nonprofit profiles, and we just started up an original advice column called Dear Mrs. Hughes (the pen name is a character from Downton Abbey, if you’re wondering). And we have great features on environmental issues as well as columns by beloved writers like John Hazlehurst, Pam Zubeck and more.
Lately we’ve been especially focused on stories that connect and inspire us, and we are looking at how to plug into the Infectious Generosity Movement that was recently affirmed by the Manitou Springs City Council.
Building news community in the real world
But it’s not going to be enough to just put out a great newspaper. Not today, with the internet full of news-like content of varying quality, and with what seems like a year’s worth of national news happening every week.
To fill the role of journalism – to inform and connect our community – we need to think bigger. I believe we need to get offline and connect in the real world. One idea we have is to expand on our coverage with civic forums where you can learn more about an issue, and what you can do to be part of solutions. For example, we’ve covered how local advocates were preparing for the effects of recent executive actions around immigration. We envision a public discussion that puts a human face on this issue and informs attendees how they can make a positive difference. Other discussion topics could include LGBTQ+ rights, housing access, veteran support and more.
Please see page 14 for a list of nine ways you can be a part of the Bulletin team. We’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas, and we look forward to creating meaningful, important, community news with you.
