Years ago, a media-savvy source told me that the most important thing about being a reporter is quite simple: “It’s all about the questions you ask,” he said.
During my 45 years in journalism, I’ve found that to be true. Whether covering a school board election or investigating government corruption, it comes down to possessing a sense of curiosity and asking questions.
In the way of introduction, I’ve worked at newspapers in three states – Kansas, Oklahoma and Colorado – and have covered various agencies and the military in the Pikes Peak Region since 1993, most recently for the Indy. During that time, I’m sure I wasn’t some people’s favorite reporter, but I tried to get to the bottom of things by asking questions.
In that spirit, this column strives to articulate an array of questions about various topics of public concern. A sampling might be:
• What’s the true cost of the region’s homeless population? While the number of homeless has declined here, according to the latest Point in Time survey, many neighborhoods aren’t feeling it. What works and what doesn’t? There are many questions to be posed on this issue.
• What ever became of the city of Colorado Springs’ plan to build a new police training academy? A year ago, it was Mayor Yemi Mobolade’s chief mission as he sought voter approval to keep $4.75 million in Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights excess revenue. (Voters said “no.”) Last month, he failed to even mention it in his State of the City speech.
• What does the city’s long-range annexation plan look like? The Amara project, a 3,000+ acre subdivision proposed for southeast of Colorado Springs, ultimately rejected by City Council, underscores the pickle in which the city finds itself in addressing housing shortages and sprawl.
• It’s clear that a majority of Colorado Springs City Council opposes sales of recreational marijuana in Colorado Springs, with some arguing that simply banning it will keep youth consumption low. How do they know that?
• The community recently learned that El Paso County Commissioner Cami Bremer has been hired to lead the United Way of the Pikes Peak Region, and she says she’ll keep both jobs into next year. Which job will be her priority?
• While national politics is focused largely on the presidential race, control of both houses of Congress is also important. GOP candidate and former President Donald Trump has limply disavowed Project 2025, a Republican plan for his presidential term that contains draconian measures to deconstruct huge swaths of the federal government. So, what does Jeff Crank, GOP candidate in the 5th Congressional District, think of that blueprint? Does he believe Trump won the 2020 election?
You get the idea.
All that said, I’m clear-eyed about the challenges of being a news reporter in today’s world. The regional and state media landscape offers news from for-profit and non-profit outlets, podcasts, digital sites, social media and more. Yet all those news gatherers are far outnumbered by PR types, some of whom fled the news business, and are now charged with responding to reporters’ questions. I have no idea of the numbers, but sometimes it feels like PR flaks outnumber reporters in this region by a factor of five to one.
Which is all the more reason for journalists, and citizens as well, to ask questions.
Being nosy can be a good thing, and apparently, the government agrees, having enacted open meetings and public records laws to theoretically open the government’s business to its citizens.
I don’t profess to be an expert in all topics, or even in all journalism skills, but I have learned how to ask questions.
The goal of this column is to share those questions with readers, and perhaps spur someone to find out the answers, or at least ask.
