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In Larimer County — the area we serve as the only independent, weekly newspaper — there has been much consideration in recent times about sustainability. What we’re usually talking about are hard resources, like working farms, clean water and renewable energy. While we’re not the first, we’d like to suggest a dialogue about “softer” resources, those not often considered under the banner of sustainability, such as libraries, arts, local economies or education. Okay, what we’re getting at is that we’d like to talk about independent, local media, like ourselves.
On May 15, the Rocky Mountain Chronicle will publish our last weekly print version of what we started in October 2006. We are looking toward this time as a transition to a more sustainable model of what we’ve been working on. Without this, we are concerned that the communities in Larimer County — currently without advocates in a media landscape dominated by an unsustainable old guard of mainstreamers — will suffer. As all types of newspapers across the country contemplate how best to remain a sustainable resource, we’re looking for a way to do so, as well.
Today, alternative newspapers across the United States continue to reflect their local communities more meaningfully than most other forms of print publications, particularly struggling traditionalist-minded papers that are still approaching their craft and audience with tonal arrogance or, worse yet, lack of context or locally informed perspective. The challenge for the alternative press now is maintaining our deep community connections sustainably, and that means re-envisioning our place inside a quickly evolving media landscape that is coming to favor an online presence over a print one, or at least some savvy combination of the two.
But this letter is not an obituary — merely a request for a sabbatical, to re-evaluate how best to serve the needs of our readers and the needs of the dedicated staff that has worked tirelessly and with passion, toiling over print to produce this paper.
Deciding to end this phase of the Chronicle was an incredibly difficult decision — but it is also the right one. This is the short list of things I didn’t even consider: selling out; filling our pages with irrelevant fun facts and canned stories rather than quality pieces about local issues meant to inform and spark productive dialogue among our readers; or reforming our voice and editorial policies to become a “safe” read. To compromise on these points would be to undermine what makes our publication different and good. In the first letter I wrote for this paper, I promised you that the Chronicle would remain an independent, local and alternative publication. And I meant it.
While the current incarnation of the Chronicle comes to an end, what will not cease is our undying devotion to independent media and our desire to see it survive within this community. As Northern Colorado continues to grow, the need for independent, investigative journalism will only increase. We have no intention of abandoning the cause. We are currently considering a variety of possibilities for continuing this publication in another format, or configuration of formats.
Toward that goal, as we consider our options, we ask you for your opinion. Please, share your thoughts on what local, independent and alternative media means to you, what makes it different, what you believe local media can be, as well as our role in the future of our community.
We look forward to hearing from you. In the meantime, we will be on print hiatus for the week of May 8, but we will return with a special community edition on May 15 that will include your submissions in addition to the features we’ve been proudly creating for our award-winning weekly editions. We’ll immediately begin the experiment in building our online community, with your contributions and feedback, on our blog, www.rmholla.blogspot.com.
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Shortly after his former pastor’s controversial ideas about racism and the state of the world were aired, Barack Obama gave what is now most commonly known as his “race speech,” entitled “A More Perfect Union,” on March 18 in Pennsylvania. Some say it was a last-minute effort, albeit an eloquent one, to distance himself from a bad apple in his campaign bushel. Others see it as the quintessential reason for his candidacy: That his message of hope for the American people includes a real look at who we are and what we have become.