Pueblo Star Journal - Fall 2021

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• DIG DEEPER •

Discover us online at pueblostarjournal.org

A new day is dawning in Pueblo

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news you require for your daily lifestyle, while our regular print publication will dig more deeply into the issues and analysis you require to make good decisions.

And we will do it at no cost to the consumers because we know — and the independent, empirical research has shown — news is a community asset, critical to the fiscal, political and social health of a municipality.

Our goal is not to compete with existing media but to supplement them — to get into more depth about the issues that impact us on a daily basis and to cultivate the relationships that build a healthy community.

The Pueblo Star Journal: Dig deeper.

Courtesy image, Carol M. Highsmith via Wikipedia

rom its proud iron roots, the Steel City is reinventing itself. No longer a town where children play near slag piles, it’s now a city where manufacturing leaders helm the green energy revolution. It’s home to two major school districts, a vibrant community college and Colorado’s safest university campus.

The county’s 168,424 diverse and dynamic residents enjoy a stunning park system that includes a celebrated lake and reservoir; celebrate the arts and culture via a variety of thriving institutions; access some of the freshest foods in the state thanks to Pueblo’s proximity to the rich soils in the Lower Arkansas River Valley; and are remaking themselves through their immense creativity. This is a community that celebrates its history as it looks to its future.

Just as the city is evolving, so, too, is its media climate. Independent filmmakers and creatives have unified to form the Pueblo Regional Film Commission.

Start-up organizations are tapping young talent and bringing new energy to the worlds of public relations and marketing. The city’s communications culture has even caught the national spotlight as a destination for the Discovery Channel’s “Undercover Billionaire.”

Into this vibrant and revolutionary atmosphere comes the Pueblo Star Journal. The newest voice in the city’s media sphere pays homage to one of the oldest titles in the state while also bringing a fresh approach to storytelling.

This isn’t your grandmother’s evening newspaper.

The Star Journal, known as the PSJ,

will be the city’s first community-owned, not-for-profit news publication. We are fueled by our commitment to our four core values: community, connection, accountability and curiosity. Our award-winning team of journalists, graphic designers and account representatives will serve as a watchdog over our local governments, herald the successes of our students and artists, and create a marketplace of thoughts, services and items.

We will tell the stories that get overlooked, speak truth to power and champion the rights of the afflicted.

Through our digital and social media products we will provide the breaking

“This isn’t your grandmother’s evening newspaper.”

A double rainbow appears over a portion of the Arkansas River Levee in Pueblo.

Photo by Melissa Edwards

Rethinking community The Historic Arkansas Riverwalk of Pueblo is a popular destination for residents and guests alike.

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et’s consider some numbers. Pueblo County is home to 168,424 residents, according to the 2020 U.S. Census. This vibrant community is one of the state’s most diverse large cities (it ranks seventh in terms of size and 13th in racial diversity, according to digital real estate research firm HomeSnacks. com), in race, ethnicity and age.

It is an urban center and rural spaces; small towns in the foothills and sprawling prairie ranches. It is artists and educators and storytellers and entrepreneurs.

Pueblo County is 168,424 individuals that create the beautiful community we love; 168,424 unique and special stories that contribute to the story we collectively tell about our home.

The Pueblo Star Journal embraces community at more than just the superficial level. For us, a community is something that emerges when all members of a group are included, welcomed and feel

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seen — when everyone has the chance to speak up, speak authentically and know they are being heard.

A community is not a thing, but a collective sense of belonging that develops from proactive and respectful collaboration, from open and active dialogue. Not for nothing, after all, do “community” and “communication” share a core.

With that in mind, we have developed this news outlet to fill a gap in critical community-developing information.

Our vision involves curating communities of conversation and engagement among the county’s 168,424 residents. We will do so by hosting reader-driven events such as information-gathering forums and by being your one-stop shop for listings related to the arts, athletics, governmental agencies and volunteer opportunities.

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We will put on programming such as roundtable discussions about current events, meetings with local elected leaders and conversations with local entrepreneurs, all of which will be driven by and presented for the benefit of our readers.

By engaging with them in this way, we will encourage readers to engage with their neighborhoods, their governments and themselves and provide them with the information they need to make those areas stronger. We will provide a marketplace of – Dr. Crystal Jones ideas where they may share their opinions and thoughts on this city, county and world in which we live — and perhaps even coalesce behind a solution.

With time, this will build a community that transcends physical boundaries and unifies us into a powerful, cohesive swirl of a collective. Into, if you will, a true community.

“There is a significant difference between ‘All are welcome here’ and ‘This was created with you in mind.’”

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How we will champion accountability

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policies are coming down the pike to affect you each and every day. But we’ll not just keep you abreast of what our local officials are up to; sometimes it’s the actions they don’t take that are most revealing.

We won’t shy away from the tough or controversial stories because they’re challenging; instead, we’ll push back

“It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable.” – Moliere We’ll keep track of how your taxpayer dollars are being used, who is receiving which big-ticket government contracts (and what relationship they have, if any, to the agency doing the awarding), and what legislative and local

on roadblocks and tear down stonewalling efforts to cast a spotlight on the issues.

We vow to not only hold our city, county, educational and civilian leadership accountable for their actions — or lack thereof — but also

ourselves. We recognize that we are cultivating a relationship with you, our community, that can only blossom with mutual trust and respect.

Our job is to empower you to make the best decisions for yourselves and your community. We can only do that if you know that we will be accountable and transparent in our fact-finding and reporting processes. And because we’re human, when we make a mistake, we’ll acknowledge and correct it.

When leadership is accountable to its constituents, the constituents are empowered to become the leaders.

And when a community is given the chance and the information necessary to step into that role, great things are sure to follow.

Courtesy image, Billy Hathorn via Wikipedia

ince the boom of the newspaper industry in the early 20th century, journalists have held tightly to their role as the watchdogs of government and guard dogs of the public good. “Kill the lapdog, feed the watchdog” is a favorite cliché in newsrooms, but from that emerges a distinct problem: Who is keeping tabs on the ones keeping tabs?

What happens when the watchdog goes blind, either due to complacency, lack of resources or corporate dictate?

A recent study by Kareen El Damanhoury and David Coppini published May 10 by the Colorado Sun found that “The Colorado news ecosystem is struggling: the gaps in local and original reporting and the lack of resources are undeniable.”

While the pair of assistant professors in the University of Denver Department of Media, Film & Journalism Studies did not specifically study Pueblo County, consumers have seen the diminishing of our beloved and historic daily paper since its sale in 2018.

To be clear, this is not the fault of the hard-working, professional and dedicated staff at that newspaper. Rather it is a direct result of hedge fund-owned, venture capitalist-backed mega-corporations whose mandates are more driven by the bottom line than any commitment to community welfare.

In May 2020, when a top city official told the New York Times Magazine that when it comes to holding those in power accountable, “There’s

not a lot of that going on,” it became clear we, as a community, have a problem. For years, studies have shown that communities that lack a reliable source of news and information flounder economically and culturally.

This is why the Pueblo Star Journal places such an emphasis on accountability.

Pueblo’s historic courthouse, now home to several county offices, is a landmark in the community.

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VALUES: COMMUNITY CONNECTION

ACCOUNTABILITY CURIOSITY

MISSION:

To chronicle the Pueblo community while championing accountability, stimulating curiosity and supporting connections.

VISION:

• Establishing lines of accountability of individuals and institutions of power through our reporting, forums and debates.

• Encouraging community engagement through readerdriven events, information-gathering forums and comprehensive listings focusing on arts, athletic and volunteer opportunities.

• Curating a comprehensive database of government information, highlighting the critical details citizens need to engage with and participate in their school and municipal systems.

• Fostering economic growth and development by shining a spotlight on the business and nonprofit communities.

Why curiosity is so important to us they want to present, solutions they want to propose and chaljournalist isn’t worth much lenges they want to make to the without a sense of curiosstatus quo. ity. There’s an innate nosWe know this because we have iness that comes with the seen it and because the commujob — a need to be informed, a nity has shouted it from the hiswillingness to ask the next questoric rooftops. The collective cution and a wanting of not just anriosity of this community is what swers, but solutions. inspires our mission, Curiosity is at the our vision and ulticore of what we do. mately, our actions.

It motivates us to We will endeavor do more research, to harness that spirto pose better quesit of inquiry not just tions, to push a in our reporting, but – Robyn Conley Downs, bit further into the also in our commuThe Feel Good Effect podcast heart of a story, to nity forums, debates — as our motto says and events and, of — dig deeper. course, on our social media and But it’s not just our insatiable editorial pages. We see ourselves curiosity that drives our ethos; as a conduit of information and it’s yours, too. we will strive to offer the formats We know Pueblo is hungry for for our readers to share their cuthe local news and information riosity and seek out the answers that’s needed to make knowl- they demand and deserve. edgeable decisions at the ballot Our collective curiosity can box and provide direction for build the bridges of communicaelected leaders. We know Pueb- tion that will make this already loans have opinions and ideas fabulous community an even betthey want to share, questions ter place to live.

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“When you replace judgment with curiosity, everything changes.”

Courtesy image, Dustin Cox via Wikipedia

• Educating young talent and growing Pueblo’s best and brightest, through a comprehensive internship program and our partnerships with local educational institutions.

DIG DEEPER:

Our motto “Dig Deeper” is, like our namesake, a tribute to the city’s vibrant past. The Steel City was built by hardworking, dedicated and powerful laborers, and it is to those founding fathers that we tip our hats with The Dig. Additionally, “dig deeper” is a journalistic trope, encouraging and empowering the writer to ask the next question, push the next boundary and seek out the next level of details. By digging deeper, we commit to pushing past the superficial and providing our readers with the most accurate, thoughtprovoking and comprehensive news in the Steel City.

Children play in a fountain during the 2015 Colorado State Fair at the Fairgrounds.

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Courtesy image, Dustin Cox via Wikipedia

Revelers pack the Colorado State Fairgrounds in this August 2015 fair photo. This expo has called Pueblo home for more than a century.

Building the connection

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ueblo County is a tapestry of vivacious individuals of all races, ethnicities, identities, backgrounds and beliefs.

Some neighbors’ family trees have been rooted here since before statehood while other recent arrivals still bear traces of soil from their home nations.

In the early 20th century, immigrants from across the globe flooded the Steel City to seek employment in the mills and mines of Colorado Fuel & Iron. The Steelworks Center of the West has said this made the city the most diverse in the state and that at one time, as many as 40 different languages could be heard echoing through the venerable mill.

But even before then, Pueblo was a crossroads. The 1842 El Pueblo trading post, now the site of El Pueblo History Museum, once sat at the border of the United States and Mexico, and as the flags that unfurl over the Union Avenue bridge at the Pueblo Riverwalk remind us, the

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land that is now our city has belonged to the U.S., Mexico, Spain, France and the then-independent Republic of Texas.

Clearly, this is an area with deep history and even deeper pride. It’s only partially a joke that the first thing someone from Pueblo will ask you upon meeting for the first time is, “Where did you go to high school?”

The downside of that variety, of course, is the potential for fragmentation. We have seen this play out over the years in the growing protests over the Christopher Columbus statue located outside of the Robert Hoag Rawlings Public Library.

At the Star Journal, we will strive to build new connections, foster those relationships that are fledging and grow to new heights those that already exist. This 168,000-person community could easily be the definitive model of multiculturalism for the state, Southwest and nation if it has a space to come together, share authentic truths and experiences,

“Connection is the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment; and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship.”

– Dr. Brené Brown and be heard.

Pueblo is comprised of many groups and many factions who may not agree with each other. The PSJ will work to cover all the issues and conversations that matter to build a stronger community, one where we can have connections with even those we may not agree with all the time. We are not issues, we are citizens living and growing together. Learning about our differences doesn’t take away but builds understanding. This paper is about local news, which will cover all groups, ALL stories that help us learn about each other.

We have made it a policy that our products — whether they be the print edition, our website or our events — will be accessible to all who wish

to participate. That means we won’t stifle but instead will celebrate opinions other than ours; we will ensure our community-building events are accessible to those who speak different languages, whether that be ASL or Spanish; we will make sure the captions on our photos not only explain the story behind the image but what the image itself contains, so those who have trouble seeing it can still appreciate it.

This may seem revolutionary, but it shouldn’t. It is, instead, a way to build connections that both span and celebrate the diversity of background and experiences that make us unique as a community. That’s not revolutionary. It’s human.

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Why a nonprofit model?

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ewspapers were created to share news — first as newsletters for merchants and traders the world over and then as a way to bring important information to the masses.

As literacy increased, so did the demand for news. The American Revolution was spurred by newspapers that had been banned by the British in an effort to quell the movement towards freedom.

Newspapers rose in popularity and coverage during the Industrial Revolution and the owners and editors realized the power they held. News became sensationalized to sell more papers, increasing circulation by any means necessary. Advertisements, which began appearing shortly after the American Revolution, were ramped up to increase profits. Owners began buying up more and more papers to increase their circulation numbers. Owning a newspaper was essentially a license to print money.

Some papers fought back against this distortion of purpose, like the New York Times with its “All the news that’s fit to print” slogan, but the lure of big profits never left the industry.

In all of this, the purpose of a news source was muddied. Modern cable news channels highlight how far the

problem has gone, creating division by picking and choosing which facts to report. They have forgotten that the root of news is not to support capitalism and party lines, but to protect our democracy by informing the masses. News has to be fair, show the whole truth and be free from conflicts of interest such as protecting advertising sales or the interests of profiteering ownership.

Back to the main question: Why a nonprofit model? At the Pueblo Star Journal, we recognize the problematic way most newspapers are run and we want to do better. If we are focused on profitability, we are not focused on our community. We are not focused on telling the truth, no matter what. That is unacceptable to us.

The Star Journal does not exist to line anyone’s pockets. No one will be getting rich from this news organization. It exists to tell the story of Pueblo, both past and present. It exists to foster community engagement at every level and in every neighborhood. It exists to protect our democracy and make sure every voice is heard, no matter how small. That’s why our printed and digital editions will be

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available for free to everyone - no paywalls and no intrusive pop-up ads.

Yes, there will be advertisements. Our advertisers and underwriters are vital to ensuring our ability to tell Pueblo’s stories — your stories. We are grateful for their financial support and proud to provide a place for local businesses to promote themselves. However, the cost of advertising will be used to support the costs of great journalism and community events and, most importantly, we will always be clear that financial support of the Star Journal does not purchase editorial influence of any kind. Period.

Support also will come from PSJ members. We will model our membership plans on organizations such as PBS, National Public Radio and, in the newspaper realm, The Colorado Sun. They will be designed to suit the budget of anyone who wishes to join, no matter the donation amount.

We are digging deeper, getting back to the roots of what news should be — information, discussions and events that are vital to the Pueblo community — without the profits that have corrupted the industry.

“If we are focused on profitability, we are not focused on our community”

Discover more information, ways to advertise and how to donate on our website.

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