Who owns the news? You can!

In 2018, local journalist Dave Krieger asked, “Who owns the news?”

It was a timely question as the Daily Camera, where Krieger was the opinion editor, suffered under its vulture capitalist owner, Alden Global Capital. 

I was lucky enough to overlap with Krieger and many other talented journalists during my 6.5 years at the Camera, but my time there was mostly marked by shrinking staff and expanding workloads. We never heard from our corporate overlords until it came time to make budget cuts, but we — and the community — felt the impacts of their ownership as we were continually asked to do more with less. 

Boulder Weekly is fortunate to have been locally owned since its founding in 1994. We are backed exclusively by readers and local small businesses: no corporate donors or owners. 

This independence has allowed us to produce some truly remarkable journalism. This year alone, we were the first to cover the spread of private equity money into childcare. We broke the news of Naropa selling its preschool and main campus, along with the delayed rollout of its psychedelic training program. We’re the only outlet to cover the fallout from a renter protection law that makes it harder to house homeless folks, and the only outlet to cover local elections in every. single. Boulder County. city. 

Looking for a regular column focused on people with disabilities? You’ll only find that in Boulder Weekly. We’ve nabbed exclusive interviews with artists and filmmakers, and when the Longmont Leader pulled out of town, we stepped up by hiring a Longmont reporter. 

We provide all of this and more for free, every week, to thousands of readers. 

Today, we find ourselves with an exciting possibility. Our founder and owner, Stewart Sallo, is looking to retire. Rather than sell to the highest bidder, Stew has graciously decided to work with the Boulder Weekly team on a transition to employee ownership. 

We’re fundraising now for the first step, a feasibility study to outline the operational and financial requirements for such a venture. Thankfully, we’re being guided by experts at the nonprofit Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Center. 

The hope is that Boulder Weekly will be in the hands of the folks who know it best. For us, that means involving community members. 

We’re exploring a co-op model that would put workers and community members in charge of business decisions. (For ethical reasons, editorial power would remain with the editorial team.)

It’s still early days, and there are many questions to be answered. But we are excited about keeping Boulder Weekly independent and locally owned, carrying on the proud tradition that Stew has kept alive for three decades.

Throughout December, we’re hoping to raise $10,000 to fund the feasibility study. Thanks to Colorado Gives and the generous sponsorship of the nonprofit Alternative Newsweekly Foundation, your donation will be tax deductible through Dec. 31. 

Thank you for standing by us for over 30 years. With your help, we’ll keep going for 30 more with an even greater commitment to being news by the people and for the people.