Conservative news media bans publication of conservative news service news | tidings
Colorado politicsa digital and print newspaper with a conservative editorial page, has banned the reprinting of articles from Center Square, a conservative news service that claims to be competing with the Associated Press and other news outlets.
The last article by Center Square appeared on Colorado Politics’ website on September 21, 2021, day forward of Colorado Times Recorder published an article highlighting 33 of the conservative-leaning Square news outlets Colorado Politics’ Web page. The article I wrote cited evidence that some of Center Square’s funders, staff and content lean to the Republican right — despite Center Square’s claim that it does not favor conservatives.
Center Square’s parent company, the nonprofit Franklin News Foundation, does not identify its sources of funding for itself or Center Square, claiming Center Square delivers “objective, balanced” news with a “taxpayer sensibility.”
Colorado politics consulting editor Vince Bzdek did not respond to requests for comment last year when my original article was published.
Unanswered questions at the time when the Center Square articles were published Colorado politicswere if Colorado politics would publish news content from Colorado Newslinewhich the names of its financiersincluding major progressive donors, and produces journalism that is credentialed by the Colorado Capitol press corps, or by Colorado Times Recorder, which has undisclosed progressive donors and writes from an overtly progressive perspective. Both news sites offer their content for free, as does Center Square.
Bzdek, who served as editor in of Washington Post AND Denver Post, did not respond to an email last week seeking an explanation as to why the Center Square content was dropped. Colorado politics Publisher Jared Wright also did not return an email.
Bzdek’s silence on the disappearance of the Center Square items is particularly significant given that Colorado Politics’ conservative editorial stance and its ownership by a GOP mega-donor.
Also, Bzdek has accused the Denver media (The Denver Post, The Colorado Sun, Westword, Colorado Public Radio) to have a liberal bent — so you’d think he might welcome the opportunity to talk about why his outlet deleted conservative content from its news site if his concerns about Center Square bias are the reason the Center Square items were removed from Colorado politics. (In any case, Bzdek has never produced data to support his claims of bias from Denver news organizations.) It is more likely that Bzdek had no role in the decision to ban the use of the Square’s content. of the Center, but who knows?
Colorado politics and related publications, the The Denver Gazette AND The Colorado Springs Gazettewhich had one publishing deal with conservative news site Watchdog before Watchdog became Center Square, are owned through Clarity Media by billionaire businessman and GOP donor Phil Anschutz.
Clarity also owns the Washington Examiner, whose news and opinion is published regularly show IN Colorado politics and other Clarity branches. Colorado politics shares news content with Denver’s 9News.
Despite his organization’s claim that it is “dedicated to the principles of transparency“and “highest standards” of “accessibility”, Chris Krug, director of the Franklin News Foundation, did not return an email seeking comment. He didn’t comment on my article last year either.
Since last September, the only mentions of Center Square in Colorado politics have been in two opinion columns (Crime + Economy = Trouble for Dems in power AND ‘Equity’ training takes the competition away).
The Donors Trust, a right-wing contributor, gave the Franklin News Foundation just under $1 million in part “to balance liberal media with conservative and libertarian media,” according to a 2021 report in Columbia Journalism Review.
But Franklin’s website states, “The Franklin News Foundation has a diverse donor base that includes contributions from private citizens and foundations with a passion for nonpartisan, nonpolitical, state-based coverage of taxes and government spending on tax dollars. “
Center Square claims to cover state government in all 50 states.
“Unlike news outlets like the AP that charge media outlets to republish their version of the ‘news,’ we offer local media a meaningful choice by distributing our content to them for free.” says the websitewhich claims the news service reaches “millions of daily news consumers”.
“For example, our articles were reprinted 176,813 times by 578 media outlets nationwide in 2021 (53% and 15% growth, respectively, over 2020),” the website states. “We are experiencing further growth in 2022. … We ended May 2022 with 25,905 article republishes, the most in the company’s history during any one-month period.”
This story was previously published by Colorado Times Recorder (coloradotimesrecorder.com).