MEDIA: Colorado academics and experts join a battle over the U.S. Global Media agency

Roughly two dozen Colorado academics and experts are calling for the state’s federal leaders to safeguard public funding for open-source technology projects. These important initiatives, they argue, have enabled people in other countries, including journalists, to “safely access the Internet free from censorship and repressive surveillance.”

At issue is the fate of the Open Technology Fund, a program within the U.S. Agency for Global Media that oversees it along with Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia, and others. Republican President Donald Trump’s new head of the federal media agency has been on a head-rolling rampage, cleaning house.

Support for OTF is a natural fit for Coloradans. Our state is a growing hub for technology entrepreneurship and innovation, and Coloradans see the immense potential from greater engagement with the world. A recent Carnegie Endowment for International Peace report, prepared in part by CU Boulder’s Leeds School of Business, noted that support for foreign aid in Colorado is not a partisan issue, and that it helps “grow new markets and head off crises that could spill across borders.” OTF is also a powerful and proven example of effective U.S. foreign assistance. Its open, fair, competitive, and evidence-based award process … ensures that activists around the world have the best tools and technologies available to protect themselves. OTF funds open-source technologies and has funded more than 100 independent, third party security audits of Internet freedom technologies to ensure only those with the highest security standards are supported with U.S. government funds.

Specifically, the signatories called on federal lawmakers “to encourage Congress to ensure that the new leadership at USAGM does not dismantle OTF, and, against the intent of Congress, rescind U.S. government support for its essential work.” It also asks them to “publicly support OTF with a statement and co-sponsor the Open Technology Fund Authorization Act (HR 6621).”

Boulder-based digital rights advocate David Sullivan says he helped organize the local effort as a global coalition of groups began to mobilize around the issue. As he’s connected with people in the state’s tech industry over the years, he says he’s noticed a growing community of people who seem to care about tech’s impact on the world. Within a few days, he wrangled more than 20 people to sign. “When you see the breadth of the kind of expertise of some of the folks who signed on, from computer scientists to lawyers to media folks, that’s the sort of thing that sometimes can really have an impact on Congress,” he says. (View the initial signatories here.)

One particular Colorado politician to watch could be Republican U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner who sits on the Foreign Relations Committee and chairs the subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific and International Cybersecurity Policy. He has talked up his support for human rights in China, condemned human rights abuses in Russia, and said he spoke with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte about human rights abuses when news leaked that he’d met with him in Manila in 2017. The Internet Association in 2018 gave Gardner an Internet Freedom Award, calling him “a leader on internet and technology policy issues.” Currently running for re-election, Gardner will likely pick and choose where he wants to try and distance himself from Trump, a close ally, as he faces a steep uphill race against former Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper in a state where voting demographics and a political atmosphere do not bode well for the GOP incumbent.

“One of the great things here is this is also a bipartisan effort,” Sullivan says, noting Republican U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Florida’s Rick Scott are sponsors with Democrats Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Ron Wyden of Oregon on a bill that would authorize the OTF “as an independent grantee” within the U.S. Global Media Agency. A hearing on the bill could come up soon.

If you’re looking for more background on the OTF developments, VICE on Thursday published a story, “Inside the Plot to Kill the Open Technology Fund.” The U.S. Global Media Agency requested $628.1 million from Congress this year.

How COVID-19 battered the Glenwood Springs newspaper

For many local businesses and residents, the COVID-19 era has felt like a rolling crisis. Employees have been laid off or furloughed. Many businesses have reduced services and some are facing shutting down. The newspaper industry is no different. Like other businesses, media across the nation have tried cost-saving measures: Reducing circulation, limiting the number of days printed, going online only, merging with other news organizations, eliminating syndicated services, and reducing staff. And sometimes those cost cutting measures don’t work, with at least  30 papers closing already.

Facing sharp declining revenues in COVID-19’s wake, the Post Independent initially cut two days, reduced the average number of daily papers by 20%, and reduced hours and salaries for our staff. Thanks to quick action by Swift and Colorado Mountain News Media leadership — our parent companies — we quickly received Payroll Protection Program funding, and the vast majority of Swift employees were made whole again for eight weeks. More than that, PPP gave us two months to help us road map our future. And when we looked at our expected revenues and expenses, it felt like a crisis.

Why the Loveland Reporter-Herald did what it did

On June 2, while listening to the online stream of that night’s meeting, a Reporter-Herald reporter noticed the live audio feed of that night’s executive session. The following day, a video and audio recording of the meeting was uploaded to the city’s website with the complete session audio intact, and the Reporter-Herald discovered that the May 19 session had been similarly recorded and uploaded. The Reporter-Herald contacted City Manager Steve Adams, Economic Development Director Kelly Jones and assistant to the city manager Justine Bruno, who oversees the city’s public information office, on June 5 to ask questions concerning the transmissions, and the three indicated they were unaware of the breach.

The Reporter-Herald newsroom staff discussed the issue and decided the best way to proceed would be to quickly inform the city staff about the problem, to give them a chance to respond, and to consider whether publishing the information the city had inadvertently shared would hurt the public interest. Contacting the city staff allowed them to make corrections in their procedures so they did not continue broadcasting executive sessions. Telling others what had happened could serve as an alert to other governing bodies of a potential issue should they hold virtual executive sessions.

Denver’s public safety director talked to journalists about problems covering protests

• If there are officers “that need to be held accountable they’ll be held accountable,” Robinson said at one point.
• Robinson said there were “a lot of people out there who said they were press that may not have been press.” He added he knows it’s not his job to define “who press are.” When Robinson personally asked one person who they were with, he said he was told, “I’m with my family newsletter.” Robinson chuckled at the recollection. (Editor’s note: Same.)
• When Robinson floated the idea of universal press vests for journalists, one Denver TV station’s news director pushed back. “I don’t think we would be able to wear a vest that identified as press,” he said. “Not so much worried about police officers shooting us, but we’re taking rocks and stuff like that from protesters.” He said his station “took about $50,000 worth of damage to three vehicles. Two were totaled. We had people get hit with rocks … it was just awful … our company has told us to make yourself as inconspicuous as possible.” He said of media nowadays “we’re getting hit from all different angles from people … identifying ourselves as press, while it might have worked and it might work in some war areas, does not work when we’re dealing with Antifa and homegrown terrorist organizations that are on attack.”
• Robinson said because the protests erupted so quickly, “we didn’t have an opportunity to review riot training and all those kinds of things with the officers before they were deployed. This happened very quickly. Not making excuses here because there is no excuse for misconduct, however, I will tell you that this isn’t something … you didn’t come into with doing training three or four days ahead of time. It was a spontaneous event that had to be reacted to. So I think— lessons learned, though. And I think that we will absolutely be able to make sure that we do train not only how they deal with the press but how they deal with these type of incidents as a whole. We’re going to come away with this with so much — so much — that we can change and make better and that we can react differently to and hold our officers accountable to and all these things. That is not lost on me and I don’t think that’s lost on the police chief or the police department.”
• Robinson and spokeswoman Kelli Christensen talked about the possibility of a task force with professional journalism organizations. “We are looking into the First Amendment training that Denver police agreed to in the Susan Greene settlement,” Christensen said. “That is on track to happen.” (Background on that here.)

ColoradoPolitics also has a write-up about the call here.

Colorado Newsline is live

The primary way Colorado Newsline will fit into the state’s media landscape is by helping to return it to its previously fertile condition. We’re unable to resupply it with 400 reporters. But we are starting with three. And every new set of eyes watching government leaders, every extra observer keeping track of public spending, every additional journalist reporting stories of how official policy affects residents helps ensure readers understand what government is up to and leads to a more enriched community. I am exceedingly grateful to the reporters who joined the Newsline team, because, given their proven talents and professionalism, they allow me to say confidently that Newsline readers will benefit from some of the best journalism Colorado has to offer.

Speaking of Newsline…

Journalists who defend the existing policy tell me, among other things, that lawmakers will kick out all the journalists, not just the bad apples, from the floor of the House and Senate, if some rogue writers ask questions deemed rude or unfair.

The Longmont Leader reports to its readers

More Colorado local media odds & ends

• 9News reporter Jeremy Jojola won a Don Bolles Medal from Investigative Reporters and Editors that “recognizes investigative journalists who have exhibited extraordinary courage in standing up against intimidation or efforts to suppress the truth about matters of public importance.” This year’s awards honor journalists “targeted by extremist groups in retaliation for their reporting.” IRE wrote Jojola, who “reported on local neo-Nazis and a group known as the Proud Boys, was targeted by extremists who visited his home when his wife and child were there alone, court records show.”
• Colorado Independent editor Susan Greene told the story behind the story of her in-depth collaboration with the Valley Courier in Alamosa about a protester shooting.
• ️Even the youngest of “intrepid” reporters at a “self-published newspaper” knows not to show a draft to a source for prior approval.
• Colorado Public Radio published an editor’s note that read, “A source has been removed from this story because Hickenlooper’s campaign says the interview with the source was on background.” (More about “on background.”)
• The Denver Post’s labor union “reached a deal with management that extends our contract that expired a year ago,” reporter Elise Schmelzer says. “We still don’t know what sacrifices our multi-millionaire owners are making, if any.”
• No more furloughs at The Pueblo Chieftain, a reporter says.
• “Reporters at Prairie Mountain papers, including the @dailycamera, are now being told we will have to continue furloughs in the 2021 fiscal year,” a Boulder Daily Camera reporter said on Twitter.
• KUNC explained the “role of body cameras for police and communities.”
• How sponsored content can make a serious newspaper look silly.
• A CPR journalist says “Journalists of color who are looking for a job – Colorado Public Radio has a couple openings right now and will have more down the line.”