What’s up with The Indy?

Like the rest of us, you may be emerging from the tunnel of the last few months and realizing how much in our world has changed. We figured you may have noticed The Indy seems different now and are asking yourself, “My God, what have they done?”

Be assured the changes you’re seeing in our small-but-mighty news outlet are not the journalistic equivalent of the impulsive, COVID-era DIY haircut, with nail scissors and in poor light, with no clear view of the back of your head. They are the result of about a year of soul-searching and conversations about how best to spend our time and readers’ philanthropic donations in an era when a dozen Colorado news outlets assign reporters to the statehouse even as a growing number of local communities are becoming news deserts.

The long and short of it, is that The Indy is moving away from a daily news site and embracing a new mission: one in which we are taking our strengths and experience as reporters and editors to help newsrooms — many of which are struggling to survive — report and write stories with statewide relevance that they may not have the time, ability or people power to do alone. We’ll be providing training along with that reporting with the shared goal of strengthening local news. And, as we build the pipeline of collaborative stories, we’ll be doing a lot more of our own reporting and writing.

It’s a big change. But we and our partners at the Colorado Press Association and the Colorado Media Project believe stronger newsrooms mean a better-informed public and a better-informed public is what these times demand. In partnership with newsrooms across the state, our organizations are building a new nonprofit called the COLab.

You can read more about our mission and what to expect in the short- and long-term here.

We ask for your patience as we transition our work to serve all Colorado news outlets. And we ask for your support as we and journalists throughout the state reinvent ourselves, once again, to keep you informed and connected to your fellow Coloradans.