No Matter Who Owns It, It’s Your Community Newspaper

By David Sabados

In 2021, we founded The G.E.S. Gazette in response to hearing from community members that you wanted a source of local news and a newspaper to call your own. We had been printing The Denver North Star for the previous two years covering news largely west of I-25 and we knew the Gazette would need to be unique – not just an expansion of the North Star. 

For over two years we were delivering papers every month and saw the community support for having a unique publication. 

At the same time, the paper always struggled financially and was reliant on grants and support from The North Star, but our larger paper also began to struggle. In December we made the hard decision to move the outlet online to preserve the ability to publish local news while dramatically reducing the costs while we figured out options. 

Now I’m thrilled to say that we’ve found a solution that will not only keep The G.E.S. Gazette operational, but will help grow the paper and create a stronger community news ecosystem in our city. 

On May 1, Colorado Community Media took over ownership and operation of both The G.E.S. Gazette and The Denver North Star.

If you follow the news about media outlets being swallowed up and gutted by hedge funds, and are concerned about your community news, don’t worry. This is absolutely not the situation. CCM works to preserve and support local media. They can transform the Gazette operation into a nonprofit entity and integrate our newsroom efforts with their existing two Denver neighborhood papers as well as their print and bilingual online outlets in nearby Commerce City.

Kathryn White will also be remaining as editor, May Lou Egan will stay as the local historian, and there will be new community voices joining the team as well. 

I never thought of The G.E.S. Gazette and The Denver North Star as “my” papers, despite being the legal owner, and they are not really “their” papers now either. The G.E.S. Gazette is your local newspaper – print or online. It’s the community’s and will keep its community roots while expanding coverage to bring you more local news than before. We know the Gazette is in good hands with CCM.

Thank you for all of the kind words and support we’ve received from the community the past two and a half years and keep telling Kathryn and the team what you want the paper to be reporting on. Your input is invaluable to the local news ecosystem. 

Dave

David Sabados is the founder of The G.E.S. Gazette and The Denver North Star. He’s served as editor, publisher, paper boy, complaints department, and any other role needed. He and his wife Emma live in North Denver with their dog Isley.