''The Colorado Statesman'' was a weekly political newspaper published in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

and was one of the oldest continuously published newspapers in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. ''The Statesman'' covered the

Colorado General Assembly The Colorado General Assembly is the state legislature of the State of Colorado. It is a bicameral legislature that was created by the 1876 state constitution. Its statutes are codified in the ''Colorado Revised Statutes'' (C.R.S.). The ses ...

, state government, public policy issues, campaigns and elections, the state’s political parties, and the people and personalities behind them. It was formerly known as the ''Denver Democrat'' and ''The Colorado Democrat''. The paper was succeeded to the name, ''Colorado Politics'' in 2017.

History

It was founded in 1889. In the newspapers early history it became part of the ''Denver Democrat'' newspaper; followed by a name change to ''The Colorado Democrat'' in the mid-1950s; and by 1977 it was renamed ''The Colorado Statesman''. In the 1970s, the paper was owned by Cheryl Meyer and Walt Kinderman, who had hired Jody Hope Strogoff as a reporter. In 1980, Bob Sweeney bought the paper. In 1984, Sweeney sold the paper to Strogoff. By 1990,

Larry Mizel Larry A. Mizel (born September 14, 1942) is an American business executive and philanthropist based in Denver, Colorado. He currently serves as Executive Chairman of MDC Holdings. Early life Larry A. Mizel was born to a American Jews, Jewish fam ...

, a wealthy, politically connected GOP donor became a partial owner. Strogoff told

Columbia Journalism Review The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its contents include news and media industry trends, ana ...

that the newspaper at that time "became non-partisan and found that in a politically divided state like Colorado, the power players all along the political spectrum, as well as bureaucrats, like the ''Stateman''’s coverage." Strogoff stepped down as publisher on February 22, 2015, following a 35-year career. Former Colorado State Representative

Jared Wright Jared Wright is a newspaper editor, editorial cartoonist, and former Colorado politician. He has also worked as a police officer. Wright served a single term in the Colorado House of Representatives from 2013 to 2015, representing House District ...

, the newspaper's contract cartoonist, assumed the publisher's role. Former state Rep. Gerald Kopel, "Mr. Colorado Legislature," wrote a weekly column in the newspaper from 1992 until his death in 2012. On February 4, 2016, the newspaper placed the bulk of its online content behind a paywall, restricting its access primarily to paid subscribers only. In June 2017, the paper announced that it had merged with Clarity Media Corporation's Coloradopolitics.com. The branding associated with the ''Statesman'' was abandoned in favor of the Coloradopolitics.com brand.

References

External links

*
Archives of the Jerry Kopel column
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colorado Statesman, The Defunct newspapers published in Colorado Mass media in Denver Weekly newspapers published in the United States