Since first learning about the government grant to create the Colorado Capitol Alliance, a news-sharing collaborative made up of left-leaning media heavyweights KUNC, The Colorado Sun, and Colorado Public Radio (CPR), I’ve wondered about a few things. Will we get coverage that meets the standards of fairness and balance required of government-funded media?  Who is responsible for ensuring that, and for any mistakes?  Where do our tax dollars actually go and what are they used for?

With the legislative session now more than halfway over, with multiple articles produced by the Alliance, I am sadly no closer to answers to some of my questions.  The Alliance has produced enough shared content to demonstrate the kind of tilted coverage we expect from progressive news outlets, but they have offered little in the way of transparency or accountability for what they produce.  Time and again emails were ignored, easily giving the impression that the organizations in the Alliance want your money, but not any accountability.

Following the taxpayer money

The Colorado Capitol Alliance gets its funding via the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which comes from taxpayers and includes a statutory requirement that the subsidized reporting be accurate, fair, and balanced. Taxpayer dollars are not voluntarily given but rather compulsory, backed by the threat of government force.  As such, the proper standard for their use when given to others ought to be similar to the phrase my parents repeated to me many times as a child: when it’s your own money you can do what you like, but as long as we’re paying you need to do as we say.

I don’t begrudge the money being spent to increase news coverage of the legislature. The problem is that the efforts of the Alliance have, especially at the beginning, fallen short of what reasonable people ought to expect for a taxpayer-funded effort.

From the first, the Alliance reporting left no indication of who was responsible for what, and, while I do not dispute its accuracy, it has often been decidedly unfair and unbalanced.  In fact, their first effort had a wide disparity in the space given for quotes by Democrats vs. Republicans (an about 3.5 to 1 ratio), as well as wholly ignoring any “ambitious” bills Republicans were sending out (though giving space to two labeled as such by Democrats).

Multiple following articles were labeled as being from the Alliance, but followed that unfair, unbalanced pattern, showing similar disparities (this time in space given to advocates for a bill as opposed to opponents), in addition to at least once letting others who are likely Trump’s political opponents characterize his actions for him.

Mushroom treatment

The Alliance reporting has also shown a distinct lack of transparency. Multiple articles, written sometimes by multiple reporters from various Alliance members, appear across multiple news outlets over a few days’ time.  This invites the obvious question of who “owns” the product.  Who is responsible for it?  Who fixes the inevitable errors and makes sure those errors are fixed everywhere the news was printed?  Where would someone asking for a correction go first?

This mixing and mingling also invites questions as to where and how our money is being spent, and on what.  Outside of a single reference at the end of a February 4 article appearing in Colorado Sun which stated “The Sun receives no funding from the alliance,” there’s been no public statement of just exactly who gets what and from whom.

Much of the above is adapted from testimony I gave at the Saturday, March 29 meeting of the KUNC board, where I challenged them to hold themselves to the same standards that they would have for any other taxpayer-funded operation.  I challenged them to be completely and publicly transparent in where the grant money is going, and with who is responsible for what.  I challenged them to be accountable to the people that paid for their coverage, accountable enough to actually respond to questions or concerns, whether they enjoy hearing them or not, and whether they agree with them or not.

The response I got was positive.  They acknowledged some of my concerns, answered some of my questions, and asked me to email them to follow up on others (which I have).  I told them that I appreciated their attention, but that ultimately time and their actions will reveal the sincerity of their words.

Amid the ongoing discussion of public funding for news media, the question of accountability for the reporting is often lost amid the noise of calls to defund, or to keep shaking the taxpayer tree. I am not a big fan of absolutes, so I won’t weigh in there.  But at the end of the day, taxpayers are subsidizing public media, so pay attention to what they produce and, if you don’t like it, speak up.  It’s your money after all.

Cory Gaines is a regular contributor to Complete Colorado.  He lives in Sterling on Colorado’s Eastern Plains and also writes at the Colorado Accountability Project substack