Colorado Community Media closes two Denver newspapers

DENVER — After 50 years in Denver’s most densely populated neighborhood, Life on Capitol Hill is closing its printing press.

Brooke Warner, executive director of Colorado Community Media, who published the paper, said the closure came after years of a changing media ecosystem, in which social media and digital news replaced the free newspaper, which relied entirely on dwindling ad revenue.

“As news consumption habits evolve, so must the products we create to deliver local news. Monthly print products like Life on Capitol Hill, distributed for free to homes and racked locations while relying exclusively on advertising revenue to supplement the costs of producing it, have become increasingly difficult to keep sustainable,” Warner wrote in a written statement. “This was a difficult decision, but a necessary one to allow our staff to focus their time, attention and resources on supporting the evolution of our other many news brands across the Denver region.”

Rocky Mountain PBS interviewed five Capitol Hill residents at Thump Coffee, a neighborhood coffee shop. All said they lived in Capitol Hill but had not heard of the paper, which Thump used to carry.

“I’ll admit, I’m not really one to pick up the physical newspaper ever, but I see them as I walk by and I’d never even seen this one before,” said Evan Shapiro, a statistician. 

Shapiro said he follows Colorado news closely. He’s an online Denver Post subscriber and listens to Colorado Public Radio, he said.

“I do like to be informed and I wish I could’ve supported the Cap Hill paper,” Shapiro said. “Too bad I didn’t know it existed before it was too late.”

Meghan Durnsley, who has lived in Capitol Hill for three years, said the neighborhood’s high rate of new residents could contribute to feeling less informed and connected to the community.

“I feel bad saying this but I’ve never read a newspaper in Denver,” Durnsley said. “I have the news app on my phone but I don’t really keep up with Denver stuff.”

Durnsley, who moved to Denver from Texas in 2022, said she doesn’t consider herself “much of a news consumer.”

“It stresses me out,” Durnsley said. “But it might’ve been nice to be more aware of what’s going on in my neighborhood.”

Colorado Community Media also announced it would close the “Washington Park Profile.” It still operates 25 other papers in the Denver suburbs.

Rocky Mountain PBS previously reported on a slew of newspaper closures in eastern Colorado, which led to news deserts in more rural parts of the state.

You can learn more about Colorado Community Media’s closures in this piece from Corey Hutchins, the co-director of the Journalism Institute at Colorado College