Late yesterday, Colorado Politics announced that it was planning a merger with the Colorado Statesman effective today. Here is a snippet of the announcement:
“June is the month of marriages, and we’d like to announce a big, fat, happy one in the political realm.
“Colorado Politics, a new digital publication launched last November, and the venerable, 118-year-old Colorado Statesman are joining forces.
“‘We see it as a perfect match of speed and substance, immediacy and insight,’ said Vince Bzdek, a former political editor at The Washington Post who will oversee the combined website and print magazine for Clarity Media. ‘Together, the aim is simple: Drive the political conversation in Colorado every day, in every way. And have fun doing it.'”
This is a great merger that will only benefit the discourse in Colorado’s political landscape. Clarity Media is a well-known expert in the media field. Additionally, Colorado Politics has recruited some of the state’s top talent in political journalism, like Joey Bunch, who will lead the outlet’s political coverage, Peter Marcus, and Dan Njegomir.
Congratulations, guys, we know you’ll do great things.
While Colorado Politics deserves much credit for standing up such a success in such a short period of time, the same cannot be said of the Statesman and we think they should call a spade a spade. The Statesman can pretend all it wants, but the beleaguered newspaper needed parental supervision and this is a buyout plain and simple. And, yes, we recognize that this unruly bunch calling for parental supervision is rich – but that’s exactly the point. We’re sad to see the 118-year old newspaper fade into oblivion, but we are delighted that professionals have taken over the operation.
The only question remaining is who will report on certain people’s secretary’s pet projects now? Will she be sent back to ColoradoPols?