NATIONAL TRUST FOR LOCAL NEWS ANNOUNCES RESTRUCTURE OF COLORADO ORGANIZATION AND STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH TIMES MEDIA GROUP

Non-Profit Sells 21 Newspapers to Times Media Group, Launches

Colorado Trust for Local News

The National Trust for Local News today announced a restructuring of its Colorado operations that will allow the organization to maximize its long-term impact and sustainability in the state.

The National Trust will sell 21 local publications concentrated in metro Denver to Times Media Group (TMG), a community news publisher based in Tempe, Arizona. The National Trust will retain ownership of seven publications stretching from Brighton to Idaho Springs, and continue to grow and operate the Trust Press, a community printing press that serves the Front Range media ecosystem. The organizations will enter into a strategic partnership around shared services and print production.

The acquisition will allow the National Trust to invest in serving seven communities in Adams, Weld, and Jefferson counties where the organization believes it can have a unique and sustained impact. These communities have fewer alternative sources of local news, tend to be more rural and diverse, and are farther from Denver’s city limits. The organization will expand its local journalism there while driving digital audience and revenue growth.

The National Trust is a non-profit harnessing local newspapers to build a more equitable future for local news, nationwide. It was founded in Colorado in 2021 and today is the primary source of local news for six million people in Maine, Georgia, and Colorado. It has a unique business model, using philanthropy to invest in local newspapers but relying on earned revenue from subscriptions, advertising, events, and more to sustain them. The organization’s focus is on the rural places and small cities where other non-profit news models struggle to succeed.

“Through this strategic partnership with Times Media Group, we can reduce our footprint in greater Denver without reducing local journalism there, all while positioning ourselves to grow in the parts of Colorado where the need for our unique model is greatest,” said Will Nelligan, Chief Growth Officer at the National Trust for Local News. “While it wasn’t an easy decision, we think it’s a positive outcome from all perspectives that sets the stage for a more resilient, equitable, and vibrant media ecosystem in the state.”

Times Media Group owns and operates more than 60 publications in Arizona and California, including 35 weekly newspapers and more than 40 news websites. The company has been recognized with numerous awards for journalism over the years and most recently was honored in Arizona with the 2024 Legacy Award for Community Service and the Arizona ASPRA award for education coverage. The company’s California publications were recognized last year with first-place awards for in-depth reporting, transportation reporting, and excellence in collaborations and partnerships.

“We couldn’t be more excited to serve the communities in Colorado. We know how much community news means in this state, and we understand the terrific legacy created over the years by these publications and their teams,” said Steve Strickbine, President and Founder of Times Media Group. “This partnership is a good fit for Times Media Group and the National Trust for Local News. I look forward to the great journalism ahead and the new ways we’ll create for our advertisers to reach their customers and clients.”

Strickbine’s Colorado roots run deep: his great-grandparents were ranchers and miners who immigrated to Huerfano County in the late 1800s. Strickbine was born in Colorado, and enjoys spending time at his summer home near the Spanish Peaks in southern Colorado.

The seven newspapers retained by the National Trust are the Brighton Standard-Blade, Fort Lupton Press, Canyon Courier, Clear Creek Courant, Northglenn-Thornton Sentinel, Westminster Window, and Golden Transcript. These titles will become part of the Colorado Trust for Local News, a subsidiary of the National Trust dedicated to building an equitable, resilient, and vibrant future for local news across Colorado.

“Our ongoing commitment to the state where we started is very deep,” said Amalie Nash, Head of Transformation at the National Trust for Local News and a resident of Colorado. “Colorado has one of the strongest media ecosystems in the nation, and what we’re doing today positions us to focus within that ecosystem where our model can have maximum impact – in seven communities today and across many more in the future.”

The Colorado Trust will continue to grow the Trust Press, the community printing press it launched in December to serve publishers across Colorado who are struggling with the rising costs of producing their journalism. The press has now taken on its first seven printing partners, supporting local news from Conifer to Colorado State University. It recently hired Chris Klein to lead business development, building partnerships for the Trust Press within the Colorado media ecosystem. As part of the transaction, TMG will print with the Trust Press, a major investment in the facility’s sustainability.

As another part of the transaction, TMG will provide shared services to the Colorado Trust for Local News, including page design, digital infrastructure, advertising sales, and circulation management.

“We are truly excited about this opportunity to partner with the Trust and to help ensure the viability of these publications,” said Nadine Johnson, director of operations for Times Media Group. "As part of Times Media Group's commitment to the National Trust for Local News and the Colorado communities it serves, we will continue to contribute to the long-term sustainability of these long-standing community newspapers.”

The partnership will allow the Colorado Trust to focus in the near-term on building a strong audience in its remaining markets before investing in greater reach and scope across the state. Other terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Cash proceeds of the sale will be used to invest in the Colorado Trust’s journalism.

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About the National Trust for Local News

The National Trust for Local News is a community-rooted, nationally-scaled nonprofit building a more equitable future for local journalism. Its mission is to renew civic life by rebuilding local news. Today the organization is the primary source of local news for six million people in Maine, Colorado, and Georgia. The National Trust’s publications are cornerstones of community – they tell the truth, hold power to account, contextualize global issues, and chronicle all realms of local life from food to sports.

Media inquiries

Amalie Nash

National Trust for Local News

amalie@ntln.org

(734) 845-7760