| Colorado Statesman | |
| Type: | Weekly newspaper |
| Foundation: | 1889 |
| Ceased Publication: | 2017 |
| Publishing City: | Denver |
| Publishing Country: | United States |
| Website: | |
The Colorado Statesman was a weekly political newspaper published in Denver and was one of the oldest continuously published newspapers in Colorado.[1] The Statesman covered the Colorado General Assembly, state government, public policy issues, campaigns and elections, the state’s political parties, and the people and personalities behind them.[2] It was formerly known as the Denver Democrat and The Colorado Democrat.[3] The paper was succeeded to the name, Colorado Politics in 2017.
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, a wealthy, politically connected GOP donor became a partial owner.[4]
Strogoff told Columbia Journalism Review 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."[5] Strogoff stepped down as publisher on February 22, 2015, following a 35-year career. Former Colorado State Representative Jared Wright, 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.[6]
On February 4, 2016, the newspaper placed the bulk of its online content behind a paywall, restricting its access primarily to paid subscribers only.[7] 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.[8]