In Praise of a Good Local Newspaper

The Chronicle is part of Colorado Community Media family which garnered 95 awards in statewide competition

Kudos to Parker Chronicle reporter Chris Michlewicz and Colorado Community Media (CCM) for recognition in Colorado Press Association‘s Better Newspaper competition. The Chronicle announced the awards in this week’s edition.

When we first moved to Parker several years ago, one of the things we missed about the Virginia community we left was the local paper. It had been informative and a particularly good place for dialogue among readers—substantive letters to the editor made up a big part of it each week. We quickly found the Parker paper was not as effective. But that has changed in the last year or so.

New ownership at the Parker Chronicle has revamped the newspaper, creating increasingly interesting articles and community relevance. Like most small newspapers, the Chronicle is now part of a larger organization. CCM now owns and operates the paper within its portfolio of newspapers across the state. It apparently knows what it’s doing as improvements at the Chronicle have been impressive and immediate.

Company newspapers received 95 awards in the association’s program. Michlewicz won recognition for his feature about a woman’s book about life with her autistic son. Congratulations, Chris.

Of course, my favorite among Chris’ articles is a feature he did about Beyond the Wood. We appreciated Chris’ article and are glad to see CCM making the Chronicle more meaningful for the community and for us–we’ve used its information several times to enhance our lives during the last year.

A strong local newspaper helps support a vibrant community. Parker is a great town, and it can only be strengthened by this stronger community-focused newspaper.

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