NEWS CONNECTED TO OUR COMMUNITY
It’s time to turn the page to better journalism in the Estes Valley
The Estes Valley Voice is an award-winning, independent, locally owned, and journalist-led digital newsroom that offers the Estes Valley accurate, fact-based, and in-depth news, features, opinions, and commentary, focusing on people, businesses, and events in the Estes Valley.
We are incorporated as a public benefit corporation, a type of for-profit business that aims to provide a public benefit to the community.
News is a public good, and the media should contribute to the life of a community by prioritizing people over profits while also striving to remain financially viable. And that business is the news.
The Fourth Estate plays an essential role in the democratic process as a watchdog over government and by chronicling the stories of a community and its people.
Why Digital?
The printed page is still an important medium, but like a rotary dial telephone, newspapers — what many people call “dead tree technology” — are an outdated mode of delivering news to people.
By the time a story is written, laid out for press, printed on paper, driven to Estes, and then distributed locally or mailed to subscribers, the news is history. The ecological impact of newspapers — including deforestation, high energy and water consumption during production, pollution from chemicals, and significant greenhouse gas emissions from landfill decomposition — is enormous.
Today, more than 80% of news is consumed on mobile devices, tablets, or computers. Digital news is immediate, updatable in real time, and environmentally sustainable.
We believe the news should be accessible to everyone without a paywall, but we know that quality journalism is not cheap, and journalists are professionals who deserve to earn a living wage for the work they produce.
Our Business Model
The Estes Valley Voice operates on a subscription model, allowing everyone to read our stories on our website. Subscribers receive a newsletter in their inbox three days a week with the headlines linked to the stories.
Subscribers will also enjoy additional benefits, including priority access to community engagement events featuring speakers, educational programs, and panel discussions on topics of community concern.
In addition to subscriptions, we are also funded by the operating capital of investors, advertising revenues, and grants through our fiscal sponsorship by the Colorado Media Project’s #newsCOneeds campaign.
Contact Us
If you’re interested in becoming a subscriber, advertiser, journalist, or contributing writer, we’d like to hear from you. Please call us at 970-586-1888, send us an email at news@estesvalleyvoice.com
Patti Brown, Editor and Publisher pattibrown@estesvalleyvoice.com
Suzy Blackhurst, Senior Editor, suzyb@estesvalleyvoice.com
Our Purpose, Mission, Values, and Goals
Please click here to read our purpose, mission, values, and goals. The Estes Valley Voice is dedicated to upholding ethical journalism and delivering reliable news reporting. We aim to be a platform for civil dialogue and the exchange of information in the public square. We hope to earn your respect and that you will support locally owned, community journalism.
What do you think?
We would appreciate your feedback on what you would like to see in local news content. Please take our 2025 Readers Survey. We really do want to hear from our readers.
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