Thank You Pueblo Chieftain Pressmen and Presswomen

An ode to being "Printed in Pueblo"

Thank You Chieftain Pressmen and Presswomen.

On behalf of those of us who worked on the PULP, I wanted to say thank you. I know these words are inadequate but I believe so few understand what the Chieftain Pressroom has represented to Colorado. And now with the announcement that the presses will stop running, I want to file this story to tell Puebloans the enormity of what they are losing.

We, Southern Coloradans, were inextricably woven into a chronicle that stretches from the original pressmen of another century to us, the readers of any newspaper printed at 6th Street today, from the creaking iron of those original printing presses of the Colorado Chieftain, in a dusty yet new Pueblo, to the subtle rustle of morning newspaper, a marvelous - and yet so ordinary - connection tethers us together. It's the newsprint - that inky substance of knowledge, of coal-black pigment coating metal plates, rolling off your behemoth presses and onto the still-warm paper cut and folded from rolls delivered by rail. In time, it finds its way to our hands, staining them with its information, leaving us marked by the very same ink that once graced your machines during late night and early morning runs. An echo of those early pressmen persists, a tactile continuum from printer to reader, cemented in black ink and crisp paper that was unbroken until today.

You kept the presses running since 1868 and that in of itself deserves all our praise. You kept them running for the first Puebloans arriving on wagons, through the consolidation of Bessemer and three Pueblos, to the first forges of the Colorado Fuel & Iron, through the 1921 Flood, a moon landing, lasting 32 Presidents, in multiple wars and economic hardships, through the layoffs at the mill, and through a Pueblo that was once Colorado’s second city to a Pueblo that’s seen better days — you kept the presses running, you printed the power of information and set the beauty of the printed page to many of us throughout Southern Colorado.

In my first years as publisher of the PULP, our newspaper was printed at the Pueblo Chieftain by its wonderful printing press team. We loved the crew and they were part of the PULP family. We had pride that we were “Printed in Pueblo,” because every month when the Chieftain delivery truck pulled up, it was like reuniting with our friends. The Chieftain Pressroom supported us and now it’s time we support you.

Today, I call upon the Rawlings Foundation, and the Rawlings family who sit on its board, to support any Chieftain press staff that suffers financial hardship because of Gannett’s decision. The Rawlings and Hoag families benefitted mightily from the revenue of the Chieftain for decades so much so the money from the sale of the Chieftain was able to form the Rawlings Foundation to continue a legacy to give back to across Southern Colorado. But certainly, there can be no greater legacy the Rawlings could leave than to support those who printed their profit.

Without these men and women at the Chieftain, there would not be journalists to hold power to account, there would not have been ads for sales people to sell, there would not have mornings with a cup of coffee while reading “the paper.” There would not be clippings of business features or generations of framed accomplishments. Without them, Robert Rawlings wouldn’t have his name on a library, a Hoag’s name at CSU-Pueblo. Without them, the Rawlings Foundation would not exist.

Perhaps more so than anyone in news media of late, I understand what losing something you gave so much to can do to your sense of self and purpose and just how much it would mean for the pressroom to be honored by the community. I hope our leaders, your readers, all of the small newspapers you print, honor you, everyone of you past and present, who kept the presses running.

The demise of the Pueblo Chieftain through cutting staff, sales people, journalists and now these cuts in its plant hurts our Southern Colorado community. Pueblo was promised investment and “empowerment” by Gannett, instead greed has milked subscribers while diminishing the Chieftain to near irrelevance. Now, many smaller newspapers are at risk of survival because of Gannett’s decision. It is a dark time for news in Southern Colorado.

Ultimately this decision is about money that communities like ours and the small newspapers dotted around Colorado that depend on the Chieftain presses don’t matter. To Gannett, people don’t matter, jobs don’t matter and news doesn’t matter. 

I strongly believe if Gannett had invested in people and innovative news practices, they could have ushered in a new, profitable age of news journalism in unison with those who relied on its press.

When the PULP went dark due to the pandemic, I worried the collapse of news and culture coverage for Pueblo and possibly across Southern Colorado was imminent. My fears are the same today. There is the lack of veracity to hold power accountable, a lack of a cultural megaphone to drive economic growth, the lack of diverse voices to amplify the story of all Puebloans.

With the Chieftain presses going dark it signals a crisis and a near total but imminent collapse of the news industry in Pueblo. Worse, the cruel fate PULP suffered could now be the story at any one of the 50+ newspapers the Chieftain prints.

We know how this plays out. The presses will be sold off. The Chieftain’s 6th Street building will go next. The quality of the paper will continue its slide. Readers will see more errors and days where they never receive a paper only to complain to a call center in India. There will be less days its printed with less journalism by fewer journalists. What was a death spiral for the Pueblo Chieftain now starts a death watch. And small newspapers will have to find a new printer likely seeing their own costs go up putting even more pressure on tight margins.

While the future looks bleak, I sincerely hope the Pueblo community understands the magnitude of what we are losing.

So from all of us who were involved with PULP over the years, THANK YOU Chieftain Pressroom.

Though your hands may soon not bear the stain of newsprint, understand that there is no greater tribute I can offer than to say this: we in Southern Colorado are worse off without our hands tinted by the power of the press proudly “Printed in Pueblo, Colorado.”