About Us

Aspen Journalism is an independent nonprofit news organization.

Our mission is to produce investigative journalism in the local public interest, as well-informed citizens make better decisions.

We cover the Roaring Fork River watershed in western Colorado, with an emphasis on Aspen, Snowmass Village and Pitkin County.

We collaborate with other local media organizations on stories and projects and seek to present local public data in a useful and compelling manner.

We’re supported by people who appreciate good journalism and have a stake in the Aspen area.

For more, see the American Journalism Review and the Columbia Journalism Review.

If you there is something you would like us to look into, or if you have a comment on something we’ve reported, please tell us via our contact page.

Aspen Journalism staff

Brent Gardner-Smith
Brent is the founder, executive director and editor of Aspen Journalism.  He’s been a reporter at the Aspen Daily News and The Aspen Times and served as the executive director of Aspen Public Radio. He earned a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri in 2011 with an emphasis on media management and local nonprofit investigative reporting. As part of his master’s program, Brent spent four months in early 2010 working in ProPublica’s communications department. His local reporting has been recognized by the Colorado Press Association, the Colorado Broadcasters Association and the Society of Professional Journalists.

Aspen Journalism board

Tim McFlynn, chair
Tim is the executive director of Public Counsel of the Rockies, the chair of Pitkin County Open Space and Trails Board, and a Manaus Fund board member.

Edgar Boyles
Edgar is a cinematographer with Aspen-based Wildwood Films and a mountain pilot providing location scouting services across the West.

Michael McVoy
Michael is an Aspen-based investment adviser, the former co-publisher of The Aspen Times, and a Manaus Fund board member.

Journalism advisory board
Aspen Journalism’s professional support
Freelance Journalists

We’ve worked with following talented individuals on stories and projects:

  • Dan Bayer, photographer
  • David Frey, reporter, photographer
  • Brady Hurley, editor
  • Catherine Lutz, reporter, editor
  • Devon Meyers, photographer
  • Tim Mutrie, reporter, photographer
  • Zach Ornitz, photographer, video/audio producer
  • Madeleine Osberger, reporter
  • Heather Rousseau, photographer
Collaborators

We’ve collaborated with the following news organizations:

Also, please see the our 2012 annual report and our 2011 annual report.

Aspen Journalism’s financial supporters

We are a nonprofit corporation and a 501(c)(3) organization recognized by the Internal Revenue Service.

Our financial support has come from the following foundations, organizations and individuals:

Here is our 2011 Form 990-EZ, our 2012 Form 990-EZ, and our IRS determination letter.

We are seeking broad-based community support from citizens who value in-depth journalism and investigative reporting. Please use the donation button at the top of the website to help Aspen Journalism continue to produce local investigative journalism.

Aspen Journalism’s ethics and values

“Our job is not make up anyone’s mind, but to open minds – to make the agony of decision-making so intense that you can escape only by thinking.” Fred Friendly, CBS News Producer. (Source: News Now: Visual Storytelling in the Digital Age).

Aspen Journalism is committed to:

  • working in the local public interest;
  • meeting the highest standards of investigative journalism;
  • being responsive to readers and the public;
  • collaborating with local and regional news organizations; and
  • being transparent about our funding and affiliations.

We subscribe to the code of ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists (“Seek truth and report it”) and we respect the AP standards and guidelines.

Aspen Journalism Affiliations

Aspen Journalism, or its executive director, Brent Gardner-Smith, is a member of the following organizations:

Investigative News Network

Local Independent Online News Publishers

Investigative Reporters and Editors

Colorado Press Association

Use Aspen Journalism’s work, please!

We want our journalism to have impact. The greater the exposure, the greater the potential impact.

Because of this, our approach to our Creative Commons License is heavily based on ProPublica’s well-articulated policy, for which we are grateful.

Here are the guidelines:

You can republish our articles and graphics for free (without any cost to you), but:

You can’t edit our material, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style. (For example, “yesterday” can be changed to “last week.” We also prefer that you don’t change the headline, unless you need to for space or context considerations.)

  • If you’re republishing online, you have to link to us and to include all of the links in the story.
  • You can’t sell our material separately.
  • It’s fine to put our stories on pages with ads, but not ads specifically sold against our stories.
  • You can’t republish our material wholesale, or automatically; you need to select stories to be republished individually.
  • You have to credit us – ideally in the byline. We prefer “Author Name, Aspen Journalism.” (We appreciate it if you link “Aspen Journalism” in the byline to our website.)
  • And we also appreciate it when you tag our work with an editor’s note that says “Aspen Journalism is an independent nonprofit news organization working in the local public interest and publishing at www.AspenJournalism.org,” and include a link.