In a March 25 blog, Colorado Public Radio executive Sean Nethery insisted that CPR isn't abandoning its much-ballyhooed news initiative despite its decision to drop plans for adding a talk show and expanding its Colorado Matters program. If a report on this morning's newscast is any indication, however, the effort might not add a great deal to information that's already available. The piece talked about the possibility that numerous school districts around the state may switch to a four-day week in order to save money -- an interesting development. Trouble is, there wasn't a single fact in it that wasn't contained in "Budget Woes May Force Three R's Into Four Days," a Michael Booth story that ran on the front page of Sunday's Denver Post. And no, the Post wasn't credited as the source of the information.
Presumably, the news initiative was intended to do more than present Reader's Digest versions of newspaper articles. But given fundraising shortfalls and rising costs, we may be hearing more items along these lines than we'd like.
