Denver-based Clarity Media Group has purchased the Colorado Springs Gazette in a deal announced today. The agency’s CEO will also serve as chairman of the paper. Dan Steever will stay on as President and Publisher, with plans to expand coverage. Steever says they’ve already started adding staff in the newsroom, and plan to grow it by another 20% next year.
"And we’re expanding in other areas of the company too, so this is a pretty large investment and undertaking, and it’s one that we believe will pay off. I’ve been in the marketplace here three months, and wherever I go, I’m told by people in the community 'We want the Gazette to be thicker, we want more stories, we want you to cover more areas of topic, and if you do that, we will buy the paper.'"
Steever says that includes different platform options such as online or traditional delivery. A press release today emphasizes an expansion of military coverage as among planned changes. Details of the transaction were not disclosed. The Clarity Media Group is owned by billionaire Phil Anschutz. The Anschutz Corporation also owns the Broadmoor hotel and the Pikes Peak Cog Railway.
