The Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition presented its Jean Otto Friend of Freedom Award to Erin McIntyre and Mike Wiggins, owners and co-publishers of the weekly Ouray County Plaindealer since 2019.
“Needless to say, the people of Ouray County have been well served by Erin and Mike’s dogged and dog-inspired reporting, without which they would be largely in the dark about what their government is up to,” said CFOIC president Steve Zansberg, presenting the award Friday during the Colorado Press Association’s annual convention.
With four-legged “newshound” Walter Cronkite by their side, McIntyre and Wiggins have broken numerous important stories about government in the small communities they cover, often fighting for access to information and First Amendment rights in the process.
In 2021, Ouray County paid their newspaper $7,500 in legal fees to settle a case in which the county sued McIntyre after she requested records about the emergency manager and health department director, who had been disciplined for working long hours during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In January of this year, someone stole hundreds of copies of the Plaindealer from vending racks across the county just hours after the newspaper published a story on a sexual assault allegedly committed by three teenagers at the home of the Ouray police chief.
“Someone sought to keep the public from reading that story, but the story about the papers being stolen from the news racks made both national and international news,” said Zansberg, holding up a printout of an Associated Press version that appeared online in the Borneo Bulletin. “That story attracted a lot of attention and then, of course, they ran the paper again to make sure the public got the news.”
CFOIC earlier this month detailed another Plaindealer freedom-of-information fight, this one involving heavily redacted records alleging that Ouray police had acted improperly when arresting a 14-year-old boy in 2023. The city incorrectly claimed the redactions were necessary because the use-of-force complaint and investigative report requested by McIntyre concerned a juvenile whose criminal record had been expunged.
The Jean Otto award, named for the former Rocky Mountain News editor who founded CFOIC in 1987, recognizes sustained and/or significant open-government activities. McIntyre is a member of CFOIC’s board of directors and Wiggins is a former board member.
CFOIC on Friday also presented its Sue O’Brien Public Service Award and its Ruth Anna Citizen Champion Award.
Robert Marshall, a Democratic state representative from Highlands Ranch, won the Ruth Anna award for his successful Colorado Open Meetings Law lawsuit against four members of the Douglas County school board who fired the district superintendent outside of public view.
Four state lawmakers won the Sue O’Brien award for sponsoring House Bill 23-1182, which created a presumption in the law that criminal court proceedings will be livestreamed to the public. They are Denver Democratic Reps. Elisabeth Epps and Javier Mabrey, Sen. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora, and Sen. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs.
“More eyes and ears on the judicial system enhances its overall integrity and builds trust with the public,” said CFOIC executive director Jeff Roberts, presenting those awards. “Open courts are a cornerstone of American democracy and, at a time of growing distrust in our institutions, it’s more important than ever for people to see and understand how the legal process works and to see for themselves whether the law is being applied fairly.”
Jeff Roberts is the executive director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that promotes freedom of the press, open courts and open access to government records and meetings at the state and local level. Learn more at coloradofoic.org.
