Colorado Sun reporter Blevins offers a class in journalistic bias: how to write an op ed as an article. Sen Bennet's campaign against Trump for Colorado Governor.
Intro to journalistic bias: how to write an op ed as an article
Like any good advocate, Sun reporter Jason Blevins (author of the Sun piece linked below) uses a familiar technique for writing news that really is more of an opinion piece.
In order to still maintain the fiction that what he's doing is news, but still wanting desperately to offer up an opinion on policy, any experienced "journalist" will reach into his bag of tools and whip out the old "find someone to say the thing I want to say (but can't) and then quote them" trick.
In the case of Mr. Blevins' article below, the narrative is clear: Trump's tarrifs are destroying Colorado's outdoor gear business. Simply saying that would be to write an op ed, so Blevins does the above. He finds some quotes from people that will make his point for him.
A few non-contiguous quotes illustrate.
The first comes from Lane Willson who is part-owner and operator of a backpacking gear business in Salida.
“'The American dream is being destroyed by this [the Trump] administration,'[ Willson says."
Further down you see more from Willson:
“'I’m the U.S. manufacturer using U.S.-made materials and Trump is putting me out of business,' she says. 'We figured out U.S. manufacturing and we figured out how to take care of our people and it came crashing down. I’m doing everything Trump wants but we are being punished by this tariff bullshit.'”
Other outdoor gear manufacturers get in on the action too.
“'It’s a margin-killer,' says Harvey [Mike Harvey owner of Badfish river boards in speaking of the 155% tariffs on Chinese goods], who co-founded Badfish with Salida surfboard designer Zach Hughes in 2010, pioneering the then-nascent sport of river stand-up paddling. 'We’re now facing only bad choices — either eat the cost and make little to no profit, raise prices on our customers, or some painful combination of both.'”
and then later with reference again to the Chinese tariffs but this time for the manufacture of bicycles.
“'So really the compounding of tariffs is problematic and the on-again, off-again nature of this thing is incredibly frustrating,' said Chris Conroy, the co-owner of Yeti Cycles in Golden. 'It’s soul-crushing.'”
Put aside the wisdom of tariffs. Again, focus on the theme (a repeated one across multiple Sun articles actually): what Trump is doing is bad and it's hurting business.
Perhaps, but a legitimate news article would give a full exploration. It would offer you a picture of the situation fully fleshed out with other perspectives and causes.
Mr. Blevins makes a few fitful attempts at that, but to give you a sense of how imbalanced and inadequate it is, I refer you to screenshot 1 attached. This is the article shrunken as much as possible to fit the whole body of text into one image. The arrows indicate how you would read the article.
The part is boxed in red is the first mention of the other half of the story re. outdoor gear. This little tiny block of text follows all the blocks above it that give the people quoted an opportunity to vent their spleen.
Quoting the boxed paragraph:
"The bike industry boomed for a minute during the pandemic but quickly cooled. Shops in 2022 and 2023 watched bikes remain unsold, forcing discounting to make room for the new rides. Last year there were signs of a rebound and people were buying again. But the new tariffs and stormy trade war has darkened horizons."
A little bit further down Blevins gives us another nibble (with link intact):
"On April 17, Carbondale-based Revel Bikes emailed its dealers that it was closing, citing $8 million debt and 'significant payments coming due and a very soft market.'"
That's really the only openly contrary part of the article, this is nearly the entirety of the counterpoint Blevins bothers to add to balance what comes above it.
There is a tiny bit more, from higher up in the article, but something left hanging. Something which Blevins doesn't follow up on (but should have). Turn with me to higher up in the article. Let's touch base again with Ms. Willson's company Oveja Negra (quoting with links intact):
"In 2023, Oveja Negra got a $99,350 grant from the Colorado outdoor recreation office’s federally funded Outdoor Recreation Industry Impact Fund, which helps outdoor businesses hire and retain workers. That helped Willson keep her workers on board through the post-pandemic slowdown. For 13 years, business has climbed more than 10% a year, often surpassing the owners’ projections."
Oveja Negra got a nearly $100k grant from taxpayers and expanded (or retained help), but I ask you whether or not healthy companies need government grants to stay in business.
With regard to the bike market, I point out that the market has softened for years, with bikes going unsold.
Put that together with the plain fact that Trump has been in office for about 4 months now, and you get the picture. Can a healthy company get sunk by the feint (and in some cases application) of tariffs?
Trump's policies may indeed worry and actually cause some harm to these outdoor equipment manufacturers. That is not the full story and Blevins knows it. That he knows it is obvious from the fact that he nods to it slightly in the article but makes little to no effort to explore it or flesh it out.
Again, note just how much time and attention (either by word count or by picture as in screenshot 1) is given over to complaining about Trump vs. the multiple other contributing (and perhaps larger and more enduring) factors at play here.
No, covering this issue in full is not what Blevins is after. What he's after is finding people upset and angry enough to say what he (Blevins) believes and wants the reader to think: that Trump is killing Colorado's outdoor gear industry.
Editorializing under color of reporting.
https://coloradosun.com/2025/04/21/colorado-outdoor-business-tariffs-trade-war/
Related:
An old concept, but worth repeating.
When you read articles, ask yourself who wasn't quoted, who did the reporter not talk to?
The KUNC article linked below is a great example. It's all about how some students at CSU fear the loss of DEI programs at the school.
I think, however, that the KUNC reporter, forgot the word "some" in her article, because you will note that no one mentioned in the article is in favor of Trump's policy re. DEI and CSU.
Further, if you go back and look through KUNC's stories, you'll not a distinct lack of articles on how conservatives felt silenced by the schools DEI stance prior to the Trump administration (and the work by groups like FIRE).
A reader would then be faced with two possible explanations.
One, there were no students that agree with the Trump DEI policy and few to none who had concerns with their voices being silenced under the old DEI orders.
Two, KUNC didn't bother to ask or report on it before because these students were not sufficiently oppressed.
Which do you think is more likely?
https://www.kunc.org/news/2025-04-16/csu-students-fear-loss-of-inclusive-culture-due-to-changes-based-on-anti-dei-executive-orders
Sen Bennet's campaign against Trump for Colorado Governor.
In the first post today, you noted that the Colorado Sun is doing its damnedest to try and make Trump fully responsible for many things here in Colorado.
If you have seen even a little of Senator Bennet's talk about running for governor, you will have noticed similar from him: Bennet talks about Trump. A lot.
So much so you might be forgiven for thinking he's running for governor against Trump.
Why? Well, I have an idea. If you carefully read what Bennet says, the problems he highlights in Colorado and promises to fix, you'll note they are all STATE level problems, not Federal.
I.e. Bennet has to run against Trump because running against the people who made the problems here in Colorado means running against his own party and his own friends.
Fleshed out more in my recent op ed linked below.
A reader sent me the following via email. They make a great point!
To expand on Blevins apparent bias, I wonder if his counter-points didn't come from reading his employer's own articles? The link is from a Sun article from November of last year. Scroll down and read the section on The Pro's Closet. If Blevins read this, he would know that "Last year (2023) saw steep declines in bike sales." Pro's closet was a major player and their failure is endemic of the post-COVID collapse of bike sales. As such, it seems clear to me that bike retailers problems have nothing to do with Trump's tariffs. Sure, they could worry about what the future brings, but that isn't why they are struggling now.
https://coloradosun.com/2024/11/01/future-legends-bankruptcy-pros-closet/