Aspen expects better

Per recent reports, Aspen Times corporate ownership claims they want to focus on covering the community and what’s happening in Aspen and the surrounding area. And further claim that this is their job.

However, it seems that that desire — their job — is somewhat limited in that if that coverage comes at a steep financial cost, then they will, in fact, not be covering the community nor what’s happening in Aspen and the surrounding area. And in supplication, they will indeed, delete not only their own staff news stories but also letters to the editor from the public. They will even go so far as to scuttle their own staff columnists’ pieces out of fear of reprisals.

In the U.S., we’ve believed so strongly in the freedom of speech that we put it in the framework of our Constitution. It is the First Amendment that forbids the abridging of free speech or of the press. Does the press always get it 100% correct? No. News can be messy and it’s not a perfect science. Americans understand that. And to bend the knee to outside forces and to try to erase what was reported by professionals and written by locals is unconscionable, made worse by continuing to cancel columns.

Ogden Newspapers needs to do better. Aspen residents and readers expect more than kowtowing and deserve a truly free, independent and courageous press, even if it is not infallible.

Tiffany Smith

Aspen