On September 28th, the Denver Press Club will make history. That, in itself, is no small feat for America’s oldest press club. The place reeks of history. Don’t believe it? How about this little tidbit: Long ago U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt held membership in the club. Of course, he’s just one luminary member of the joint.
DPC Hall of Fame membership reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ of media superstars. There’s Iconic editorial cartoonists and Pulitzer Prize winners Paul Conrad and Pat Oliphant. Of course, Damon Runyon, the inspiration for the Broadway and movie hit, ‘Guys and Dolls,’ once held court there, too.
Numerous Denver television icons, the latest of whom is Anne Trujillo, the face of Denver’s 7 for decades are also honored with membership. And now, joining these honored names, Pauline Rivera, owner and publisher of LaVozColorado, the state’s oldest and largest bilingual newspaper.
Rivera, whose career has been spent in various “behind the scenes”positions at Denver’s 7 and, for the last sixteen years, publisher of LaVozColorado, was surprised—but elated—when the Press Club called. “There’s quite a list of incredibly talented people in the Press Club Hall of Fame,” she thought to herself. But as the surprise wore off, “I thought. ‘Wow. This is pretty special!’”
LaVozColorado has been a Denver and Colorado mainstay for more than fifty years. And while it is a bilingual publication, its readers span the political, economic and social spectrum, said Rivera. “We serve the entire community, and beyond.” The paper is distributed from Fort Collins to Pueblo. “People want to know what’s going on in the Latino community,” she said. The paper, because each story is printed in both languages, is an essential source of news for a changing Denver and Colorado.
Publishing a bilingual newspaper, while once—and very generously—a distant possibility, actually comes quite naturally for Rivera. Growing up in the tiny, mostly Latino community of Costilla, New Mexico, nearly everyone was bilingual. “When I started school, I was already set in two languages and so were all of my classmates.”
Being fluent in two languages has not only been helpful in her career, but also a boon for the news department during her Denver’s 7 days. There, Rivera remembers being often called upon to translate Spanish language soundbites or interpret during an interview. Today she chuckles that her double-duty language skills didn’t translate into extra pay.
LaVozColorado has stories bolstered by state, national and international experts commenting on politics and government, education, healthcare, science and technology, even pop culture. Rivera has ensured the paper consistently informs readers on things that might be overlooked or even ignored by larger news organizations.
“Early on I decided that I not only wanted to share stories about Latinos in our community, but also those in the San Luis Valley and northern New Mexico where so many people in Colorado have family roots,” Rivera said. As a result, LaVozColorado has featured stories that might be considered esoterica by mainstream media but long held traditions among Latinos.
The paper, for example, has written on colcha, a unique but little known form of embroidery brought to the region by the earliest Spanish settlers. Colcha remains a practiced artform in northern New Mexico and in Colorado’s San Luis Valley. Or curanderismo, a holistic form of healing practiced across the Southwest.
Rivera has ensured that stories appearing in LaVozColorado cover a spectrum of individuals and subjects. The paper was the only Colorado media outlet to gain an exclusive interview with President Barack Obama as he sought reelection in 2012. But its scope of stories also includes profiles on New Mexico’s icon, the late Al Hurricane, and Rivera’s own interviews with astronaut José Hernandez, the late Republican presidential candidate John McCain and the popular talk show host Oprah. Also covered were warning pieces on an unknown virus coming to America and features on the minutiae and wonder of NASA’s New Horizon mission to the planet Pluto.
The contributions LaVozColorado has made to the state in journalism, said Rivera, have been extremely important. In fact, by year’s end, thanks to the Colorado Trust Foundation and the Denver Public Library, digitized copies of every LaVozColorado ever published will be accessible at the Colorado Historic Newspapers site.
LaVozColorado has also changed with the times, both broadening its reach with an internet presence and social media. Very modestly, Rivera describes the newly designed website, lavozcolorado.com, as “very informative, visual and easy to navigate” and one that goes a long way to “assist people who only get their news online.”
While media has been intertwined in an overarching way throughout her career, being a newspaper publisher was never part of the plan. At least that is what she used to think.
Mrs. Santisteven, a long-ago schoolteacher, Rivera remembered, maybe knew more about her than she did herself. “She would tell us ‘I want you to write a story and next week you’re going to stand up in front of the class and take questions on it.” She forced us to hone our writing skills and engage in the dreaded public speaking, Rivera said. “In a way, she nurtured me.” That memory might also be one of the subliminal motivations for adding and recognizing a ‘Student of the Week’ during the school year. Space is dedicated to telling a brief story of a student from Colorado who has distinguished themselves academically and have volunteered in their community. Also featured under the banner of, ‘Where Are They Now,’ LaVozColorado has featured many success stories in the community in an effort to honor those professionals, provide role models to our youth and encourage higher education. Rivera was also instrumental in implementing “Mis Recuerdos,” an ongoing column that highlights her growing up Latina experiences.
Rivera’s induction into The Denver Press Club’s Hall of Fame also means her caricature will hang alongside some heavyweight newspeople who have made Denver an amazing news town. But her Hall of Fame status also proves that she’s also earned her place.
“You survive because you know the written word is the foundation of journalism…it’s the true word.” And that, believes Rivera, especially holds true today in a changing world. Today, news changes not just by the hour but often by the minute. Today’s journalism also serves a different world than the one it served decades before.
Rivera offers, “As LaVozColorado celebrates 50 years, we continue to serve a growing Latino population and our stories reflect that same population. We have also gained mainstream readers who are very saavy and aware of a changing world.”
We’ve had an incredible staff of writers, editors, photographers, graphic artists, translators and more, who believe in our bilingual format, vision. Providing news and information in two languages (English/Spanish) to our loyal readership Rivera said, is more important today than ever. “It’s not how fast you deliver it. It’s how relevant and accurate you make it!”
