 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
|
Boulder Weekly is an alternative newsweekly that publishes every Thursday in Boulder, Colorado. The paper is a member of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies (AAN)[1] and is owned and published by Stewart Sallo.[2] While there were tentative plans to transition to an employee-owned enterprise with Sallo's planned retirement, the paper abruptly and unceremoniously laid off most staff in summer 2025 after the publication of the July 3-9 issue.[3][4]
After the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, Sallo left Santa Cruz, Calif., where he had ownership of two publications — Summer Santa Cruz and Student Guide.[5] By 1992, he had set his sights on Boulder, Colorado. He moved to Boulder in 1993, and the first edition of Boulder Weekly hit the stands on Aug. 19 of that year.
Between 1996 and 2000, Boulder Planet operated as a competing publication to the Weekly. The continued publication of the Weekly despite the competition has been a source of satisfaction for Sallo.[6]
Initially, Sallo saw the paper as a business opportunity in a city lacking a weekly newspaper. However, an article by Joel Dyer in 1994 reshaped Sallo's view on the newspaper's potential impact ("Deadly ground: Beech Aircraft toxins poison open space," Sept. 14, 1994). As a result, Boulder Weekly's editorial direction shifted toward a more aggressive, alternative approach to news. Dyer later became editor of Boulder Weekly, eventually leaving the paper to write books and publish his own newsweekly, the Fort Collins Weekly, from 2002 to 2007.
Succeeding Dyer, Greg Campbell maintained the investigative editorial direction, publishing articles such as "Eternal flame: Think you've paid at the pump? Try paying with your life. Boulder Weekly visits Nigeria," April 19, 2001, which exposed the suffering of a Nigerian village at the hands of an Italian gas company. Campbell is the author of Blood Diamonds: Tracing the Deadly Path of the World's Most Precious Stones.
Wayne Laugesen, following his tenure at Soldier of Fortune magazine, served as Boulder Weekly's editor. In 2003, Pamela White took on the role of editor, becoming the first woman to do so. She came to the Weekly after serving as editor of Colorado Daily. Joel Dyer returned to the Weekly as editor in November 2011.[7] He was last listed on the masthead as editor-at-large in the April 6, 2023 issue[8][9] Shay Castle was appointed the new editor on October 30, 2023.[10]
In December 2024, the paper announced that publisher Sallo plans to retire[11] and that staff launched a fundraising campaign to explore the possibility of transitioning the paper an employee-owned co-op.[12][13][14]
In July 2025, the Weekly published its last issue. In an interview with community radio station KGNU, Sallo defended his decisions.[15]
Among the Boulder Weekly's awards, in April 2023 it won seven awards in the Society of Professional Journalists' Top of the Rockies competition including two first prizes.[16] In April 2018, it won 27 awards in the 2017 Society of Professional Journalists' competition, including 10 first prizes.[17][18]
We produced stories that sparked dialogue and made real change, all while scrambling to make rent. We were the first media outlet in the country to question whether the Oklahoma City bombing was domestic terrorism. We sent a reporter to Bosnia. The staff made Boulder Weekly matter 25 years later, Yellow Scene is the last locally owned print publication in Boulder County. Everything else is owned by a hedge fund, a franchise, or a conglomerate
In December, Castle wrote a Boulder Weekly piece letting readers know Sallo was planning to retire and had agreed to work with the staff on a transition to employee ownership. The Weekly started a campaign to raise $10,000 through the Colorado Gives Foundation. The plan was to work with the nonprofit Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Center to explore a co-op model…
founder and owner, Stewart Sallo, is looking to retire. Rather than sell to the highest bidder, Stew has graciously decided to work with the Boulder Weekly team on a transition to employee ownership. We're fundraising now for the first step, a feasibility study to outline the operational and financial requirements for such a venture. Thankfully, we're being guided by experts at the nonprofit Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Center... We're exploring a co-op model that would put workers and community members in charge of business decisions. (For ethical reasons, editorial power would remain with the editorial team.)
The free independent paper that has served the entire county for 30 years isn't at risk of folding if employee ownership doesn't pan out, says Editor Shay Castle, but those who work there are looking at a co-op model as an initial option. The paper isn't even technically listed for sale, she said... the Colorado Sun, also worked with the RMEOC on its transition...
