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The story started with a tip from a viewer. Eric Ross, an investigative reporter for KOAA News 5 in Colorado Springs, took a call from a source who had previously provided valuable information on the alleged mismanagement of park district funds.

This time, it was the Fremont County clerk and recorder who was being accused of misusing taxpayer money. Ross submitted a Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) request for county checks and cash receipts payable to Clerk Katie Barr, her husband and their Cañon City auto repair shop. His CORA request sparked a police investigation that led to Barr’s arrest last month on suspicion of embezzlement, witness intimidation, fraud and harassment.

“I want to express gratitude to KOAA Channel 5 for making the request and bringing these issues to the attention of Fremont County officials,” the county attorney wrote in a letter to Ross.

It’s not every day a reporter helps put a government official in jail. Journalists do what they do, often hoping to make a difference, but mostly because they love telling stories about their communities. Those who cover government or specialize in investigations tend to be especially passionate about their roles as watchdogs who work, on the public’s behalf, to hold powerful people and institutions accountable.

Unfortunately, the contraction of the news industry means fewer journalist watchdogs. And that puts our state and our communities in danger.

Colorado isn’t known for corruption, but we’ve had our share of scandals and stories about broken systems. What don’t we know because there aren’t enough reporters digging into important issues, uncovering wrongdoing or examining government programs? What might some public officials think they can get away with because the news media — and, by extension, the public — aren’t watching?

When KUNC radio reporter Bente Birkeland asked state lawmakers about recent layoffs at The Denver Post, one joked, “Hey, that means we can do whatever we want.”

In his darkly funny way, comedian John Oliver made a similar observation in 2016: “Not having reporters at government meetings is like a teacher leaving her room of seventh-graders to supervise themselves. Best-case scenario, Brittany gets gum in her hair. Worst-case scenario, you no longer have a school!”

We need professionally trained journalists to sit through those long, often-tedious government meetings that determine policy and how tax revenue is spent. We need them to pore over government documents and databases, which they often must fight to obtain, sometimes for fees amounting to hundreds or thousands of dollars. We need them to develop sources who will help them explain to the public what’s really going on in their state, city, county and school district.

“Investigative journalism in my mind is about giving a voice to the voiceless and covering issues that really matter to the community,” Ross said. “When people reach out to me, they’ve usually exhausted all other options. They don’t know how to do the research or who to talk to. We’re able to expedite the process and hopefully not just expose a problem, but make the community a safer and better place.”

Because Ross got them interested, authorities said they discovered checks written to Barr’s accounts totaling more than $220,000.

The Denver Post makes an impact like that with some regularity. One example: A 2015 series by Christopher N. Osher prompted a new state law designed to make it harder for police officers with checkered pasts to jump from agency to agency.

But it’s not just investigative reporters who break watchdog stories that matter to their communities in big and small ways. Six days before Barr’s arrest, the tiny Craig Press newspaper in northwest Colorado caught the City Council firing the city manager in a closed-door meeting, in violation of the Colorado open meetings law. A few days earlier, the Greeley City Council changed its secret process of approving raises for city staff because The Greeley Tribune questioned whether it violated the open meetings law.

A month ago, the state House expelled a lawmaker for the first time since 1915. The allegations against former Rep. Steve Lebsock came to light because KUNC’s Birkeland started asking questions about sexual harassment at the Capitol.

“Keeping ’em honest,” a veteran Colorado newsman likes to say about the role of the fourth estate in our democracy.

That’s a pretty good reason to support local journalism.

Jeffrey A. Roberts is executive director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition. He is a former Denver Post reporter and editor.

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