Mountain Town Journalism
Steamboat Springs faces the same issues as big cities but the vibe is a lot more relaxed and friendly. Alison Berg has a front-row seat as a reporter at the Steamboat Pilot & Today
Steamboat Springs sits in the Yampa River Valley in the Northwest quadrant of Colorado, nearly three hours from Denver. The city is most well known for the nearby ski resort, Steamboat Ski Resort, which boasts the most expensive lift ticket in Colorado this season.
While towns like Steamboat are known for—and economically reliant on—skiing, recreation, and tourism, that’s not the full story. Mountain towns have their own identity, history, politics, and culture. Who is there to tell these stories? In places that still have newspapers or other new media outlets, journalists work tirelessly to write about city council sessions, court cases, and local goings-on.
In this way, Steamboat looks a lot like your average American city. Issues range from the mundane, like debating whether or not to institute a property tax (Steamboat relies heavily on sales tax), to the extraordinary, like a local man who attended the January 6 rally in Washington D.C., which turned into a deadly invasion of the Capitol Building.
One of the journalists who cover all of this is Alison Berg, who covers the city, ski industry, and cops and courts beats for the Steamboat Pilot & Today. Berg accepted the job and moved to Colorado last year after completing an internship in Washington D.C.
When Berg arrived in Steamboat, she got a crash course about how the region operates, especially in terms of the ski industry. On one of her first days on the job, the resort hired a chef to oversee all of its 23 restaurants. Berg couldn’t conceptualize how a ski resort could have so many restaurants. Plus there were other things to figure out, like what everyone was talking about when they were referring to the Ikon Pass.
“I remember the first month or so of the job, I was like I have no idea what people are talking about,” she admitted.
But now, she is standing on firmer ground after learning much through osmosis. Luckily, she’s found the people in Steamboat to be friendly and welcoming. The isolated nature of the town creates a common bond and a small-town atmosphere that can be found in many places across Colorado’s ski country.
“I mean people here are just so nice, and I really think it's because if you live here, you want to live here and you love your life the way it is,” she said. You wouldn't live here unless you really want to.”
That atmosphere leads to a different environment to do journalism in compared to bigger cities. Previously, Berg was an intern for a newspaper in Oakland, California. There, people seemed to be in a rush. They didn’t engage with reporters other than quickly answering their questions. In Steamboat, Berg says she feels like she knows the people she writes about better.
“Even though I haven't really met anyone in person here, I feel like I know the people that I cover really well,” she said.
Though this source-journalist relationship presents a balance that all reporters have to face: how to be friendly with the people you cover while also not being hesitant to ask tough questions when the time comes.
“Going into situations with people I try to always remember that I am a journalist first and that I need to be objective and be professional in all these situations,” she adds.
One of the most challenging stories that Berg has covered, but one that she’s most proud of, was the story about the man who attended the January 6 rally in the Capitol. The newspaper put out a post on social media, and Nathan Butler was willing to talk.
The lead of the piece reads:
Nathan Butler stood on the steps outside the United States Capitol Wednesday amid thousands of fellow supporters of President Donald Trump. He said they were all there with the same goal — to ensure what they believed was more necessary transparency in the 2020 presidential election certification process.
Butler said that he did not engage in any violence and that he did not enter the Capitol Building.
Berg says that the challenging thing about stories like this is telling a full story without engaging in “both sides-ism,” something that the media industry has been recently reckoning with, especially in the wake of racism and police violence.
There’s value in telling the story about what happened in D.C. on January 6 and why somebody felt compelled to fly all the way there from Colorado to attend a rally. However, journalists must not amplify the untrue message that the election was rigged.
To do this, Berg balanced Butler’s quotes with information from Politifact, a non-partisan fact-checking outlet, and with references to Trump-appointed judges who ruled against claims of voter fraud.
“I think that telling stories fairly does not necessarily mean looking at both sides equally because often both sides aren't equal,” Berg said.
On a lighter note than violent insurrection and national politics, Berg wrote a column about learning to ski last month. After all, there’s no better way to learn about the things you cover than to do them yourself. It looks like Berg had a successful day on the hill and is looking to do it again.
“My Steamboat experience has been quite different because of COVID-19, which forces me to spend most of my time alone,” she wrote, before adding, “Things are hard for everyone right now, but if there’s a place to be while things are hard, I am so glad Steamboat is that place for me.