In early October, E&P announced that its most distinctive honor, Publisher of the Year, had been bestowed on Christopher P. Reen, president and CEO of Clarity Media Group, and president and publisher of The Denver Gazette, chairman of Colorado Politics and publisher of The Colorado Springs Gazette, LLC. In addition, he also serves as the CEO of Media DC/The Washington Examiner. He wears many professional hats.
Reen was nominated and chosen for the award for his remarkable, nearly 40-year career in news media publishing; for his record on innovation; for his insight into audience and marketplaces; for his long commitment to giving back to the news media community; and for his exemplary leadership.
“It’s been a very humbling experience, frankly, to be recognized with incredible leaders and publishers who have won this in the past,” Reen said during a Zoom with E&P Publisher Mike Blinder and Editor-in-Chief Robin Blinder. “It is a great honor — and also a great honor for the brands and the newspapers and the people who I work with here in Colorado.”
Dedicated from the start
Chris Reen came to his career in news media by “happenstance.” While he was in college at the University of Buffalo, he worked for the student-run campus paper — writing stories and selling advertising to local businesses.
“I found out about an internship at The Buffalo News and did that for one summer. They thought I was doing a good job, and I really enjoyed it, so I did it for three summers in a row,” Reen recalled. “Then they offered me a job selling advertising — classified and automotive. And that’s how I started in advertising. … I loved everything about it. I loved the pace, working with customers and coming up with creative solutions. I loved being out in the community. … It was such a fulfilling career, and it satisfied my competitive nature.”
From Buffalo, Reen embarked on a career that would lead him to New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and, most recently, to Colorado.
At the millennium, Reen was vice president of advertising for the Democrat & Chronicle in Rochester, New York. Four years later, he was appointed vice president of sales and marketing at The Oklahoman, and in 2007, was promoted to executive vice president of The Oklahoman. Ultimately, he became the president and publisher of The Oklahoman Media Company.
Reen’s next professional move led him to The Colorado Springs Gazette, LLC, where he was appointed president and publisher in 2019. In 2020, he became the president and publisher at The Denver Gazette, as well, and subsequently took the helm at Phil Anschutz’s Clarity Media Group, serving as the company’s president and CEO. Clarity Media Group publishes The Gazette (Colorado Springs), The Denver Gazette, Colorado Politics and the Washington Examiner, among other titles.
“We’ve just celebrated five years of The Denver Gazette. It’s a fully digital newspaper that we launched during the COVID-19 pandemic. And while everyone else in the country was contracting significantly, we actually expanded,” Reen said. “We hired more journalists, and we moved into a competitive marketplace.”
“We have the state’s largest investigative team,” he noted. “We do a lot of accountability journalism, and we tackle big, important subjects, like the state’s mental health crisis, problems with the Colorado justice system, stories about elder care and nursing homes, problems with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, and the damaging impact of unfettered recreational marijuana.”
Vince Bzdek is executive editor for The Gazette, Denver Gazette and Colorado Politics. “Chris always expects professionalism and projects professionalism,” Bzdek said.
He recalled one of Reen’s first initiatives: creating an investigative team.
“Chris doesn’t stand still,” Bzdek said. “He’s not trying to manage a declining or shrinking media company. He’s trying to drive a growing and innovative company while figuring out the new model for journalism. So, we experiment and innovate a lot. Now, we have the Denver Gazette and Out There Colorado, a site focused on outdoor recreation. We have Colorado Politics, and we just launched a magazine.
“We also launched a freelance network all around the state, called the Colorado Network, which aims to cover some of the far corners of the state better, especially where we’ve lost coverage. So, we’ve tried to hire some of those people as freelancers and really beef up our statewide presence.”
At Clarity, Reen fosters a culture of innovation. He spoke to E&P about artificial intelligence (AI) as an example: “AI can help our businesses with data and create efficiencies throughout our organization. But AI is only as good as the people using it. We see it as complementing what we’re doing, on the one hand, but on the other hand, it’s a massive disruptor.”
“Of course, we go through challenges, but we wouldn’t be launching products in new markets and trying to expand our business, when others are contracting, if we didn’t want to win,” Reen said. “At the end of the day, we are still in a competitive business, and that’s one of the reasons I’ve stayed in this business. I like a challenge.”
For the benefit of journalism
Reen spoke with E&P about the importance and fellowship of news media associations. Early in his career, he was active in the Newspaper Association of America (NAA). Then he became engaged with the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association (SNPA), including serving as president and board chair. When the organization merged with the Inland Press Association, forming America’s Newspapers, Reen served as America's Newspapers’ inaugural president.
Leonard Woolsey first met Reen through SNPA. Woolsey is the president of Southern Newspapers, president and publisher of The Daily News in Galveston, Texas, and the current, elected president of America’s Newspapers.
“I would watch him walk through a room, and people would turn and look and approach him for advice. He was always so steady and carried himself well. That’s still Chris,” Woolsey said.
“Chris has always been the voice in the middle to say, ‘Let’s hear differences of opinion and find the middle. He moved discussions forward, professionally and calmly. His demeanor brings down the temperature of the room, because everybody knows Chris is going to lead us through whatever it is. That’s what made him the perfect choice as the first leader of America’s Newspapers. There’s just something about Chris that makes you feel good and comfortable — that there’s nothing you can’t overcome. He has that ‘it factor,’” Woolsey said.
Reen also became the first president of America’s Newspapers Foundation, and in 2022, America’s Newspapers honored him with the Frank W. Mayborn Leadership Award.
“Chris is a natural leader, and he is very committed to the principles he believes in. He’s very effective in communicating our values,” according to Dean Ridings, CEO, America’s Newspapers. “He’s given a lot of his time to this organization and to the industry.”
“I consider Chris a smart, passionate supporter of the industry, and I consider him a friend,” Ridings added. “I value his counsel and look forward to working with him as we continue to work toward making a better industry for us all. … [Chris] is not always in the limelight, but he has worked tirelessly to make our industry better, and I have seen that firsthand over the years, so I’m thrilled that he’s receiving this honor.”
For family and community
Family has long been the center of Reen’s life. His father, a physician, and his mother raised 10 children; he was the 10th.
“Being one of 10 kids, there was no money for college,” Reen’s wife, Amy, explained. “Chris literally put himself through school working four jobs. … During his senior year, he took classes at night so he could work at The Buffalo News during the day.”
“If there is one thing I would stress, it is that his integrity and passion for the truth — especially in these tricky times — have never wavered,” his wife added. “He has always had a drive to put out a great product, one to be proud of.”
Amy described her husband as patently fair-minded and kind — traits that serve him well personally and professionally. They’ve been married for 31 years and raised three children — Hannah, Sean and Griffin, now accomplished adults in their own rights. Hannah is a political fundraiser; Griffin is in the management training program with a large corporation. Sean is a captain in the United States Marine Corps. He speaks of them with beaming pride. “My family is everything to me,” he said.
Reen enjoys traveling, playing golf and tennis, hiking with Amy and Bear (their goldendoodle) and being a lifelong member of the Catholic Church. He serves on several philanthropic boards, including Catholic Charities.
“We also have a charitable arm called Gazette Charities. Every year, we have a community campaign called ‘the Empty Stocking Fund.’ We raised $1.7 million last year, and 100% of those proceeds go to 20 health and human services organizations,” Reen said.
He credited mentors who saw his potential, taught him, encouraged him and gave him a shot. He worked with Dave Hunke at Gannett in Rochester, New York, who he said was a great confidant and mentor. Warren T. Colville, who was the president and publisher at The Buffalo News, took Reen under his professional wing and became a long-time friend.
“In Oklahoma, there was David Thompson, a very good friend and, I think, the best in the business,” Reen said. “He was also a model for me, in how he was involved in his community and balanced family with profession.”
Reen’s peers describe him with adjectives like calming, whip-smart, modest, the kind of captain you want in the bridge when you’re navigating rough seas.
Leonard Woolsey described Reen as someone who gets up in the morning and endeavors to make the world a better place before bedtime. “It’s a humble, servant-like attitude, and Chris is that person,” Woolsey said. “Chris is undeniably that person.”
E&P also spoke with Rich Williams, president and COO of Gazette Media and vice president of Gazette Charities. He recounted the spring of 2020, as the pandemic was unfurling across the country, and many of their colleagues were working from home. But he was in the office, and so was Reen. Together, they began planning how to launch a newspaper in Denver.
“I don’t remember the exact time or moment, but Chris turned to me and he said, ‘Why are we talking about doing a print newspaper when we all know at some point in the future that probably won’t work?’ And then he said, ‘Why don't we skate to where the puck is going to be?’ — the Wayne Gretzky saying,” Williams said. They got the green light from the top office and challenged their team to create a digital news brand with no additional resources, and The Denver Gazette was born. Out of the gate, they had 2,000 subscribers.
“When I think about Chris, I see extreme integrity — not only for himself, but he tries to drive it through the organization,” Williams said.
Resilience and reflection
“The newspaper business is not for the faint of heart,” Reen said, citing a dynamic industry history, with digital disruption, consolidation, evolving consumer habits and now artificial intelligence (AI).
“It’s not as if we’re immune to these challenges,” he said. “We have developed a sense of resiliency, of innovation, and we’re fighting for a greater cause. We’ve been fortunate to have people within our industry who are passionate, who care deeply about the impact we have, and continue to fight for it.”
Asked to reflect on his proudest professional achievements, Reen circled back to the investigative and enterprise journalism their newsrooms are producing.
He also said, “I’m most proud that I’m still here. Looking back on my career, I’ve been incredibly blessed to have navigated all the change and disruption and to still be here 38 years later. … I wake up every day and go to bed every night thinking about this business and how we can be successful and make a positive contribution to our communities.”
Gretchen A. Peck is a contributing editor to Editor & Publisher. She's reported for E&P since 2010 and welcomes comments at gretchenapeck@gmail.com.
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