“Finally … News!”

That was my favorite reader response to the launch of The Denver Gazette, which celebrates its first birthday today.

That comment succinctly captures the entire reason we started up a brand new digital newspaper and summarizes the core of our mission: to bring Denver the news as straight as possible.

In the last 365 days, our more than 70 journalists have dedicated themselves to that simple but essential mission: Keeping you informed. Empowering you with fact-based, trustworthy news. Holding our government accountable to taxpayers. And digging deep into critical issues that would otherwise go unnoticed with so many cuts being made to local news.

The response we’ve gotten has been overwhelming, and we’d like to take a moment on our birthday today to heartily thank the thousands of people who have given us a test drive and signed up as subscribers.

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In our first year, we have tried mightily to cover all the news in Denver, not just some niche slice of it. We promised more local news than any other media outlet, and I think we’ve kept that promise, compiling the most complete, comprehensive news report and slate of opinions in the city every day. Just this past Sunday, we gave readers more than 113 pieces of content to chew on, including 27 news stories, 29 sports stories, 15 feature stories, 7 opinion columns, 20 videos and 15 graphics, not to mention a raft of comics, puzzles and games as well.

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We think that news smorgasbord contains something for everyone and allows a true marketplace of ideas in our pages.

That commitment to a range of voices and sources can be seen in our national and international report every day as well, which is beefed up by Washington Examiner coverage in Washington and Reuters, Los Angeles Times, Tribune News Service and Religion News Service content in addition to the Associated Press.

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We also believe our city and state government benefits from the robust accountability reporting we’ve committed to in The Denver Gazette. This is our bread and butter: watchdogging our politicians to make sure they answer to the citizens they serve rather than to themselves.

Some folks thought we were crazy to launch a new newspaper during a pandemic, but readers have told us the steady stream of reliable information we’ve tried to provide on outbreaks, infection rates, daily case forecasts and hospitalizations – and where to get tests and vaccines – has been better than what the state provides.

Our Colorado Watch investigative team uncovered how state government bungled a multi-million dollar at-home testing program for COVID-19 so badly that nearly 1.86 million tests were in danger of expiring. The company suspended testing services for the program after our report.

Our reporters also exposed a flawed nursing home testing program and broke major stories on worst-in-the-nation COVID-19 outbreaks in jails, prisons and nursing homes.

Our central aim is to have impact in Denver, and we’re already seeing signs of why more journalism is better.

Eighteen bills to improve mental health were passed in the legislature this year after our reports on the state of emergency in kids mental health.

A program requiring businesses to dictate commuting plans to their employees was canceled by the state after our story by business reporter Dennis Huspeni.

Colorado child protective agencies increased staffing after our report that it was not protecting its kids well enough.

The Colorado Watch team discovered that the state transportation department flaunted state rules on highway contracts, costing taxpayers billions and acing all local contractors out of road contracts.

Another investigation showed how Colorado wildfires threaten thousands of new homes in high-risk areas with out-of-date protection plans.

We also think a newspaper in this digital age should be a two-way conversation with our readers, and we’ve made these improvements during our first year based on your feedback:

Launched a new iOS and Android app for readers who want news easily accessible on their phones.

Added an obituaries section

Expanded our breaking news team

Expanded our sports coverage

Streamlined our website experience to give you more news faster, while also making it easier to search

Added new features to our digital newspaper product to make it easier to zoom, read and enjoy the newspaper experience in a digital platform

More changes and staff additions are coming as well.

We’ll continue to innovate when it comes to new ways of delivering the news via a next-generation interactive newspaper, with videos, podcasts, photo galleries, interactive ads and even stories that will read themselves to you aloud.

But we don’t plan to change the way we report the news or dilute our high standards of objectivity and fairness we have for our reporters..

Bottom line: The newest thing every day in The Denver Gazette is and always will be the News.

Finally.