Colorado Independent slashes staff

In a move that's bound to raise a few eyebrows both in politics and in online media, the Center for Independent Media earlier this month cut staff positions at one of its flagship Web sites, the Colorado Independent.

More personally, it means that one of this class's guest speakers, Jason Kosena, is looking for full-time work, even after his excellent performance for the Independent, particularly his series about questionable spending at CSU by former president Larry Penley.

The question, from an online journalism perspective, arises from the timing of the cuts: are they related more to the struggling economy (the CIM and the Independent rely primarily on private funding, not advertising revenue) or to the end of the 2008 election?

The story linked above contains conflicting information from CIM brass and from Colorado Independent staff. The CIM claims poverty, but the Independent says the changes were planned before economic hard times hit the organization.

Either way, it's a bummer for Jason and the other hard-working journalists.