Steve Zansberg, First Amendment attorney and president of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, is a new member of the Colorado Press Association’s hall of fame.
Zansberg, who has represented news organizations in the state since the 1990s, was inducted Saturday during the press association’s annual convention in Northglenn.
“You probably know that Steve Zansberg is Colorado’s pre-eminent media and First Amendment attorney. You definitely know that if you’re a journalist who’s needed his legal help,” said CFOIC executive director Jeff Roberts, who introduced Zansberg. “What you may not know about are all the things Steve has done behind the scenes, on a volunteer basis, to make sure journalists in Colorado can do their jobs.”
Roberts talked about Zansberg giving his time and expertise so that CFOIC can offer helpful guidance to journalists and others who have contacted the organization’s freedom-of-information hotline thousands of times. He also noted Zansberg’s work on legislation, which includes drafting the anti-SLAPP law that protects news organizations from frivolous defamation lawsuits.
“Because of Steve’s advocacy, judges in criminal cases now must explain themselves when they seal a case file,” Roberts said. “A column he wrote in the Fort Collins Coloradoan caught the attention of a state senator, and that led to a CORA provision entitling you to public records kept as databases and spreadsheets. Steve helped us water down a disastrous executive sessions bill in 2023.”
And then there are the numerous times Zansberg has prevailed in court for news organizations and other clients who have challenged violations of Colorado’s open-government laws: “In just the past couple of years he’s won judgments against the Lakewood police, the Douglas County school board, the Denver school board, the city of Denver, Denver Water, Colorado Springs Utilities and the state human services department,” Roberts said.
Accepting the press association’s honor, Zansberg said that “this work, for me, is as much a passion as it is a trade. I believe firmly in the vital role that a vibrant, vigorous and free press plays as a necessary condition for our democracy.”
“I don’t have to tell you we’re living through some tough times right now in this industry,” he told a roomful of journalists, “not only because of existential economic pressures and challenges, and younger generations turning to other forms of media as the source of their news … but also we presently have a government in place, in particular a president, who takes every opportunity available to delegitimize or attempt to delegitimize professional journalists — those who are committed ethically to report the truth.”
Zansberg urged Colorado news organizations to “redouble your efforts … speak truth to power and hold our public servants at every level of government accountable to we the people.”
“Keep fighting the good fight because the rest of us are dependent on it,” he said.
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