Interviewed for a September 29 entry on The Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction's “Political Notebook” blog, founder and managing editor Brad Jones of the “news” website Face the State misleadingly suggested that Colorado Pols, edited by Jason Bane, is supported by “folks on the left with a lot of money [who] have invested heavily in folks like Jason to do the sort of stuff thing [sic] that he does.” The Daily Sentinel interviewer, reporter Mike Saccone, did not question Jones about the claim, although Bane indicated in an October 1 Denver Business Journal article (accessed through the Nexis database) that his for-profit site “has no backing -- it never has.”

Face the State describes itself as “a one-stop-shop for political news affecting Coloradans.” On the July 1 broadcast of KTVD Channel 20's Your Show, Jones stated that “if ... your [website] content is regularly incorrect you will lose credibility.” Jones asserted in the Daily Sentinel blog interview that he does not consider Face the State “a blog,” but rather, “a news site.”

As Colorado Media Matters has documented repeatedly (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here), Face the State frequently publishes misleading headlines on its aggregated news articles, employs the well-established conservative tactic of using the noun “Democrat” as an adjective instead of the grammatically correct “Democratic,” and perpetrates other distortions to advance conservative viewpoints and denigrate liberal positions and political figures.

From the entry “Politics online: The Brad Jones ed.,” by reporter Mike Saccone, published September 29 on the “Political Notebook” blog of The Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction:

For Brad Jones, managing editor of Face the State, a conservative news aggregator and blog, conservative online media is starting to grow from a nascent group of amateurs into a mature cadre of serious reporters and muckrakers. From the toppling of Rep. Mike Merrifield, D-Colorado Springs, to taking on Gov. Bill Ritter over open records, he said Colorado's conservative Web sites have made a difference and will continue to be players in next year's election.

[...]

PN [Political Notebook]: Why do you think liberal points of view seem to dominate blogging?

BJ [Brad Jones]: You really have to specific about what you're talking about.

Jason (Bane) has the fortune of essentially being a paid blogger. That's the niche he's carved out in the liberal establishment in Colorado. The folks on the left with a lot of money have invested heavily in folks like Jason to do the sort of stuff thing that he does.

When it comes to the amateurs, liberals have dominated because they have time to sit in their pajamas and blog all day. Generally I think conservatives have jobs and families (laughs) and don't have that luxury of being online all day and posting on blogs like Jason.

Contrary to Jones' suggestion that Colorado Pols is funded by “folks on the left with a lot of money,” the Denver Business Journal on October 1 reported Bane's clarification that the for-profit blog “makes very little money” from its advertising but that “it never has” had outside backing:

Jones called Colorado Confidential, Colorado Media Matters and the for-profit Colorado Pols “three different heads of the same beasts.”

Colorado Confidential and Colorado Media Matters clearly have more staffing resources and significantly more funding, Jones said.

According to the National Review, a conservative publication, several Colorado Web sites are being funded by Quark founder Tim Gill, Fort Collins billionaire Pat Stryker, and dot-com millionaire and congressional hopeful Jared Polis. All are well-heeled entrepreneurs who've been instrumental in shaping Colorado politics in recent years by funding the campaigns of Democratic candidates.

The author of the National Review piece said that the three have “managed to shape political coverage in Colorado” through their online presence.

Jason Bane, who operates Colorado Pols, said the for-profit aggregation site “makes very little money” but drew some advertising revenue from political campaigns last year.

ColoradoPols “has no backing -- it never has,” Bane said, “but if anyone wants to write a check, we'll gladly take it.”

Bane said he has no political agenda, but acknowledged that he's a Democrat who runs in political circles. [emphasis added]

Jones' comments about Colorado Pols' funding echo statements he made on the August 24 broadcast of KBDI Channel 12's Independent Thinking. As Colorado Media Matters noted, Jones criticized Colorado Pols as “the number-one vicious gossip site” for progressives and stated that Colorado Pols is “funded, we think, on the back end; it's completely anonymous.” Having made this allegation, Jones twice refused to identify Face the State's funders when host Jon Caldara asked him to do so.

Saccone also left unchallenged Jones' comment that the online political daily news site Colorado Confidential “has a staff of a dozen writers who have beats, who have regular deadlines. It's an incredibly well-funded operation.” In fact, Colorado Confidential's online roster lists eight writers.