Evolution of Canna-Journalism with Fmr. Denver Post Editor Ricardo Baca

Different Leaf: the Podcast

It's been ten years since Colorado first legalized adult-use weed. Over that decade, the way journalists and their audiences have related to cannabis has drastically changed. That's largely thanks to a crew of reporters at The Denver Post who, in 2013, launched The Cannabist, the first mainstream media outlet's coverage of cannabis at the very dawn of legalization. And they did it with great journalistic integrity, setting the tone for future journalists for how to reliably report on pot.
In this episode, host Brit Smith talks to the founder of The Cannabist, Ricardo Baca, about how the US mainstream media's coverage of cannabis has evolved and impacted society and cannabis culture.
Brit and Ricardo talk about his experience being hired as the first US cannabis editor at the start of mainstream cannabis journalism. They discuss the stigma he faced on nightly talk shows, the kinds of stories he remembers covering, how his team chose what to cover and the right tone to use, and which articles got the most pushback and support.
They also talk about what Ricardo has seen change in how major outlets cover the cannabis industry and culture over the last decade, where he sees the future of cannabis culture going, how journalism plays a part in that growth, and what he's doing now with his marketing and PR firm Grasslands: A Journalism-Minded Agency.
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