Billboard: Post Hides from Abound Solar Investigations

Ad Near Post Building Highlights Failure to Cover Prominent Local Stories

DENVER, Colo — A new Independence Institute billboard sends a message directly to Colorado’s largest newspaper, taking it to task for failing to cover prominent local stories.

Placed right across from the Denver Post building at Court Place and 15th Street, the billboard highlights a recent major story ignored by the daily publication: “Solar Panels Fry. Abound Solar Lies. Jobs Died. The Denver Post Hides.” The message also has been placed near Lincoln Street and 18th Avenue.

Abound Solar, touted by President Obama and bankrolled by federal stimulus dollars, now faces both a Congressional inquiry and local criminal investigation. Stories have revealed the Colorado-based renewable energy company’s product consistently fell short of commercial expectations and occasionally caught fire, causing many of their installations to suffer catastrophic failure rates.

“Our solar modules worked as long as you didn’t put them in the sun,” an ex-Abound employee told the Daily Caller. Whistleblowers also have alleged substantial use of accounting fraud to secure both private and federal loan guarantees.

“We’re calling for an intervention,” said Independence Institute president Jon Caldara. “We’re trying to help stop the state’s only major newspaper from speeding off a cliff.”

The Abound Solar scandal represents one in a series of major local stories with significant political and cultural impact that the Post‘s news coverage has neglected, which also includes:

Each of these stories was brought to light by local TV or alternative online media.

“Competition from the Internet and sites like Craigslist has definitely made it challenging for newspapers to adapt,” Caldara said. “But the Post could help itself by giving some print to major stories in its backyard.”

More information on the Abound Solar story is available at Complete Colorado.

Listen to Caldara and investigative reporter Todd Shepherd on this morning’s Peter Boyles Show (630 KHOW).

The Independence Institute is a non-partisan, non-profit public policy research organization based in Denver, Colo.

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*** PS – Billboards will be unveiled tomorrow ***