Response to El Paso County Sheriff’s Office implicit accusations of bias

Ark Republic’s journalistic integrity questioned following series highlighting racial injustice accusations from Colorado ranchers.

NEWARK, N.J. (February 03, 2023) — On February 2, 2023, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office put out a press release alleging that Kaia Shivers, the editor-in-chief of online news organization Ark Republic, had failed to provide an opportunity to report their side of a story. The latter, regarding allegations made by Black Colorado ranchers, Courtney and Nicole Mallery.

The two-part series reported on the Mallerys’ experiences with local white populations in their attempts to run a ranching operation in El Paso County, Colorado. According to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, Dr. Shivers “did not seek comment from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office before publishing it.”

Their aforementioned statement is totally false. On Thursday, January 12, 2023, Shivers called the Sheriff Office’s communications department. Since the call went unanswered, she left a voice message. Due to the serious nature of the allegations and those involved, Shivers recorded her message. There are phone records to corroborate her efforts.

Subsequent stories about this matter will follow. We do hope that the El Paso County Sheriff’s Department will be willing to talk to our publication, as we are committed to providing rich and robust narratives for many of the society’s complex and nuanced issues.

###