[2] Originally the student newspaper of the University of Colorado, the Daily became independent in 1970 and underwent several ownership changes since 2001, coming under the control of the Camera, its former competitor, when it was purchased by the E.W.

In 1970, it was shut down by the CU board of regents, which had grown displeased with the newspaper's editorial positions, including its opposition to the war in Vietnam.

[11] The newspaper bolstered its anti-establishment reputation by publishing an "anti-Reagan issue" in 1984[12] and took left-leaning editorial positions as late as 2000, when it endorsed Green Party nominee Ralph Nader for president.

That year, a series of editorials by Talbott on the legal ordeal of a rape victim, who took her case to trial, earned the Daily a Pulitzer Prize nomination.

The newspaper won several national awards for its reporting in 1999 on how University of Colorado President John Buechner arranged the hiring of a personal friend, Frances Raudenbush, to head a university-wide initiative.

The Daily sued the under the Colorado Open Records Act[19] and gained access to more than 7,000 pages of documents, including Raudenbush's contract, as part of a settlement.

[21] Members of the university's elected board of regents downplayed the matter and accused the newspaper of shoddy journalism, with one calling the Daily a "supper-market tabloid" [sic].

After being repeatedly rebuffed, the Daily took the unusual step of publishing a front-page editorial on September 28, 1999, listing the questions it sought to ask Buechner.

The bankruptcy was triggered by the alleged embezzlement of more than $250,000 by its finance manager, who in 2003 pleaded guilty to a single count of falsifying an income-tax return.

The latter marked a shift from the newspaper's recent coverage of protests against free-market globalization including 1999's "Battle in Seattle" and the 2000 presidential campaign.

Instead of featuring a photo of the burning World Trade Center towers on its front page, as most newspapers did, the Daily ran a picture of people donating blood at the local Red Cross branch.

[37] In December 2013, Digital First Media acquired MediaNews Group properties, including the Daily's parent, Prairie Mountain Publishing.