Rocky Mountain News to close, publish final edition Friday

[villager]

Source: Rocky Mountain News


Rocky Mountain News to close, publish final edition Friday

Colorado's oldest newspaper will publish its final edition Friday.

The Rocky Mountain News, less than two months away from its 150th anniversary, will be closed after a search for a buyer proved unsuccessful, the E.W. Scripps Co. announced today.

"Today the Rocky Mountain News, long the leading voice in Denver, becomes a victim of changing times in our industry and huge economic challenges," Rich Boehne, chief executive officer of Scripps, said in a prepared statement. "The Rocky is one of America’s very best examples of what local news organizations need to be in the future. Unfortunately, the partnership’s business model is locked in the past."

The Rocky has been in a joint operating agreement with The Denver Post since 2001. The arrangement approved by the U.S. Justice Department allowed the papers to share all business services, from advertising to printing, in order to preserve two editorial voices in the community.

However on December 4 Scripps announced it was putting up for sale the Rocky and its 50 percent interest in the Denver Newspaper Agency, the company that handles business matters for the papers, because it couldn’t continue to sustain its financial losses in Denver. Scripps said the Rocky lost $16 million in 2008.

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Read more: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2009/feb/26/rocky-mountain-news-closes-friday-final-edition/

[CoffeeCat]

1. I just heard that the San Francisco Chronicle...

...is also near death.

The paper is looking for a buyer, and it one isn't found--the Chronicle will most likely
close up shop.

This is surreal.

[villager]

3. it is, in fact, becoming surreal that these papers can't stay around *in any form*

whatsoever...

[CatholicEdHead]

24. Minneapolis Startribune is in Chapter 11 right now

[Brother Buzz]

26. Ironically, the Chronicle's own online site, SFGate dot com, is killing the paper's circulation

Heard on the radio last night, SFGate dot com is ranked eleventh in level of traffic.

[Robb]

2. Wow.

The irony is the Colorado Press Association's annual meeting is this weekend in Denver.

I expect clips and résumés will be part of the dress code.

[elizfeelinggreat]

4. The Denver Post

was more liberal when we lived there. I remember reading both papers for a while before choosing which to subscribe to.

[villager]

5. well, they're the lone survivor now, apparently...

A book editor friend wrote me to note the Post had a good rep in terms of reviewing genre works that other papers would often ignore...

[kestrel91316]

15. Yeah. RMN was a RW tabloid when I was in CO and nobody read it.

That was 30 years ago.

[donco6]

25. It remained so.

Not terribly sorry to see it go.

[tularetom]

6. Ironically small town newspapers are doing better than the big guys

Mostly because they have the grocery ads and coupons every Wednesday.

Also I can read which of my HS classmates has gotten a divorce, retired, or croaked.

[villager]

8. shit, what if these papers are the only ones left with the charge to cover actual news!?

n/t

[CoffeeCat]

33. You bring up an interesting side point...

I belong to a national coupon/savings Web site. There are tens of thousands of members,
and we post the "good deals" we find at grocery and big-box stores. All members get multiple
copies of those Sunday coupon inserts. That's how we ultimately get the fabulous deals
at the grocery store--by combining the Sunday coupons with a rock-bottom sale at the store.

People on this site are freaking out, because many are losing their newspapers due to bankruptcy.
How will people get these coupons?

I know most people probably don't care about this tangent of newspaper failures--but for thousands
of Americans, who save hundreds every month at the grocery store--it's quite a trauma to see these
newspapers fail.

[rvablue]

7. This is shocking and sad. It scares the *bleep* outta me to think what will

happen to our democracy when there are no more print journalists left.

I don't think most people (including a lot on DU) understand that 90% of what we see on TV is stuff the stations just get from AP or gleen off their local newspaper.

Who will watch the cops? budgets? lawmakers?

Every time I post about this someone inevitably chimes in that bloggers will fill the void. But right now, even on DU, the majority of what is posted is opinion about reporting done elsewhere...and it is very rarely generated by bloggers.

I wish the newspapers could have figured out a different business model with the dawn of the Internet. Maybe it will come later....all of these closures and very, very scary!

[acmavm]

12. In many ways they drove themselves into failure. What has the quality of

the news regurgitated by the American printed media been like these past how many years?

The print 'news' media is corporate owned in a lot of cases. They have republicans/conservatives running them. Their 'news' and 'editorials' have been so slanted the past few years that smart people knew they were lying and that they had an agenda of their own. So instead of being jerked around and treated like an idiot millions went elsewhere to find their information. To find out what was really going on. And they've stayed with their sources. The internet was the death of print journalism. It was all we had for the entire bush** fiasco.

[Sheltiemama]

29. The news is about more than politics.

Obviously, I love politics, or I wouldn't be here. But if you want consistent, broad coverage of local news, you won't find it on the Internet. You'll find it in your local paper.

[earthside]

16. Right On!

The Rocky Mountain News was editorially conservative ... BUT the Rocky was the best Denver paper for local news (though that had declined, too, recently).

The Denver Post tends liberal on the editorial page, but it is owned by Dean Singleton, a Bush pioneer and a very anti-union fellow. I predict that the Post will now turn to the right since the need for competitive balance is now gone.

You are so right -- bloggers and internet posters and radio talk shows cannot fill-in for the real journalistic work done by honest-to-god, trained reporters. I think we will look back from the not too distant future and regret this day when we let print journalism slip away.

By the way, I subscribe to both Rocky and Post to do my part in keeping them in operation -- my advice to others is to sign-up for you local paper, they need your support.

[Sheltiemama]

28. Ideally ...

We would have made our Web sites accessible only to subscribers, then put unique content on those Web sites as an extra for them.

Bloggers cannot fill the void. I've said before that most bloggers have an agenda, which is fine. I read them, too. But newspapers (and local TV stations) at least try to present both sides of a story. This is our full-time job. I don't think many bloggers are willing to go to city council and school board meetings -- including seemingly endless workshops -- month after month. Our reporters don't focus on one issue. They must have broad knowledge of their beats.

And news services pick up stories that have broad appeal and make them available for all their members.

[KamaAina]

37. That would defeat the purpose of the Web, and to a large extent, of DU

We would have made our Web sites accessible only to subscribers

How would LBN work then? A bunch of links to subscriber pay walls? The whole point of getting news on the Web is that if a story breaks in, say, Baltimore, I can get on the Sun and read about it, all the way out here in the middle of the Pacific.

And news services pick up stories that have broad appeal and make them available for all their members.

Maybe if such a service (or services) picked up all the top local stories from around the country (and world) and reposted them, LBN and similar forums could be saved while still allowing papers to generate revenue from their Web sites.

[Sheltiemama]

38. Web sites don't generate enough ad revenue.

They just don't. Print ads generate far more. Yet ad salespeople focus on the Web. It doesn't make sense.

If a major story breaks, the national news Web sites are going to pick it up. We were discussing this the other night and decided major breaking stories should be accessible by anyone, but the rest should be available only to subscribers. But I'm afraid that ship has sailed.

[KamaAina]

39. But which major stories are the national news sites going to pick up?

assuming you mean the M$M ones like cnn.com, etc.

Probably not any that might embarrass a repuke governor or an ex-Bushie. :eyes:

[El Supremo]

9. The Denver Post is probably not far behind.

They are both bleeding.

Oh well, does anyone know how to read an on-line newspaper while on the toilet?

[Renew Deal]

11. Here you go

[No Elephants]

13. Got laptop?

[Cha]

10. Wow, I was reading The Rocky Mountain

News when I was a little girl in Denver. Since I got on DU I found out that TRN was a right wing rag so I can't really say I'm sorry to see it go.

[No Elephants]

14. Will AP and UPI be the major sources of national news in this country, or

will more "little presses" spring up? That's what's been happening in Boston. Lots of small newspapers, even by neighborhood. They distribute by leaving stacks of papers around town, to be taken by readers for free. For revenues, they rely solely on advertising. The reporters work for very little and the owners don't expect to become rich.

That does not work for national news, though.

[Robb]

17. Most of the "little newspapers" in Denver are owned by the same guy.

...And are neighborhood-specific. Sadly, his editorial stance is particularly knuckle-dragging.

[No Elephants]

18. My neighborhood has several small papers and a couple of them are

really right wing, but a couple aren't. And that's fine, except that the ones that aren't seem to try to follow journalistic principles, like distinctions between news stories and editorials. The RW papers make no such distinction. anything from expressions of opinion to outright lies are wall to wall.

[uppityperson]

19. recommend for newspapers. StlPI is going down also.

I read most my news on the internet, but very much appreciate having places that provide the news.

[rvablue]

20. My god. This stream of news is breaking my heart. That is....er, was one of the most

reputable newspapers in the country?

Never lived there, but I always thought the Intelligncer was more respected than the Times (right, isn't that the other paper there?)

:wtf: is going on? In all places, you'd think a well reported and well written newspaper could survive!?!?!

[uppityperson]

23. It is/was. Between the economy in general and internet news,

I think they are having a really difficult time financially.

[change_notfinetuning]

21. You, who elected Obama, have the power. Act now, before it's too late.

The demise of American newspapers is shameful. An ignorant American populace will be sorry some day. Or maybe not, if you've seen the movie IDIOCRACY.

Without daily newspapers, you will be linking to this

[change_notfinetuning]

22. Investigations take money. Sorry, kids, but

Newspapers can get us through a time of bad banks better than bad banks can get us through a time of no newspapers.

Newspapers are more important than Obama. Okay, I'm ducking.

[Sheltiemama]

30. I agree with you.

Newspapers must survive, and I think they will. The Internet is a relatively new development, media-wise, and we still haven't figured out the proper balance. It will evolve. Papers will have a larger Web component. Since last fall, we copy editors and designers at my paper have been posting our content online for the next day. It's a skill I'm thrilled to have. Journalists must keep up.

[Sheltiemama]

27. The Rocky is one of our sister papers.

We all got an e-mail announcing it today.

Thank God my paper got out of its JOA in the 1990's. The Rocky was a tab, while the Post is a broadsheet, which readers favor. The Post also was the paper with a Sunday edition. Both of those factors hurt the Rocky. My paper actually makes money, though not as much as in the past, of course.

[underpants]

31. Thanks for the insight

I heard this on the radio this afternoon. A strange thing but probably not that unpredictable

[IndianaGreen]

32. We may come to regret the demise of print media

although some will rightfully point out that the demise began when the big corporations began gobbling up local newspapers.

[gauguin57]

34. Everyone wants their news to be "free" ... well, pretty soon you'll have no news at all.

I like David Isaacson's idea (Time magazine 2 weeks ago) for all newspapers to start charging for online content (they'd all have to start doing it, or none would succeed). His point is that you MUST have investigative newspaper reporters (and you must have the money to PAY them) or Democracy is toast. So, with ad revenue down, charging for content is another way to make that money to pay the reporters.

Unfortunately, I think a lot of people from the "Internet generation" don't understand the unique product they get from newspapers, and just won't pay for it. They'll stick to blogs, 95 percent of which (in my opinion) merely regurgitate and spin information they get from the investigative reporters.

If you don't have investigative reporters at your local or regional newspaper keeping track of what's going on in your town ... what the local politicos are doing, where the real estate and commercial developments are going in that might affect your quality of life, etc, etc. etc. ... if you aren't getting that info, you are screwed. As the former Chicago Tribune guy said on NBC news last night, "when the cat's away, the mice will play." The mice will take OVER if there are no investigative reporters to keep them honest.

[Sheltiemama]

36. Agreed.

The trend I'm seeing from the inside is that cities will support only one major newspaper. Another trend is to focus on the local news you speak of above. I think that makes sense. People can get national and international news anywhere, but local newspapers are the go-to source for local news. Most people have no idea what goes into putting out a daily newspaper.

What should have been done is that papers' Web sites should have been accessible by subscribers only and should have offered extras online for those subscribers.

[KamaAina]

40. Walter Isaacson

not David.

But again, am I supposed to subscribe to every newspaper in the country (or the world) just in case something happens in its city?

[marshall]

35. I can't remember the last time I bought a newspaper

It's almost like something out of the 19th century. And I used to enjoy reading the comics, reading Dear Abby, etc. It's just not the same anymore--we live in a different world.

[gauguin57]

41. I love newspapers as much as I ever did. I like to be able to read over coffee, a meal ...

... and I don't want to read the news online when I'm sitting in Starbucks. I want to spread the paper out, and read each section, and look at nice big photos, and do the crossword puzzle ... and not get eyestrain while doing it.