Unending sadness.
Now comes word that E.W. Scripps has put the Rocky Mountain News "up for sale." That means it will probably be closed in 2009 and America will lose one of its great newspapers. Even its name evoked romance and adventure. At the entrance to the Rocky's downtown Denver office building was a monument to the First Amendment. I was honored to work at the Rocky in the early 1990s, going to Denver to start over after divorce. Those were the days of the thrilling newspaper war with the Denver Post -- not in a joint operating agreement, but two independent newspapers battling every day. The competition made both better, and made Denver a better city. And Denver was a literate, newspaper-hungry city (and a young city, so much for the stereotypes of readers).
I spent some great years in Denver and learned much at the Rocky. This is a deep, personal grief. Denver will not be a better city for having only one newspaper. No blog or 'zine or electronic distraction can replace two real news organizations paying professional journalists to do their best work in a competitive environment. As is the case everywhere, the Rocky suffered because its owners stuck with the old advertising business model and failed to capitalize soon enough on new technologies. Scripps had moved on, emotionally and financially, to projects such as Home & Garden television. After awhile, Scripps caved into a JOA with the Post, the first death knell. Still, the Rocky soldiered on with distinction and honor under John Temple. If the Rocky must go down, at least it will go down swinging.
One last lamentation is the industry's utter lack of creativity, even at a time when we may face mass closings. As with the recently closed Cincinnati Post, I can't understand why the Rocky couldn't be reinvented as an online newspaper. It would have a small staff, to be sure. But sustainable business models exist to make success possible. Denver would still have the essential public benefit of competing newspapers. But Scripps has apparently moved on. Moved on, too, from serving the public trust.
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