Rocky Mountain News Final Edition To Be Published Friday

DENVER — The Rocky Mountain News, Colorado's oldest newspaper and a Denver fixture since 1859, will publish its last edition Friday.

Owner E.W. Scripps Co. said Thursday the newspaper lost $16 million last year and the company was unable to find a buyer.

"Today the Rocky Mountain News, long the leading voice in Denver, becomes a victim of changing times in our industry and huge economic challenges," Scripps CEO Rich Boehne said.

The News is the latest _ and largest _ newspaper to fail amid a recession that has been especially brutal for the industry. Four owners of 33 U.S. daily newspapers have sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the past 2 1/2 months. A number of other newspapers are up for sale.

"People are in grief, and they're very, very upset trying to process all the emotions that go with it and trying to recognize that we will be putting out our final edition tomorrow," said News publisher John Temple.

But that edition, he declared, is "going to be spectacular." Friday's newspaper will include a 52-page commemorative section, with a print run of about 350,000 copies. The News had a daily circulation of 210,000 and 457,000 on Saturdays.

"It's very rare that you get to play the music at your own funeral, so you want to make sure you do it well," Temple said.

Managing Editor Deborah Goeken said the special section will highlight some of the Rocky's best work, including Pulitzer Prize-winning stories and photos.

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Scripps' Boehne said the News' 230 editorial employees would be paid through April 28. The rival Denver Post said it will hire 10 News staffers, including five columnists, four reporters and the editorial page editor.

One of those reporters, Lynn Bartels, said she would miss sitting beside her News colleagues. "The Rocky is the most amazing family," she said.

Bartels held a box of tissues over her head and called out, "This is for everybody."

Dennis Schroeder, a News photographer for 25 years, said some of his colleagues were angry but others were relieved that a decision was made after weeks of uncertainty.

"It's hard losing the best job in the world," he said.

Employees gathered outside the newsroom to open a 1985 time capsule cut out of a wall. It contained copies of the Rocky and Post, a book of employee signatures, a map of Denver and books from Rocky cartoonist Ed Stein and the late columnist Gene Amole. The capsule read: "To be opened in April 2059 on RMN's 200th anniversary."

Scripps announced on Dec. 4 it would try to sell the newspaper. Only one potential buyer came forward, "and that party was unable to present a viable plan," the company said.

"Good grief _ that's a piece of heritage we're losing," said Diane Scott, 56, of suburban Englewood.

Mike Hankinson, 25, of Denver blamed the format. "It's the paper. People go online now," he said.

Scripps has owned the News since 1926. The newspaper will close just two months short of its 150th anniversary.

Since its first edition on April 23, 1859, the News has covered the Civil War, Colorado statehood, the Ludlow Massacre, the Columbine High School shootings and the Oklahoma City bombing trial. It survived a devastating flood in 1864 and competition from as many as five newspapers at a time.

A circulation war with The Post in the 1980s and 1990s proved costly, and in 2000 the rivals announced they would pool their business operations in a joint operating agreement between Scripps and The Post's owner, MediaNews Group Inc. The deal took effect in 2001.

"The Rocky will forever be remembered for its vital role in the city's history and the city's success," said William Dean Singleton, chairman and publisher of The Post and CEO of MediaNews. "Although we competed intensely, the talented staff of the Rocky earned our respect with each morning's edition."

Singleton, who is chairman of the board of The Associated Press, has said Denver could support only one newspaper. "I'm not just confident that we'll survive. We will survive," he insisted Thursday.

MediaNews said starting Saturday, Rocky Mountain News subscribers will get The Post for the length of their subscriptions, but they can cancel if they want. Singleton said only about 14,000 subscribers get both newspapers.

The Post will also return to seven-day publication starting Saturday. Under the JOA, The Post published Sunday through Friday and the News published Monday through Saturday.

Scripps said it has been working with MediaNews on "a plan to unwind the partnership" since mid-January, the deadline for offers.

The future of the Denver Newspaper Agency, the entity that handles the two newspapers' business operations, was unclear. The agency is a 50-50 partnership of the News and The Post. It employs about 1,800 people.

Scripps and MediaNews Group also are partners in Prairie Mountain Publishing, which publishes the Camera and Colorado Daily in Boulder, the Broomfield Enterprise and other Colorado newspapers. Scripps said it would transfer its 50 percent interest in Prairie Mountain to MediaNews later this year.

Scripps said it will retain ownership of, and still offer to sell, the Rocky Mountain News name and the newspaper's archives and Web site.

Ed Atorino, a newspaper industry analyst at The Benchmark Co., said that indicates the News could become an online-only venture at some point.

"Online newspapers seem to be doing pretty well," he said. "It's a very low-cost business."

Financial problems are widespread in the newspaper industry as readers have gravitated toward the Internet and advertisers have followed them. The housing slump also has crimped real estate ad sales, and the recession has eliminated much demand for employment and automotive classified ads.

The publisher of the New Haven (Conn.) Register and the owners of The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News filed separate bankruptcy cases last weekend. Tribune Co., whose stable includes the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, filed for bankruptcy protection in December. The owners of the Minneapolis Star Tribune filed in January.

Hearst Corp. said this week it will close or sell the San Francisco Chronicle if it can't slash expenses, and the company has laid out plans to close the Seattle Post-Intelligencer if a buyer isn't found before April.

Gannett Co. is looking for a buyer for the Tucson Citizen in Arizona.

The last major American newspaper to close was the Dallas Times Herald in 1991, said Ken Doctor, an industry analyst with OutSell Inc.

___

Associated Press Writers Judith Kohler, Ivan Moreno and Alysia Patterson and AP Business Writer Sandy Shore contributed to this report.

Comments

[Querent]

I cancelled my subscription to the Rocky after they endorsed George W Bush for a second term. I called the circulation desk to do it. I had to go through an automated switchboard system, listening to a number of taped pitches to extend my subscription in the process. No human person was available, so I finally left a message stating my desire to cancel and my reason for doing so. The paper continued to be delivered for about a month after the subscription should have expired naturally, and then the Rocky started sending me appeals to pay for the extra issues, which they said was only "fair".

The Rocky was an enjoyable paper back in the sixties, although it always had a sharply right-wing editorial policy. The news department deteriorated badly after that, with so-called news articles frequently containing Republican talking points passed off as fact.

The Rocky in the 21st century was a feeble anachronism which tried to center itself around the hapless Denver sports franchises. Its editorial page went from conservati­ve-leaning to sclerotic. There was still one really first-rate reporter working there, named Mike Litwin, when I last read it.

I won't miss the Rocky much, except on those rainy mornings when I need something mindless to read with my coffee.

Good luck, Mike Litwin, wherever you are.

[RTIII]

The last line:

"Online newspapers seem to be doing pretty well," he said. "It's a very low-cost business."

says it all. They never transitioned.

Also, when I lived in Colorado, I found the RMN to be a terrible paper. They'd _only_ report on things _after_ they happened and would never pre-announce _anything_ of significance. So, you'd just have to be hooked in to the local community's activities to know what was coming up - the paper was retrospective, only. ...Of course, it was also a very right-wing paper with _nothing_ you could call centrist. And, they didn't really do much investigative reporting and would act as mouthpieces for business interests - like water pollution from the tailings from mining operations; all reported from the mine owner's point of view. Etc, ad nausieum.

Frankly, the RMN really turned me off to reading newspapers regularly. The ONLY thing worth a damn about it was the classifieds...
.
.

[AtomicMan]

This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone in the newspaper industry. Newspapers were facing a massive drop in advertising revenue and readership, for years now, with online editions and internet news sites (like this one), filling in the gap. I was working in newspaper ad sales as recently as 2 years ago, and I specifically began a job search outside of the newspaper industry, because it was apparent that it was tanking as a whole - it took me over a year to find a job outside of this industry and this was when there was no recession to be seen. So basically, newspapers have been consistently falling for about 4 years now, with no hope for a rebound, unfortunately.

Mark my words, this will only get worse, and I believe that 2009, and our current recession will be looked back at as the demise of the newspaper industry as we know it.

Next on my list will be the LA times and/or any other Tribune owned publication. Most likely LA Times, because California as a whole is facing some really hard times now.

[boboyaya]

Another right WingNut paper bites the dust. Bye Bye y'all.

[AtomicMan]

the problem with your comment is 'right WingNut' everything else jives.

While it's true that the RMN can be considered rightwing, that fact alone did not cause its demise. Newspapers as a whole (left and right-leaning) are in some serious trouble, that they will most likely not get out of. Advertisers find more value in TV, online and other types of marketing (email blasts, direct mail, etc). Newspapers will become a thing of the past very shortly, and this recession will only speed that along.

[PlayTOE]

The News had a daily circulation of 210,000 and 457,000 on Saturdays.

That seems big enough to keep a little paper afloat. What went wrong?
It is conspicuous that this is a liberal paper ... and we see it in trouble in times when liberal views are on the rise. The same situation shows in other newspapers.
Something is strange about this.

Did all the Conservative business just pull their adverts out of Liberal newspapers?

[1differentdrummer]

Where do you live? I've taken the Rocky for years and their editorial policy is right wing while news is ever so slightly slanted R. A piece with something positive about a liberal or progressive cause may well be on page thirty-seven, figuratively speaking, and articles from other sources have often been trimmed. The front page may be dedicated to an athlete or sport. No, this is the old mossback Republican newspaper not changing as CO has become more blue.

[1differentdrummer]

Liberal? The News has been right of center all of the years I've taken it.

[NoSillyName]

Why do people keep commenting that the RMN is a liberal paper? They obviously do not know what they're talking about.

[JRsNana]

What is conspicuous is that you just laughably called the Rocky Mountain News a liberal paper. LOLOLOL. Right wing all the way PlayTOE.
You honestly believe your leader, Rush Limbaugh, when he tells you crap like this.
Your entire statement came from Rush's radio show. The circulation numbers, the speculation, all of it.

[Tim303]

Not so bad though. When I lived in CO all this paper did was talk about murder, guns, death, war, murder, death and guns.

[Badbone]

It's not about cost, it's about content. The Rocky never found a liberal cause it didn't like. Years ago, an army of illegal immigrants choked the streets of Denver, and the Rocky called it heroic. People are tired of reading that garbage. They want real news, not spin. Start printing the truth and you'll start getting your readership back. It really is that simple.

[Tim303]

You clearly don't live in CO.

[Durango]

He is one of those Wing Nuts who live in Never Never Land.

[peaceshalom]

Truth? I'm assuming that truth can never be truth unless you agree with it? As I read the editorial page in the Rocky, I don't see this liberal bias that you are pointing out. I see criticism of Obama, of Ritter, and of Hick, I don't see liberal bias there. It amazes me that when conservatives are biased it is fair and balanced or spin free and always always counts as real news. Stop being so angry at the world. It is a sad thing that the Rocky is not longer going to be around after Friday. I remember reading the paper as a kid, looking for the entrainment section to find the comics, trying to figure out where the A section ended so I could find the Sports, I miss Bob Kravitz. The Rocky was a great paper.

[shockmagog]

You seem out of touch.

Here's an article about firmly established citizens protesting the baffling national reverence for Columbus, who brought his army of illegal immigrants to America.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5038731,00.html

[Donegal]

If people want real news, not spin, why are so many of them turning to the Internet? This place spins so much it can make you dizzy.

[Dukedraven]

It's so sad. I got that paper everyday for years and knew the reporters and columnists so well. Gene Amole was terrific before he died. Then I started reading the news online and stopped my subscriptions to the News and Post. Both are wonderful papers.

[MTNG]

For fans of Mike Littwin, he'll be joining the staff of the Denver Post.

[JRsNana]

Thank you! That was one question I had. Seriously.

[MTNG]

The RMN was a good paper to read. It covered Colorado very well. Mke Littwin's column was very engaging. This paper will be missed. Best of luck to everyone on the staff.

[Durango]

No, neither newspaper covered Colorado outside the Denver metro area very well.

When was the last time you saw news about Durango in either paper. Let alone Cortez or Pagosa Springs.

[MTNG]

I thought RMN did a good job of covering regional news that merited statewide coverage.

[Huffpoor]

Tremendous shame about the RMN, but also misleading to include the story 'LAT Axes 300" in your ticker. That story is from January 30, 2009. The RMN going under is bad enough-- no need to exaggerate.

[Judyisacutie]

What a shame to lose the Rocky Mountain News.

[bugsbonzai]

There are many here criticizing online journalism as though it will stay stagnant, its quality, content and purpose always being what it is now. I'm anticipating a dramatic change in the next decade in what the internet can do for journalism. If you think for a second the content of American newspapers in the 19th century were any more dependable for quality journalism than the internet is right now, you sadly know little about the history of print in our nation.

Wikipedia, for all the jokes about the lack of dependability, has displayed in studies an equal or higher percentage of accuracy than their print counterparts. But online is free, available to anybody at anytime for any purpose. It's a big transformation. Removes commerce from the equation. The creation of communal information beyond the scope of profit. A place where civic duty and a pure will to educate are the main goal, unhindered by need for the driving motive of profit.

Our archaic print media has willingly allowed the will of shareholders and desires of the market to protect its assets supercede civic duty, honest truth-seeking and investigative journalism. It has obviously adversely influenced the ability or will of the print media to challenge authority, seek justice, and pursue important stories to their conclusion.

Will it be a perfect transition? Certainly not. But it's an inevitable one. So we better fight to make sure where we went wrong with print media, we fix with the online media.

[PatriotOH]

Another left wing paper on the ropes. No surprise. People want balance and content. When the press ceases to be objective it loses its audience. It will never cease to amaze me how out of touch some of you left wing loons really are.

[GLaB]

Utterly, ridiculously WRONG.

The Rocky Mtn. News was first, last, and always Denver's REPUBLICAN paper.

(I've only lived here in Dnever all my 51 years, so take my word for it)

[dutt]

Hahaha! I'm laughing at you, not with you. Oh yeah, and real patriots don't need to go around calling themselves patriots.

[aquarius2]

You have NO idea what you are talking about. The Rocky Mountain News is the place for all things REPUBLICAN. The editor and publisher, John Temple, frequently wrote editorials supporting all things Bush. The editorial page was littered with right wing and far right wing syndicated columnists.

The only thing you wrote that was correct is that people want fair and balanced news, the RMP ceased a long time ago to be objective.

[NoSillyName]

You're wrong about the RMN being "left wing". lol. dumbie.

[bugsbonzai]

You obviously don't live in Denver, and are talking out of your posterior. Of the two newspapers, it's the Rocky Mountain News that has been consistently accused of having a conservative bent in editorials, style and content. RMN endorsed Bush in 2000, Bush in 2004, and refused to endorse either candidate in 2008. Yeah, that makes the paper a solid "left wing". Rest your digits from offering an opinion if by typing you only reveal your ignorance.

[jingles01]

Just a thought - It seems the left-wing papers are going under. Newspapers, such as the Florda Times Union, that present unedited news on the front pages are doing well. When you present your editorial beliefs as facts on the front page, folks see you for what you are, yellow-dog journalists.

Keep your editorial beliefs to the editorial page and the newspaper will survive. Use loaded language as news and the paper will die. That is why typically liberal papers are dead, they cannot keep attitudes and beliefs out of the "news."

Just report what happened, let me decide if it is good or bad. I do not need someone telling me when I need to have a feeling go up my leg.

Good or bad - just tell the truth. Too many newpapers editoriaze that truth to fit what they believe. That is why they are going away, not cost. It is a lack of belief, We see loaded language and editorial comments in what is supposed to be fact reporting. Just get bnack to reporting, let us determine what we think, an maybe circulation will increase.

[NoSillyName]

This article is NOT about a left-wing paper; you're in the wrong place.

[bugsbonzai]

Again, you wingnuts are talking out of your posteriors. You obviously don't live in Denver. The proof is in the pudding. If your argument were to hold water, the evidence would support your speculation.

I agree with your ideas in theory; within the context of journalistic endeavors of stories and reporting, newspapers should absolutely strive to keep any kind of influence, whether corporate, political, personal or otherwise out of the headlines and main content.

So lets put your argument to the test. If you lived in Denver, you'd know that of the two major newspapers, it's the Rocky Mountain News that has been consistently accused of having a conservative bent in editorials, style and content.

RMN endorsed Bush in 2000, Bush in 2004, and refused to endorse either candidate in 2008. So by your argument, the RMN was editorializing its beliefs on the front page. Its conservative, pro-Republican beliefs. And thus as a direct result. It has folded. It has failed. It's pro-right bent has doomed it due to the dustbin of history. Thank you for that illuminating lesson. And in the future, please rest your digits from offering an opinion if by typing you only reveal your ignorance.

[GaryPF]

Jingles is talking out of his rear. The Florida Times-Union is a terrible newspaper, has always been a right-wing paper spouting right-wing viewpoints (plaigerized of course). It carries columnists Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin. I placed their columns under the cat litter box and my cat turned to me and said "that would be redundant." It's suffering like all other papers - you can tell because the number of pages has shrunk and the number of "infomercial-like" advertisements has increased - even on the editorial page.

[Tim303]

Silly boy--it's a right wing paper! Try reading!