By now you’ve probably read about the shuttering of the Rocky Mountain News, which foundered under rising costs and falling revenues.
The Denver Post put together a photo tribute to is scrappy rival.
Staff at The Rocky produced their own thoughtful wrap video.
Final Edition from Matthew Roberts on Vimeo.
The Rocky’s closure means Denver now has just one newspaper (with a website) that covers the city. But there are still several TV news stations (with websites) and lots of blogs.
People will miss The Rocky’s particular editorial mix, the stories and the bond that comes from strongly identifying with anything well-loved, and having gone through the particular heartbreak of losing a daily in a two-paper town, I know what that’s like.
But I wonder what this says about the way businesses are run. While I haven’t closely studied what happened to The Rocky, it seems this wasn’t a problem of content or editorial overreaching — it was a top-notch, locally focused news outlet. The problem, it seems, was one of being a line item on a debt-heavy corporate balance sheet.
From what both sides said (I work in the Denver Post’s newsroom), the problem was the strategic limitations imposed by the joint operating agreement.
More of the Post’s coverage here: http://www.denverpost.com/rockymountainnews
Having two newspaper of this size competing for the same market was nearly impossible. They competed directly against each other, unlike newspaper in New York. With the expansion of the Internet RMN was doomed.