Rocky Mountain News - sale or close shop (Denver, Colorado Springs: appointed, home)

[ocean2026]

It tonight's paper (Friday) there's an article that if they don't get bought by someone they will probably close soon.

Now this isn't the place to say "I hate that liberal or - conservative paper"
If you didn't like their reporting that would be a good thread.

This is about how this will hurt the state economy- reporters will usually leave and find a paper that has openings often out of state. There will be a ripple effect - from paper to ink to distributors etc etc

Whether you like them or the Post or neither when ONE paper has a monopoly on local news the result is never good. The remaining paper can use less reporters, have less features and investigative reporting and still be number one in the area. It would be the same with only one car company -except many are affected by just reading the news.

I don't live in Colorado - I just like the state. I don't have a favorite between the papers although the RMN did publish a guest editorial I wrote on the Border Fence a few weeks ago.

Its a loss for Colorado.

[wanneroo]

RMN almost went under a few years ago so it's no surprise they are back in the same position again.

[DOUBLE H]

It is my understanding that Scripps-Howard owned both the Rocky Mountain News AND the Denver Post. I've always kind of questioned that.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Newspapers all over are bleeding money and readers. Craigs List has taken much of their classified ad business and advertising in general drops during recessions. People just don't read daily newspapers like they used to given how easy it is to get information for free on the Internet.

[Bob from down south]

Originally Posted by ocean2026

It tonight's paper (Friday) there's an article that if they don't get bought by someone they will probably close soon.

Now this isn't the place to say "I hate that liberal or - conservative paper"
If you didn't like their reporting that would be a good thread.

This is about how this will hurt the state economy- reporters will usually leave and find a paper that has openings often out of state. There will be a ripple effect - from paper to ink to distributors etc etc

Whether you like them or the Post or neither when ONE paper has a monopoly on local news the result is never good. The remaining paper can use less reporters, have less features and investigative reporting and still be number one in the area. It would be the same with only one car company -except many are affected by just reading the news.

I don't live in Colorado - I just like the state. I don't have a favorite between the papers although the RMN did publish a guest editorial I wrote on the Border Fence a few weeks ago.

Its a loss for Colorado.

These days, with the internet, no ONE paper has a monopoly on local news. But the reality is that internet operations like Auto Trader, Craigslist and eBay have replaced the revenue-generating classifieds, national and international news sites run by Fox News, CNN, BBC, etc have replaced the lead news section, financial sites like Bloomberg have replaced the financial pages...what's left?? I can get the 3 pages worth of local stuff from the TV stations at my viewing convenience on the DVR.

I tried the Colorado Springs Gazette's online edition, and it got progressively less reliable, with access problems and garbled text on a semi-daily basis, and I finally said "enough" a few weeks ago.

Add to that the obvious toll on trees from the paper usage, and the energy required to distribute tens of thousands of 1-lb parcels across a city every day. Papers are a waste of resources and energy that can and are being easily be supplanted via a diverse collection of electronic media outlets.

In other words, stick a form in all of 'em--they're done.

[ocean2026]

You do have a point -especially about the paper waste. CNN and other news orgs do cover Colorado, but it would seem a local perspective would be better.

[wanneroo]

Originally Posted by DOUBLE H

It is my understanding that Scripps-Howard owned both the Rocky Mountain News AND the Denver Post. I've always kind of questioned that.

They were independent and then when RMN went bust or almost bust the last time, they got bought out and paired with Denver Post.

[livecontent]

Originally Posted by wanneroo

They were independent and then when RMN went bust or almost bust the last time, they got bought out and paired with Denver Post.

No, this is incorrect. Scripps the owner of the Rocky Mountain News and MediaNews Group, the owner of the Denver Post created a partnership and formed The Denver Newspaper Agency, in 2001, to cover expenses such as printing, circulation and other expenses. They maintained separate ownership and separate newsrooms.

Per this Joint Operation Agreement, The Denver Post published on Sundays only and the Rocky Mountain News Published on Saturday only, while Mon-Fri, there are an edition of each.

This arrangement was allowed by the Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970, allow competitors to become collaborators while preserving two independent newspapers.

Livecontent

[vegaspilgrim]

This is a real shame to hear. The Rocky Mountain News has been in existence since 1859!

[livecontent]

So the RMN has been in business for 150 years??? That does not give them protection from being a quality product today.

The RMN spends inordinate amount of press the report "The Broncos" then is warranted. Look at Today's online pages, the home page has one story after another about this football team. They give this private business free advertising, while at the same time increasing rates for other businesses. If they really wanted to make money, publish no "Bronco" stories unless they are a paid advertisement.

Their printed page also uses the same technique to attract certain readers but they have forgotten the intelligent reader who now has other ways to get news and good journalism. Who wants to read a sensational tabloid--maybe they should try selling their crap at the supermarket checkout and give the Star some competitions---I give them a headline---

"BLOOD LUST ON THE FIELD---Denver Bronco Player Identified as a Vampire"

Interestingly, in today's age these newspapers cannot understand the technology needed to present their papers online. I have tested the Electronic Edition, online papers, of both, The Post and the News, and I have come away very disappointed. In looking at their pages, you cannot read much of the graphics and fonts because the resolution is not sufficient for even low resolutions of monitors. The advertising that they accept from business is very low and you cannot read even the normal resolution on a 17" monitor and even their own in-house advertisements are low resolution.

They produce the paper for a printed page and do have the brains to realize that when they reproduce in their online or for the paid facsimile that it needs to have better resolutions for viewing on computers. Just plain stupid. Now, one of my computer systems have a 22" monitor and the viewing is, of course, much worse for their web pages.

Try downloading these Electronic Editions as a PDF file and you will find that internal links do not work; they are not formatted correctly for PDF, and you wonder how can they be so ignorant???

Why bother with out of date, home delivery. I have noticed in the last few years, when I had received papers for home delivery, that you could not depend even on the dependable delivery of the paper; it is there one day and not the next.

I grew up reading the newspapers and my generation is dying. The new generation is not attune to the daily delivery of printed news. The newspapers, with all the resources and expertise, have not been able to make the transformation to the new technology.

So be it; let it die. Good riddance, Adios, Goodbye....it breaks my heart...another bad business that has been kept going by stupid federal laws to keep papers in competition---The Denver Newspaper Agency--a real piece of garbage. Have you noticed that they built themselves brand new office, just recently, and yet circulation has been dying for years.

Livecontent