Rocky Mountain News Publishes Last Edition
The Last Edition Sounds the Death Knell of a Rocky Mountain Tradition
The Rocky Mountain News first issue was published on April 23, 1859. Just 55 days short of its 150th anniversary, it published its last issue. The Rocky Mountain News had fallen due to the bad economy, the loss of classified and real estate ads to the internet, and the aftermath of the great newspaper wars of Denver.
Its closure leaves only the Denver Post to serve the city of Denver. Subscribers of the Rocky Mountain News will be served by the Denver Post until the end of their current subscriptions.
Looking over the final edition, one feels an overwhelming sense of loss. The Rocky Mountain News had been a part of Denver history for a century and a half. Personally, I never remember a time that The Rocky Mountain News was not around. Even when my family moved to Brush Colorado, the News was there.
My parents subscribed to the Denver Post. I have always preferred the tabloid layout of The Rocky Mountain News. It was a silly way to pick a newspaper, but that was the logic of my youth. Over the years, the News made me fell like I made the right choice.
Denver has been lucky to be a two newspaper town. Its luck has run out. The entire print newspaper's business has run out of luck. Today, it is the internet that is the rising star of the news business, and the print newspapers are going the way of the dinosaurs.
As a citizen journalist, I live in a different world. While I work for a college newspaper, using a print format, it is likely the closest I will ever get to experience a newsroom. My career in news will be spent alone at my desk. When I have editors and buyers for my work, the communication will be though emails and phone calls and not face to face.
Not only are we losing a piece of history, we are losing a unique experience that few internet writers will ever be able to replace. For us, the hustle of the news pit will be just something that we read about in books. Our companions will not be other journalists---in fact we might not even know any fellow journalists. And it is that loss that I mourn the most.
Published by Morgan Drake Eckstein
Started writing for the local wiccan and pagan magazines over a decade ago. Currently a college senior at the University of Colorado at Denver, as well as an officer at my local Golden Dawn lodge, Bast Templ... View profile
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Rocky Mountain News Closes for GoodThe Rocky Mountain News is closing its doors after 150 years of publishing. - Mourning the Rocky Mountain NewsIf anyone needed conclusive proof that traditional media are in their death throes, today's closing of The Rocky Mountain News provided it.
Mourning the Loss of the Rocky Mountain News; Last Edition Published TodayThe News introduced me to journalism and sparked a desire to tell the stories of others through photographs and words. This is a response from a young professional to the closur...
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2 Comments
Post a CommentWhat is really sad is not the death of the image of the newsroom, which has been largely crafted by t.v. and movies for decades, but the death of real news reporting. The biggest and best stories were not generated in the newsroom. They are created by writers and editors who have the guts to work 14 hour days tracking down leads, sources and facts; who set aside their own egos and agendas to craft a fair-balanced story; who are willing to work for a pittance (even on salary), a byline and their own integrity.
The death of a newspaper or media outlet while sad is nothing compared to the sorrow a nation should feel when it snuffs out a means of honest, intellectual discussion and communication with the masses.
~MJL
I saw this on the news.