Rocky Mountain News for Sale

The Rocky Mountain News is for sale, the Denver newspaper announced Dec. 4. The Rocky Mountain News has been owned by the E.W. Scripps Co., since 1926. In 2001, the firm entered a joint-operating agreement with the MediaNews Group to run both the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post, the other daily newspaper in Denver.

The Scripps company claims the paper lost roughly $11 million in the first nine months of 2008. In a slumping economy, the Denver market cannot support both newspapers, officials claim.

A Scripps press statement gives a potential buyer one month to make an offer, then the paper may be shut down. Given the fact that folks are struggling to get credit to buy a home or a car, a multi-million dollar newspaper gamble is unlikely.

This is unfortunate, for Denver and for the media world in general. It is another nail in the coffin of American journalism. American journalism is on life support, and the handful of remaining cites with competing newspapers is one of its last feeding tubes.

For Denver and the Rocky Mountain region in particular, it will be sad to see the Rocky Mountain News perish if it is not sold. I have always preferred the Rocky to the Post - for reasons silly and serious. I prefer the Rocky Mountain News comics and I prefer the ease of reading a smaller tabloid format to the Denver Post's broadsheet size.

I also respect the Rocky Mountain News for giving their star writers the time and budget to work on large, important stories. The best example is Jim Sheeler's remarkable story on a Marine charged with delivering grim news to families of fallen servicemen. The story won the Rocky Mountain News a Pulitzer award, but probably did little to boost advertising revenue (and even if it increased circulation, your circulation dollars barely cover the costs of getting the paper to you in the morning, putting very little toward the high operating costs of running a quality newspaper).

Finally, I appreciate the Rocky Mountain News for its balance. The newspaper always balanced a fairly conservative editorial page with some very liberal columnists, including Mike Littwin (who is widely savaged, including on the comment board attached to the Rocky Mountain News story announcing its own sale. But even his critics have to admit he is a talented and compelling writer, even if you disagree with every gripping word).

It will be a shame to see all of these great qualities disappear. Furthermore, for a look at the future of Denver journalism, just look to some of the other MediaNews properties in California. A good example is the once respectable Oakland Tribune.

As a former employee of the Denver Post and the Oakland Tribune, I truly hope the former does not sink to the level of the latter once the Rocky Mountain News prints its last page.