Rocky Mountain News Closing Tomorrow

 

DENVER, CO (February 26, 2009) – The Rocky Mountain News, an E.W. Scripps daily newspaper in Denver, will publish its final edition on Friday.

Scripps today announced an end to the 150-year-old newspaper when Scripps CEO Rich Boehne broke the news in the newsroom at noon, just two months short of the newspaper's 150th anniversary.

At the Rocky, 19 journalists are NPPA members.

In the past ten years the newspaper has won four Pulitzer Prizes, three of them for photography.

In 2006, photographer Todd Heisler won the Pulitzer for Feature Photography for "Final Salute," a year-long essay on America's war dead returning home for burial and honors.

In 2003, the photography staff won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News for their coverage of Colorado's raging wildfires.

And in 2000, the photography staff won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News for its coverage of the Columbine High School massacre.

The photography staff that won three Pulitzers did so under the direction of Janet Reeves, an NPPA member since 1994. In 2006 the Jim Gordon Editor of the Year award was presented to Reeves by NPPA for her "leadership, which has created an environment which advances the standards of photojournalism, consistently looking out for the best interests of all photojournalists."

Denver Post editor Greg Moore sent a memo to the Post's staff today when the news broke outlining who they've hired from the Rocky staff, which included only one Rocky photographer, Judy DeHaas.

"It is sad indeed that The Rocky Mountain News dies so prematurely, for its level of photojournalism stood at the top of the contemporary newspaper scene," Denver resident and former NPPA president Rich Clarkson, who once was also the photography director at The Denver Post, said today. Clarkson has worked with his share of Pulitzer Prize-winning photographers - including recent World Press Photo winner Anthony Suau, who won a Pulitzer for photography while working for Clarkson at the Post.

"The leadership and brilliance of editor and publisher John Temple, with photo director Janet Reeves and one of the finest newspaper photo staffs in America, authored Pulitzer projects and great day-in-and-day-out coverage that will be long remembered. The Rocky's legacy is a textbook case in doing it just right. Only the textbook is now out of print ..."

In December, Scripps said that if a buyer didn't come forward the paper would close, citing multi-million dollar annual loses. The paper published in a joint operating agreement with The Denver Post since 2001.

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

"The Rocky is one of America’s very best examples of what local news organizations need to be in the future. Unfortunately, the partnership’s business model is locked in the past."

The business model Boehne called "locked in the past" was the joint operating agreement, called the Denver Newspaper Agency, that existed between the Rocky and The Denver Post. The JOA handled the business matters for both papers, including advertising and printing. In December, Scripps said their 50 percent of the JOA and the Rocky were up for sale because they could not sustain the ongoing loss of revenue. In 2008, the Rocky lost $16 million.

"Our jobs and our lives are in the hands of people whose shoes cost more than most of us make in a week," Russ Kendall said today upon hearing the news. Until 1999 Kendall was a staff photographer at the Rocky; today he's a picture editor at the Bellingham Herald in Washington.

A letter went out to advertisers on Thursday from the Denver Newspaper Agency informing them that despite the Rocky's closing, advertising rates in The Denver Post "will not change." The Rocky's tabloid format was smaller than the Post's broadsheet page, so full-page rates beginning Monday will be "increased slightly to reflect the increase in the ad size," the letter said.

An early possible buyer fell through, the Rocky reported, and most recently Scripps had been negotiating with Post owner MediaNews Group on a plan that would have allowed MediaNews Group to leave Colorado newspapers. Scripps and MediaNews Group also share a 50-50 ownership of the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, CO.

Boehne said that now that the Rocky is closing tomorrow, the newspaper's masthead, archives, and Web site are for sale separated from the company's interest in the Denver Newspaper Agency.

The Rocky was founded by William Byers in 1859 and bought by Scripps in 1926.

 

NPPA Marketplace

Insure Your Equipment

You go where the action is….so should your insurance! Hays delivers comprehensive insurance for your gear - covering cameras, computers, editing equipment and rental.

Join the NPPA

NPPA members receive a wide range of benefits, from educational opportunities to mentoring, exclusive discounts, insurance options, business tips, and much more.