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The Rocky Mountain News newsroom on election night, 2008. Photo by Mark Holm, The Rocky
By Mike Littwin
We meet in this strange place in a noble effort to save the Rocky Mountain News. And if we can’t save the Rocky, we can, at minimum, make some noise before we go. Since the day the proposed sale of the Rocky was announced, we’ve been waiting for the odd billionaire to join our cause. This may surprise you, but none has come forward. Apparently Phil and Tim and Pat and the rest of the team must have misplaced our e-mail address.
So, we turn now to the non-billionaires. We think there may be more of you. We ask not for your money, but – as they say in the sports world – for the opportunity to play for pride. Many of you read the Rocky. Many of you and your families have read the Rocky for generations. Many of you don’t know how to hold a paper that is bigger than a tabloid and simultaneously eat your Wheaties. As you may have heard, the Rocky has been around for nearly 150 years – my first column, I think, was ripping Baby Doe for supporting Tabor (that’s Sen. Horace Tabor) – and many of us have grown attached to this place. We’re thinking many of you have the same kind of attachment to the Rocky.
So, if you find yourself needing to read Bartels on politics and Milstead on finance and Vaughan on multi-part tragedies and Griego on Border Street and Krieger on Billups and Ringolsby on why Holliday had to go and Legwold on why the Mastermind isn’t going anywhere and Lincicome on why someone should have to go somewhere and Johnson on smoking bans and Parker on smokin’ parties and Meadow on Civic Center restrooms and Temple on how great the Rocky is even if it’s often on the verge of going out of business and, of course, the rest of the gang – including, of course, our Pulitzer-happy photo staff – then here’s what you can do:
You can comment on our posts here on iwantmyrocky.com about, yes, why you want your Rocky. You can be the roots in a grassroots effort to save the Rocky or help save our sanity, anyway. There are many helpful (or so I’m told) suggestions on this Web site. Feel free to send in more of your own.
Thanks for your help and for 149½ years (so far).
—Mike Littwin
Can’t imagine not having the opportunity to read Krieger and Littwin and Johnson and the rest. I take both papers and would to continue doing so.
I read the paper online every day, and would pay a subscription ($20/year ?) to continue to have a more moderate news voice (and conservative editorial voice) in Denver. I will NOT subscribe to the Post, nor read their online version.
If the advertising model doesn’t work, maybe a subscription one will?
i don’t live in colorado anymore (sadness), and i depend on the rocky web site to get word of the goings-on there. i’m a lifelong rocky fan, too. love the design, the diverse voices and the great photographers. and yes, i too would pay to read the web version. gotta pay the bills somehow!
The Rocky is consistently too far to the right for me editorially, and since I can’t afford to subscribe to both papers, I subscribe to the Post. That said, I must also add that the Rocky has my two favorite writers, Littwin and Griego, whom I read online as often as I can, and, like Doug, would consider an online subscription (they’re $30 a year, Doug) to be able to continue. That doesn’t solve the Rocky’s problem, however, since online advertising doesn’t come close to making up the revenue lost if the physical paper goes away.
Basically, this is beyond sad for both employees, who are seeing their occupation disappear, and for Colorado, as well. I came here from St. Louis, where the joint operating agreement between the Post-Dispatch and the Globe-Democrat lasted only about a year before the Globe-Democrat folded. It was rabidly right-wing, and I much preferred the Post-Dispatch, but St. Louis was NOT a better community with only one paper, and metro Denver and Colorado will NOT benefit if the Rocky vanishes.
The two different voices help citizens make sense of a complicated world better than a single voice. Moreover, each paper has some people writing for it with which I’m sure the respective editorial boards disagree. Online news sources are fine, and I use those, too, but like most people, when reading stuff online, I self-censor. I’m not going to go to the trouble of searching out sites online that basically disagree with what I believe to be true. Beyond that, many online news sources themselves rely on “regular” newsgathering organizations like newspapers for their factual stories, even if they write their own commentary. Newspapers, by attempting objectivity (there is no such thing, but they at least make an attempt more often than not), more or less force readers to consider other viewpoints. That’s of inestimable value in a society that makes noises about being democratic.
With Mr. Singleton wanting to cut $20 million from the Post’s costs of operation, citizens of the area will be getting a less effective, less comprehensive, and less valuable Post. If the Rocky goes away at about the same time, the whole area will be diminished, and the journalistic job of holding the feet of the privileged to the fire so that they don’t take unfair advantage of those with less won’t be performed. We’ll all suffer to some degree as a result.
On a national level, Singleton has proven himself to be the “anti-christ” of American journalism, and the daily paper that provides us with the news.
It’s a shame about Ed! Keep The Rocky and keep Flynn!
I check former home newspapers part of my daily routine, reading what may be going on.
I have never established permenant residence in Colorado but could never dream of being unable to look at the RockyMtn news website. I love the writers and the look and ease of using the website.
So many papers closing, please save the Rocky.
I am a fifth generation Coloradan and am disappointed that our state is losing its western charm. I read the online version of the Rocky everyday and will NEVER read the Denver Post. If the Rocky is closed down, I do not know where I will turn for my news, it will not be the Denver Post!
Please Save the Rocky Mountain News.
I am part of that younger generation that thinks only the future matters, that we are writing history. But the reality is the future depends so much on understanding the past. Nobody in Denver understands this more than the Rocky Mountain News, whose user focused staff always gives their readers a knowledgeable grasp of what is happening now, how what happened in the past affects the present and then what will happen next. So it saddens me that the Rocky might be on the verge of closing, because as the oldest business still operating in Denver, the organization has a unique perspective on the city and state that no other has: the ability to see a place evolve; to see its history written then stamped in ink on paper. Yeah, I may be one of the generation who reads the newspaper without smudging a finger, but I hope I am not the only person who recognizes what a value of the Rocky Mountain News. We need to do anything we can to save it.
I am just an average, ordinary citizen who is not that random billionaire being sought. For over 30 years, both the Rocky and the Post have been delivered to my house daily. I remember leaving for school in the morning reading the Rocky and coming home to pick up the Post which was then an evening paper. I don’t always agree with the Rocky or the Post which is why I take both so that I can keep my horizons broad. News gathering, news reading and advertising have all changed with technology and the explosion of the internet and cable/satellite television. In this era of instant gratification, it is nice to have the constant of TWO daily newspapers for a variety of entertainment, news and perspective on my city, country and the world around me. I hope that you are successful in convincing the owners not to pull the plug on the RMN in the name of the corporate bottom line.
Denver native here, can’t imagine not having the Rocky. While some members of my family continue to subscribe, I must admit I have now receive at almost 100% online. I would be willing to pay a subscriber fee to continue to do so.
I love the Rocky. When I arrived here from Atlanta, the first thing I read was the Rocky Mountain News. I can’t stand the Post. The paper is what I rely on for my ads, news, weather and even my daily Garfield comic. I hope someone comes and buys it, because I don’t want to wake up and find no Rocky on the porch. I don’t want history to be replaced by a wannabe.
My family moved to Denver when I was eight. I remember getting both the Rocky and the Post, one in the morning the other in the afternoon. At first I was only interested in the comics page which is normal for an eight year old. As I grew into my teen years I started reading some of the articles in the Rocky and finding them interesting. I still continued to grow up and when I joined the Air Force in 1982 I knew I would miss my Rocky. When I deployed to Oman during Desert Storm my Father bought me a mail subscription to the Rocky. I wouldn’t get a paper for days then I would get at least a weeks worth of papers. I read them all quickly but thoroughly, hungry for the news at home. In fact the Rocky told me more about what was happening in Desert Storm than the military did. Once I was done with the papers I put them in my Squadron’s Command Post – the papers disappeared very quickly and made the rounds of not only my squadron but the camp. I was told many times how great a dad I had because he sent us a little piece of home.
Since you “ask that Department of Justice ensure that this process adheres to the spirit and the letter of the Newspaper Preservation Act,” you might want to include a link or explanation of what that is.
Oh, yes — I want my Rocky! I’m 72 and have been reading/subscribing to the Rocky since the ’40’s … Shades of Bob Chase, Pocky Maranzino, etc. My current yearly subscription runs out, I think, in January — I will again subscribe for the coming year, confident that we will ALL be around
) Bless you all . . .
I just wanted to say that I delivered the Rocky as a kid – 30 years ago, worked there in college on the sports desk and continue today to read the Rocky over the Post. I was saddened when the JOA was formed and we lost the Sunday RMN. My family will not subscribe to the Post if the Rocky fails. I will miss my friends at the Rocky. I will miss the voice of the Rocky. I’ve worked at papers in 2 communities where newspapers were bought out or folded. It’s sad for the community as you lose such an important venue.
My children are re-inforcing their reading skills by starting with the comics. Moving on to the lifestyle and community news sections. My children sit with their father and I as we read each day. They ask questions about the pictures and stories that you can not do with TV or web based news sources. It will be a sad day in Denver if we lose the Rocky.
I have lived in five large cities over my career (Indianapolis, Chicago, Washington D.C., Austin, Dallas) and have to say the best newspaper with the best photography and the most heartfelt editorial staff is the Rocky. The stories about the lost heroes of the Iraqi war have shown respect and serves as a reminder of the price we pay for the cost of our freedom.
For those thinking of buying this newspaper:
This is a great newspaper that represents what is so unique about the Colorado front range. If you purchase this company you will not only be serving the greater good you will be buying into an untapped potential of some of the best photographers and writers in the country.
J. Haynes
Westminster
I have read the Rocky for all my adult life, its part of the family and much better than the Post. I have moved out of state but still subscribe to the electronic edition. Its my link to home and I would not take any other paper. Keep going please.
I see many would pay to read the Rocky online, and I think that’s great. I would like to address another, more direct, path to income, and that is the Rocky’s subscription options. Couple of suggestions:
I left Denver 6 months ago for Rochester, NY. Long story. I miss both papers, and if you want to know why, I’ll send you a copy of the one here.
I would gladly subscribe to say the Fri, Sat, Sun editions of Rocky/Post if they could reach me in reasonable amount of time, but the website informs me that my zip code is non-deliverable for papers. Surely there is a way for former Coloradans to help via getting the paper by mail? If so, would love to learn about it.
Secondly, on the Rocky site, the ‘Subscribe’ link is an afterthought at bottom of page. Can you take the energy you have focused into building this page, and rechannel some of it to have a simple graphic at the top of the main Rocky page – maybe even tongue in cheek – letting readers know they can help by “clicking here” and subscribing? Even to just Fri/Sat editions?
Those are my suggestions. Neither will raise $20 million, but if I were that smart, I wouldn’t be spending winter in Rochester. I kid, I kid. And sorry about the wicked, compound sentence.
-Ed
I have been reading the Rocky since I was a child. I had a newspaper bicycle route as a child and have been a carrier since as an adult. I love the Rocky. I have subscribed to its tabloid format, much easier for commuting, and breakfast table reading, since I have been old enough to have my own subscription.
The Rocky put me through college as my mom was a district manager for the Rocky. It has always been a family affair for us.
Yes occasionally I will read the Rocky online, but the pure joy of opening the paper in the morning, the minin page and your hub are the best part of my day.
In the 90’s and early 2000’s we could get the Rocky for an amazing price, and although it costs about $120 a year now, we still pay that before we go to a movie, eat out, or shop, because where do we get the bulk of our info? The Rocky Mountain News!
Please save the Rocky!
Well, hell, occasionally I write columns for the Rocky, so of course I don’t want her to disappear. But there’s a more important reason. Two reasons, really. The first is, the difference between a one newspaper town and a two newspaper town is like the difference between a world with one airline with no competition— or one automaker or computer maker— and a world with many. Which one would you rather inhabit? The second reason is, the Rocky really has been the epitomy of Avis: We Try Harder. I don’t mean it’s been number two, but it has been scrappy and outspoken. The result for all of us has been a newspaper that has dedicated resources to its readers which, in retrospect, it didn’t even have. The result has been imaginative photos, gutsy editorials, and courageous coverage. Don’t let her die.
I grew up in a household of readers. Every morning began with my parents reading the local newspapers delivered to our door. Whenever the newspaper delivery was interrupted by the odd snowstorm or printing press problem, a palpable pall settled over the breakfast table and the day started with gloom instead of sunshine.
My siblings and I have continued this family tradition, as do our own grown children and grandchildren. My day always start with the Rocky (except of course on Sunday). If the Rocky goes…it takes with it a large piece of my optimism, my heart, and my soul.
Pulllllleeeze don’t take my Rocky from me!! Northern Colorado, and indeed the world, needs better informed citizens, and the Rocky has a vital role to play in this extremely worthwhile endeavor.
Perhaps if the two Denver newspapers were not so FAR TO THE LEFT, I might have continued my subscriptions. It appears that there are others who feel the same way, or they would not be losing their readership.
I am a subscriber and have been since moving to Colorado 3 years ago. But even I can see the writing on the wall. This is a dying media and one that is quickly being replaced by a better/faster/more up to date one. It is time to embrace that. The fact that this site even exists is a perfect example of why the internet is replacing traditional newspapers. I just went outside in -7 degree temps to get my paper full of yesterdays news. But I am sitting here by the fire now reading todays news on my laptop. While I like the Rocky Mountain News (and the Denver Post), they are a business model that no longer works. You can stay in denial but it won’t change the reality that technology is bringing us a new way to read the news and one that is more timely.
Get rid of the Denver Post, not the Rocky!
I LOVE the Rocky. I’ve never been fond of the Post and will never subcribe. I get up at 5 every morning just so I have time to read the News every day.I really hope I don’t get to sleep in another hour. I have my fingers crossed and my hopes high for the Rocky’s “bailout”.
Sally
Can you imagine how much Denver will suffer if it becomes a one-newspaper town? Nothing against the Post, but having two newspapers makes both better.
I remember when the people of Denver were all atwitter at the prospect
of the Broncos’ leaving. They undertook a big campaign to buy season tickets and improve the stadium. If we can do that for a football team,
can’t we do something similar for a civic asset such as the Rocky?
Whenever something dramatic happens, there is usually a line from Bob Dylan that helps me put things in perspective. In this case, when I heard about the Rocky Mountain News being sold and probably going under, it “shook my windows and rattled my walls.” The times certainly are a’ changing.
Most of all, I was sad. Sad that a lot of good journalists, many who I consider friends, will be out of work. Sad also that Colorado’s oldest newspaper will likely not survive. That’s a bad thing for Colorado PR firms, who rely on the media to cover stories about our clients, but it is also bad for anyone who thinks that understanding what is going on in the world around you is important.
I am one of those people who love to read the paper. I usually read 3-4 papers each day. The joy of holding the paper in my hand, checking the box scores in the morning with my coffee, or falling asleep in my chair with the paper in my lap is one of life’s little pleasures that my father passed down to me, along with baseball, folk music and a sense of history.
I was also angry. Angry that corporate executives can decide to save their own jobs by throwing the people they employ out of work during the holidays. And angry that we are evolving into a society that thinks newspapers are not important.
Blogs and social media and word of mouth are important sources of information but they are no substitute for newspapers. They usually have a particular perspective and they generally do not cover stories in the same in-depth way that a reporter would. In many cases, the people who provide the news through those channels are not professional journalists. They are not Clark Kent or Lois Lane or Damon Runyon or Jimmy Breslin or Thomas Friedman. They are just people with opinions who like to express them in public forums with other people who share those same interests. There is nothing wrong with that, but to me, that is not news. Too often it is just noise.
So for David Milstead and Jamie Paton and Joyzelle Davis and Joanne Kelley and James Meadow and John Ensslin and Rob Reuteman and Roger Fillion and Mike Littwin and Tina Griego and Gargi Chakrabarty and Bill Scanlon and Laura Frank and Lynn Bartels and so many others, I hope someone steps forward to buy the News and save all your jobs. And thanks for all the stories.
I have enjoyed reading the Rocky for several years. Its stories cover a broad scope — from heartwarming or heartwrenching multi-part features, to hard news the instant it happens. Denver and the state benefit greatly from having diverse styles and perspectives of two major, highly respectable newspapers. I share the hope that many others on this Web site feel — that the Rocky will live on.
The Rocky Mountain News is Denver. For years, my family has read this paper. Early morning memories include fetching the Rocky as the coffee is brewing, unwrapping it and then skimming the headlines as my father poured his coffee. Or, the paper that is as heavy as a baby that comes prior to Black Friday – even though I don’t partake in that maniac shopping mess, I look forward to perusing the ads. The Post doesn’t cut it with regards to writers, personal interest stories, or the comics. Make it work for the Coloradoan’s (here and other states) who subscribe to this paper, who live to have a daily dose of the excellent writers that you currently employee, for the up and coming generations who need to know what a true newspaper is, what a true writer can convey. It only comes in the Rocky Mountain News.
I have been reading the Rocky for over 40 years.When I was growing up the children in my family had to wait for first my Grandpa and then my Mom to read the paper before we could get our hands on it. Like so many of the others who have posted here, I cannot imagine starting the day without coffee and ‘my paper’. There must be a way to save this paper.
If the Rocky goes away I will no longer read a newspaper. I wouldn’t waste my money on the Post.
What about the older generation that does not have a computer and depends on the newspaper for all their information? What a loss for all the generations but especially for the elderly.
I grew up with the Rocky and have loved it forever! I especially like the size, very convenient to read it on the bus. My heart will be broken if the Rocky goes away! I am hoping it can be saved – somehow!
Denver needs more then one major printed form of media. The Rocky has served as a necessary balance in coverage for decades in Denver. I was disappointed by the joint operating agreement years ago as I suspected it would lead to this. Keep up the fight, I WANT MY ROCKY!
Lisa
Hey Rocky: where was all your bleeding heart, save-the-world websites when other businesses in this state were going belly up?
Oh that’s right, that involved SOMEBODY else, not you.
You are a commodity and a business just like anything else. If you can’t make it, move on with your lives and spare us all the whining.
We moved here 11 years ago, and as you know, “if you live here, you get it.” I read the Rocky every day, and on most weekday mornings, I join others at a local bagel shop, where we discuss it. Through this newspaper, I am connected to the world, to Colorado, and to my community.
I grew up reading the Rocky Mountain news every morning. It fit perfectly next to my bowl of cereal- I’ve since come to realize how rare that is, as other papers are annoyingly unmanageable. I’ve been saddened over the years by the ever-decreasing amount of content in the paper. I understand that with the creation of the internet, ad sales for newspapers just aren’t what they used to be, and the newspaper as a format may no longer be viable. But I worry about the effect the loss of our home-town newspapers will have on places like Denver. Who will report on all of the news that’s important to Colorado readers? I hope there is some way that the paper can be saved. You have my support.
I look forward to reading the Rocky cover to cover each day. I will
not subscribe to the Denver Post and I do not read either paper
on line. I will gladly pay an annual subscription fee and I do
tip my News carrier as best I can….I rely on the Rocky as the
primary source for local and world wide information as I do NOT
rely on television as a reliable source. Talk radio is my second
source for specific topical information.
I take both papers and have since I moved here in 1981. I used to prefer the Post because it was more liberal and I didn’t like the tabloid format. However, when I started riding a bus in the late 80s I found the tabloid much easier to read without whacking my seatmate in the face every time I turned the page.
After the DNA was formed, it seemed to me that the Rocky got stronger and the Post got weaker (for which I blame Dean Singleton). The Rocky has invested more in its reporting, and I don’t know what the Post has invested in other than union-busting. Singleton and Dan Haley have no vision for the Post, other than driving the Rocky out of business. The DNA was set up to have the Rocky fail, and the only reason it has survived this long with the deck stacked against it is its superior reporting (and comics).
If the Rocky goes under, who is going to report on the legislature? Lynn Bartels is far and away the best political reporter since Fred Brown and John Sanko retired. The Post doesn’t even try to match her work. The citizens will suffer without competent and comprehensive coverage of the happenings under the gold dome.
Rocky can’t die! Come on, billionaires, help us all out!
I am a former newsroom employee of the Rocky. I can’t tell you how saddened I was to hear the paper is up for sale. I’ve worked at several other publications and my former colleagues at the Rocky are the best I’ve known. The people work hard there and take their jobs seriously without taking themselves too seriously. The result, I believe, is a quality journalism and a level of teamwork and professionalism that other news organizations only aspire to achieve. I will write to E.W. Scripps as well my Congressional representatives on your behalf. Colorado and the national news scene would not be the same without you. I am pulling for all of you.
The Rocky has been part of my morning routine, with a hot cup of joe for the past 10 years since I moved to Denver.
I like to actually hold something I’m reading. But sadly, I’m a Boomer and our kids, while even more educated than we are, just don’t read papers.
They get it off the Internet.
I firmly hope a buyer comes a long, or a operational solution can be figured out to both publish the Rocky and not lose money doing so.
There is no way I’ll subscribe to the Post. It’s just to liberal. The Rocky is balanced in most instances.
Good luck to everyone.
I live in Colorado Springs and I really, really hope The Rocky Mountain News can be saved. Without it, the news in this state is totally unbalanced. The Gazette, the local Springs paper, is anything but unbiased and I turned to the Rocky regularly for something to balance it out.
I quit my subscription when they quit taking firearms ads…their political choice and my choice not to pay your paycheck. They take the liberal side of politics(afraid to vet Obama), conservatives, guns, illegal aliens(not undocumented workers), Tom Tancrado,global warming, ag tresspass ,taking on the and the list goes on and on. I laugh when they try to defend their liberal slant!
I truly wish the Rocky Mountain News would stay afloat. I have defended this paper throughout the years for their wonderful converage of sports. Specifically B.G. Brooks has to be the best writer in college sports. Keep up the great job and I hope to continue to read your wonderful newspaper.
I have lived in the Denver area since 1995, but my relationship with the Rocky goes back to 1983, when my family moved out here from the New York area. I have always enjoyed the Rocky and I hope to continue to see it going long into the future.
The death of a newspaper is a solemn moment; it is like a voice that has been silenced. I have witnessed several voices silenced over the years: The New York Journal-American, Herald Tribune, World Telegram and the Sun, World Journal Tribune and the Columbus Citizen-Journal. I lived in Dallas, when Media News bought the Dallas Times-Herald and shut it down with some notice. I lived in Houston when the same company bought the Houston Post and shut it down without even giving the staff the chance to say good bye. MediaNews is now trying to do this to the Rocky and we on the front range cannot let it happen.
The Rocky started in what was then called Cherry Creek, Kansas Territory in 1859. Long before there was a state of Colorado and before there was a Denver. The Rocky is part of the fabric of Colorado and has been for the better part of 150 years. It was here during the good times and the bad; the happy and the sad. To lose it would mean losing a part of ourselves and a integral part of what is Colorado.
One reader proposed that the people of Colorado try to save the Rocky by taking it private and buying shares in the paper. Can we get enough people in Colorado to come forth to become newspaper owners? We cannot let MediaNews put the final stake in the heart of the Rocky; for it has been the Rocky that has been keeping them a float since the JOA was formed. For if the Rocky folds, not only is it a loss of another voice; it is a loss of an institution and a piece Colorado history.
I am a denver native and truly enjoy the Rocky. I would miss it if it was gone. I cannot stand the Post. I don’t like the format and it is one of the most liberal papers in the country. Save the Rocky!!!
All my life my entire family has chosen the rocky mountain news, from the layout to the quality of reporting it has always put the post to shame.
Every morning for as many years as I can remember, the first thing I do after getting up is to switch on my coffee pot and set down with my Rocky Mountain News. I read it from cover to cover, and only then do I feel prepared to start my day. I want to be informed of all the world and local news. I do not want to set at my desk and scan the news on a computer, I want that paper right in front of me to hold. I also clip coupons, and read all the Sunday adds – which is something I really look forward to on Sunday mornings. Please do not take away one of the few joys we have left! I will continue to subscribe for as long as my paper is available to me!
Please save the Rocky — I am a native of Colorado and have never subscribed to any other paper. My kids learned to read with the sports page from the Rocky. This is a instuition in Denver and needs to be saved.
Can’t imagine Denver without the Rocky Mountain news. May as well bulldoze the whole town & move away.
–Pete Chronis
My husband and I have subscribed to both the newspapers since moving to Littleton 35 yrs. ago. First they were morning and evening….he liked the evening and I liked the morning. Then when they both went to morning we kept them because by then the Rocky was my paper. When they combined on weekends that was not good…….but we kept subscribing. NOT looking forward to having one newspaper a day and especially since that one will not be the Rocky Mt. News. May have to go to the computer and don’t really want to.
Really hope something turns around and we can have more years of reading the Rocky Mt. News.
How can I get up in the morning and not have the Rocky to read, I cannot read the Denver Post. Way too liberal for me. Please do some thing to keep this paper going.
Cannot get up in the morning and not have the Rocky to read. Please find a way to keep this paper. Do we all need to donate? Can’t read the Denver Post. I do not like it.
I subscribe to both newspapers and greatly value both. Although I don’t read both cover to cover daily, there are features of each that I like. Mainly, I like to read the editorial pages/letters to the editor. In general, the letters in the RMN give me hope that there is still some sanity in this country.
I am just heartsick with the thought of the Rocky disappearing. I have been a reader since I was in my early teens. I have tried the Post a couple of times and am always surprised that anyone would prefer it over the Rocky. The News is not just a another product. It is the heart and voice for the people of Colorado, and has been for 150 years. It is irreplaceable and the Post will not fill the gap left behind.
Increase the subscription cost by $60 per year. I suspect a large majority of subscribers will accept it. I would gladly pay twice that much. But at just $60 per year per subscriber, that’s an easy $12 million extra per year. Enough to pay Littwin’s salary, with a couple million left over.
Too bad this wasn’t done for the Albuquerque Tribune when Scripps-Howard put them “up for sale.” Now they’re gone. Editors and reporters are going to have to create web communities like this across the country to preserve local readership coalitions, because the owners and publishers sure aren’t going to do it.
Good luck guys, I really hope the Rocky can be saved. I moved from Colorado to Utah 5 years ago, and have been reading the on line version ever since to keep up with with events back “home”, and always read the Rocky when I visit family in Denver.
My wife and I have subscribed to the Rocky for over
25 years and are now retired. Now days, we start each
and every day by thoroughly reading and enjoying the
Rocky at our kitchen table. Frankly, if the Rocky
is no longer able or allowed to continue, and in its
present format and with its present center-right
political content, we will no longer subscribe to any, repeat ANY, Denver daily newspaper — period.
Our plea and vote: Let the Rocky continue, at least
indefinitely.
My wife and I have subscribed to the Rocky for over
25 years and are now retired. Now days, we start each
and every day by thoroughly reading and enjoying the
Rocky at our kitchen table. Frankly, if the Rocky
is no longer able or allowed to continue, we will no longer subscribe to any, repeat ANY, Denver daily newspaper — period.
Our plea and vote: Let the Rocky continue, at least
indefinitely.
I have subscribed to the Rocky since about 1979, when I moved to the Denver area. In all that time, the Rocky has, to me, consistently proven its superiority to the Post in editorial content, news content, reader satisfaction and service.
I cannot and will not read the Post. This past week, the carrier apparently had run out of copies of the Rocky and left instead a copy of the Post as a substitute. After looking it over, it served only to reinforce my opinion that the Rocky is superior.
The editorials on the front page, coupled with the editorials on the editorial page are just too much for me. I don’t like the breakout sections of the Post, and I have never been a fan of the broadsheet format. Heck – with only a couple of exceptions I don’t even like the selection of comics in the Post!!
Many here have commented on the alternative of using the Rocky’s website. Even though I am in the computer and web business, I have always favored the physical newspaper. I tend to NOT use a newspaper website for that reason. The tactile experience of reading an article is much more enjoyable over breakfast than peering into an LCD screen at a desk.
I am not overly concerned with the welfare of the employees in my concern for the Rocky’s future. That should not be a primary reason to maintain a company. Note: use the same rationale in looking at the “Big Three.” On the other hand, the very definition of marketing is to find and identify a market need and then fill that need. To my mind the Rocky fills that need to much greater degree than the Post. A relatively more objective eye toward news writing, overall good reporting, an easy-to-use form factor, and yes… even better comics all come together in filling that need better than the Post does.
It really pains me to join forces with Mike Littwin, but the Rocky is in peril, and we have a lot to lose if the Rocky continues its march down this path. It might be possible to turn that path around, but if that trip proves to be inevitable, the least we in the public can do is to place a few roadblocks along that path to slow down the procession!
I will not read the Denver Post. I want my funnies, my crossword puzzle, and I like to read the journalists Kevin Vaughan, Mike Littwin, and I want it to continue. Again, I will not read the Denver Post.
As a native of Colorado and a longtime reader of the Rocky I was very upset to hear about the paper being for sale. I look forward to having my cup of coffee and reading the Rocky every morning. I don’t want to read my paper on the internet. Please don’t get rid of the Rocky!
It wouldn’t be Denver without our Rocky. I want my Rocky!!
Sue summed up my feelings. Get rid of the Post and keep the Rocky.
I like the Rocky for it’s tabloid format, so much easier to handle. Also you can read the whole article right there, no need to dig back through 15 or 20 pages to find the end of the article.
I will not read a “newspaper” on line. They call them papers because thats what they are —- paper.
I dread the weekends when the Post comes and I will not subscribe to the post. If the rocky leaves you have lost another reader.
Save the Rocky it’s the only newspaper in Denver.
Burt
I’d like to address photo for a moment. To give proper context, the photojournalism at the Rocky Mountain News is quite simply, world class and irreplaceable. The awards list includes the most prestigious honors on a state, national, and international level. By many it is considered to be the finest american newspaper for photojournalism, period.
Growing up, The Rocky set the standard and now continues to raise the bar for what should be expected of great visual journalism. Events and news from all over the state are consistently brought to life in ways that boggles the mind. It has often been that I’ve seen first hand the same events in person or television, thinking that I saw it. Picking up The Rocky or looking it up online always amazes me, as I see those same things in photographs that show it to me in a way that I never would have thought of.
Part of a photojournalist’s job is to take people where they cannot go for themselves, and show them things right in front of their face that they would never see on their own. The Rocky excels at that.
More importantly, they are always journalists first.
That’s important.
It means that they will find out things about a story, about Denver, and about Colorado that no one else will. Not the public, and sometimes not even the writer. They are journalists, and their contributions to the development of a story reaches far beyond pictures, often into the written stories themselves. The reporters that work with them are better for it, and you, the reader, benefit.
The influence of the Rocky’s excellence reaches far beyond Denver. In fact, it shows up at the newspaper I work for in Tucson, Ariz. Every time a reader here sees a photo or a story with my byline, they are seeing a little bit of The Rocky Mountain News. They might not see that picture if not for the time that Barry Gutierrez refused to settle for “good enough” and waited for hours to get a critical picture for a story on immigration. Maybe I miss deadline except for the story about Darin McGregor transmitting images from a cell phone from the side of a mountain in Beaver Creek during coverage of World Cup skiing, then snowboarding down with 40lbs of gear. There’s at least one picture in my porfolio that is a direct result of advice from photo editor Jay Quadracci, who multi-tasked on an extremely busy shift to look at my work and give critique. “Go for emotion first, always. Everything else will fall into place.”
Journalism is a community that supports itself on a very broad scale. The contributions made by one organization extend to that community that goes far beyond state lines and international borders. In turn, it is built upon and delivered to readers of those publications, large and small.
So what does The Rocky mean to me? I wouldn’t be the same without it. My community two states away wouldn’t be the same without it. I suspect there are more of us that can say the same.
The the fine photojournalist of The Rocky Mountain News, past and present: You are an inspiration. You are the best. Thank you, and best of luck.
I am a Denver native and was a Rocky delivery boy. It is very sad that the Rocky will go the way of the Steele Industry,The Electronics Industry,The Apparel Industry,The Auto Indsutry and the many other industries that we have driven away from our shores by being piss poor consumers. Uneducated consumers that buy what we are told to buy via marketing efforts that DON’T tell us the truth, but we are not smart enough to figure it out,so we buy NON AMERICAN crap and call it good. We forget that we are puting AMERICANS on the well fare rolls.
UNIONS are killing the ROCKY and every other large industry that we have left. Look at PERA if you still don’t get it. BUY AMERICAN OR LEAVE, like all the unemployeed illegals are doing. Once they have sucked all the free services out of our system that they can.
GOD BLESS AMERICA, GOD DAMN NON AMERICAN BUYERS….
My first thought when hearing of the probable loss of the Rocky was, Gene said this would happen. Gene Amole must be spinning in his grave, his beloved newspaper gone from the city he loved so much.
The Rocky is my paper, I love it. I read it five days a week. Saturday and Sunday I skim the paper, I don’t care for the format, that’s why I’ve never read the Post.
I learned to love newspapers from my father. When we moved here he subscribed to both papers, at that time it was Rocky in the morning and Post in the evening. I started reading when I was about five and I read the papers every day.
I am now 65 and I start my day with the Rocky. I can’t imagine not having it. I love the written word, I love my books. I read because there are so many thing I need to know. For me the loss of the Rocky will be like the loss of a dear friend, I will mourn it.
The Rocky is a treasure that should not be allowed to die.
Number one – Newspapers all over the country are failing and/or filing for bankruptcy. My belief is NEWS REPORTERS are no longer reporting the news but rather offering opinions. It was particulary evident during the election cycle. Litwin couldn’t have been more in the tank for H. Rodham-Clinton. Headlines were so grossly in favor of the left that for us conservatives reading the paper became useless (read: subscription cancelled).
Number two – Definition of insanity – doing the same things over and over again expecting different results. Media needs to change. Evidence – bankruptcy filings of the Times corp. Further evidence – the success of Fox News. Is it possible negative news no longer is the preferred reason for readers or viewers to tune in?
Number three – Remove pictures from the writers news (opinion) stories. Particularly Litwin who looks like he’s stuck in the 60’s at Woodstock while his writing echoes the look.
Number four – Write like you are talking to your reader. In other words ‘Report’. So often news stories begin with confusing attempts at humor or ridicule the reader loses interest and moves on. Catchy, cute little phrases with hidden meanings (mostly demeaning) aren’t necessarily welcomed or needed. Most news stories could be much shorter, much more to the point yet still get the story out. Forests of trees could be saved in the process. When I open a news story I prefer not to be led on an excursion about what the writer thinks I want to read first before getting the news of the story. Attempts at elite reporting only make the reader feel small and insignificant. Readers aren’t captured in the story but rather preached to by the choice of words and phrases used by the writer who attempts to appear above the intellectual foray of its reading audience. Readers are keen and can pick up on the elitism being put forth. Please don’t assume your readers are dumb and need to be talked down to.
Number five – offer subscritption options the purchaser can chose from rather than the pre-packaged one’s Rocky Mountain News makes available. Personally, I would purchase the Sunday paper and the Monday paper though that delivery option doesn’t exist. The Sunday paper gives my wife the coupons she is looking for while the Monday paper wraps up the weekend sports news for me.
That’s pretty much it. Thanks for offering the space to comment. Net net, if something doesn’t change how will the result be any different?
The loss of the Rocky would be a major blow to the community. Dropping back to a one newspaper town would really take the edge off the competition that frequently drives good local journalism. Denver and Colorado will certainly lose more eyes that keep a watch on government, business, our tax dollars, what’s happening in our neighborhoods, culture and sports.
Sadly, this is part of a trend that started long ago. When I hit the shores of Colorado in 1969, the statehouse, for example, was covered regularly by the Post and the News, UPI and AP, several radio stations (remember Sue O’Brien?), papers from around the state and even the TV stations – on a regular basis. Now the coverage is greatly cut back, with the bulk of it provided by the Post and the News. The loss of the News means we’re going to know even less about what our elected officials are up to.
The best years of my professional life were spent at the Rocky Mountain News. We had a heck of a newsroom. Mike Howard was in the corner office. Charlie Carter was city editor. Jeff Rosen and Cecil Jones covered City Hall. I usually covered the statehouse, but got to specialize in energy and environment. Steve Lang and I teamed up for the “eco” coverage. Tom Gavin was managing editor (but we sure missed his columns). Jim Crawford wrote editorials. I remember when Woody Page showed up for the first time – penny loafers and no socks. Some of the guys hanging around the newsroom included Al Knight, Dick O’Reilly, Bob Threlkeld (although he went off to Washington for the News). I worked with Bill Logan at the statehouse for a while, before he slid over to write what he loved – fishing. Dan Gibson penned cartoons. I have one original he did in connection with a story I wrote. Jack Olsen Jr. and Frank Moya wrote there – before they turned to lawyering. Jack had the cleanest desk ever. John Ashton wrote with us before he went on to the glamour and glitter of show business. Francis Melrose monitored features and history. I worked with Al Kamen on a number of stories before he headed back to DC to work for the Washington Post. The paper was gracious enough to give me some time off to pursue a professional journalism fellowship at Stanford. I actually worked with Al Nakkula, “Nak.” Dusty Saunders was back in features writing more entertainment copy than any human should. It was a good time.
The competition between the two papers was fierce and the journalism was good. But good as it seemed back then, the News has managed to pick up several Pulitizer’s since then. The Post has picked up its share of Pulitizer’s as well. These honors attest to the high quality of journalism in Denver, and it’s partially the result of competition between independent editorial staffs. I know in my days of practicing the craft, the competition drove us to do better, get it right, and get it to the public quickly and clearly. The loss of this competition will dull the blades of journalistic swords.
I’m currently finishing up work on a master’s degree in Political Science with a major research paper on Citizen Journalism and how it impacts the political process. My work has included research on the impact of the internet on print newspapers, which, as you know, has been devastating – not for content (which still largely comes from “traditional” journalists), but because of rapid loss of advertising revenue. The current economic downturn makes things even worse.
If the Rocky can be saved – and I hope it can – it will have to be reinvented under completely new business and editorial models. Some of the components of the new models could include higher subscription fees and lower subscription numbers, the use of trained citizen journalists to cover many of the local and government stories that are often the first to go in a budget crunch, reduced employee wages and benefits, more extensive use of part-time contractors, employee ownership or even foundation ownership. In other words, it’s really time to start thinking outside of the box.
In the meantime, the Rocky seems to need a short-term savior, similar to what the Big Three Auto companies are seeking, to give it time to reorganize for the future. My biggest hope is that the Rocky survives. If I can help in any way, I will.
Best Wishes and Good Luck,
Richard J Schneider
Rocky Mountain News Staff 1972-1977
How unfortunate that most everything changes. But the possibility of the News going away is a hard one to take. My dad retired from the News a few years back, and we have always been “News 1st, Post 2nd”. Lets hope for a miracle…for the paper, the staff, all the employees. We dont need more employed Coloradoans.
I am a native of Colorado of 63 years and the Rocky runs through my veins. I love the Rocky for one reason is that it is tabloid style. If they get rid of the Rocky, I hope they make everyone is made to get rid of their morning coffe. The Rocky is so much easier to read than the post, the post takes up the whole kitchen table if you try to read it.
Thanks Rocky for being there, you guys at the Rocky are great, awesome job.
Littwin’s right about the tabloid format–it’s so darn hard to read a broad-sheet paper and eat my Udi’s granola at the same time. Most importantly, and since I don’t watch TV news, the Rocky is how I stay connected with my community and the world most days of the week! Although I don’t always agree with the right leaning Rocky editorial editors, Mike Littwin, Ed Stein, Tina Griego, and many others have kept me re-subscribing for the last 23 years–some great comics have helped too (Doonesbury, Zits, Baby Blues, etc.). I’ve got my fingers crossed, and keeping my subscription active, for you guys!!
I work from home and spend most of my day online but do NOT want to drag my laptop down to the kitchen table to read the ROCKY over breakfast. Our table is small, so the Post won’t fit either… This has been my morning routine for at least a decade and I cannot imagine starting my day without Littwin, Johnson, Griego and everyone else. And by the way, I LOVED the Dozen on Denver series! Please S-A-V-E the Rocky!!!!!
Best paper in town. The competition is important.
The two papers should have never joined in the first place. I hate the Post, and think that they are trying to fool us with the numbers. I always believed that the Rocky was a stronger and more trustworthy paper. Giving us the Post on Sunday really stinks, and I do not even read the paper on Sundays anymore, but if I only get the paper 5 days they charge more. Please save my Rocky! I will never subscribe to the Post.
I started reading the Rocky every morning when I was 12. Still a subscriber at 38, I think the Rocky grounds my day. Reading the newspaper, holding the print, and connecting with the larger world helped me develop a daily practice. The Rocky is part of my routine that I do not want to give up. The editorials are superb! The news is broader than my local paper in Loveland. I don’t want it to go!
“It would be sad to see Denver go to being only a one newspaper town.”
How many other metro areas the size of Denver can financially sustain two newspaper staffs? When I was a Denver resident for four years in the early 2000’s, I always found it strange the town “needed” two major newspapers and thought it very odd the papers were simply not consolidated into one when the Denver Newspaper Agency took the helm of both.
Anyone else also find it ironic that in order to “save the paper” the staff have turned to the Internet and created this website?
Love Denver, love hardworking journalists. Just saying, the writing on the wall was there when the DNA was created. One of the papers has to die, financially. There are similar parallels to what’s happening with the US auto industry. The question remains, does America “need” three domestic automakers? Just like does Denver “need” two newspapers?
Of course we need the jobs. But do we collectively need the products/content?
I hope the staff if/when let go all find good homes. As a society, we need creative dissent and coverage, just not necessarily in the medium of printed news. Sadly, there still yet remains a broad payment structure for such.
I have been reading the Rocky for almost 70 years. I was on the “staff” of East High’s newspaper,
The Spotlight in 1950 when we produced a parody of the Rocky with columns by “Frederick
Timberwolf” for “Johnny Timberline”, “Holly Hayfield” for “Molly Mayfield”, a take-off the late Lee Casey, etc.
That edition of the paper was printed in the typestyle of the Rocky in that day with a big, bold front page headline and other distinctive features of the paper.
I was in broadcasting for 40 years and counted as friendly competitors reporters such as Dick Tucker,
Chuck Roach, and Dan Thomasson. And, of course, always kept in touch with Dusty Saunders hoping he would keep me posted on our broadcast competition and write nice things about me and the station(s) where I worked.
Good luck to all the Rocky folks and I hope somehow this historic Denver publication will continue to
help me start my day with great writing and features.
Fred Hobbs
I enthusiastically support any effort to somehow keep the Rocky in business. As a constant reader of it of over three decades I have enjoyed the journalism content as well as the convenient tabloid size. Printed news is superior for me to the online version in that it can be taken with me anywhere and sections shared with my wife and others.
Perhaps expenses can be cut with shorter, but not fewer, articles. A commitment to reporting objective and balanced news has more appeal to me, and possibly to a wide range of readers.
Keep the Rocky Mountain News.
I grew up in Boulder in the 1960’s; we had a local newspaper (the Daily Camera) that reported on what was going on in town: the water main break, city council, the high school football scores, etc. – now they’re selling their building and will be published from who knows where. We also had a local AM radio station that gave the local weather, reported live from important community news events and broadcast the local high school sports; they are long gone. These enterprises provided the information that we all had in common, they informed us about our community and gave us they means to be informed citizens – that’s what’s being lost if we loose the Rocky. Without these institutions we loose a large part of the glue that holds civil society together.
I submitted an a letter to the Rocky on 12/9 suggesting that the community should somehow become the owners of the Rocky – make it about journalism, opinion, community focus and, in conjunction with the journalism departments of local colleges, make it a laboratory furthering the evolution of the community newspaper, which obviously means the internet will play a very large part. This idea isn’t without precedent, the St. Petersburg Times is owned by a non-profit foundation and isn’t beholden to corporate ownership, this is what I’d like the Rocky should morph into. (www.poynter.org/dg.lts/id.4100/content.content_view.htm)
A major city such as Denver needs at least two daily newspapers. I hope they (The Rocky) can catch a break. — Laurence Washington
For the past nearly 35 years that I have lived in Colorado, The RMN has been my constant and steadfast morning companion. If it goes away, there is a strong possibility that I shall become completely disfunctional.
My resources are very limited, but I would gladly be willing to pay double the current subscription price if it would help any.
That’s all I have to say and I need to go cry now.
We’re still getting over losing Dusty Saunders! Losing our favorite journalist would be overwhelming! Save Our Rocky and Save our Littwin!!! The Rocky has been the biggest part of our mornings since 1992.
Dear Scripps Executives,
I am writing in support of the people of Colorado, who will lose in every way if you close the Rocky Mountain News.
I first began reading the Rocky in college, and have been a rabid fan for over two decades. The tabloid form is superior, and I really dislike the big paper format you are forced to run on Saturdays. Plus, frankly, the Denver Post is far below the Rocky in quality, editorial integrity, visual appeal, story choice, etc. This is not the fault of the hard working Post people, it’s the fault of its leadership. I will not subscribe to the Post, even if it becomes the only choice, because it doesn’t hold any value to me as a news consumer.
If you close the Rocky, there will be no more decent, professional news source in the Denver Metro area.
I’ve followed closely the Post’s financial escapades in the last days, and here’s my perception: The publisher has already counted the Rocky gone, and is moving fast to break the union. The union, as unions go, will not likely take it lying down, and will probably strike. These people, just like the Rocky people, have families to feed and shelter. That will be the end of the Post.
It seems that since the JOA, it’s been a staring match between the two papers, and the Rocky blinked first. If you could just hang on, the lower quality Post will be the one to fold in Denver, leaving the higher quality Rocky to continue to do what it does best – serve the people of Colorado.
Please please reconsider, because you know no one is going to buy this huge and established paper. The economy is in shambles, but it will recover, and the Rocky should be the one left standing in Denver.
If the Rocky goes down, Denver will have NO newspaper. The Post is just a liberal “NEWSLETTER”.
Man…this breaks my heart to see.
As a journalist, I live in constant fear for our business. I am lucky because I write for a small niche newspaper that is, knock on wood, actually profitable right now.
I look to the Rocky Mountain News every day for answers. I look for answers in politics and world issues. I look for answers as to why the Broncos can’t stop the run or why the Rockies won’t spend any money.
I look forward to reading Jack Etkin’s next feature article because he tells a story better than any baseball writer out there. I can’t wait to see what story Sara Burnett uncovered because, as we know, she has a history of turning over important stones.
I turn to the Rocky for “Speak Up,” with Sam Adams and wonder what is going to be on Mike Litwin’s mind each day.
These are all things I might not get in the next few months. It have grown up with the Rocky. It has taken me through 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina. It has guided me during two Broncos Super Bowls and the memorable Rocktober.
I implore anyone with the means to take a long look at purchasing the Rocky. I know times are tough, but there are so many people who rely on this great publication.
Whatever happens, I thank the Rocky Mountain News for years of quality journalism.
I was fortunate to be exposed to journalism at an early age by an Aunt, who practiced that art and skill in Southwestern Oklahoma. She taught me the value of the written word, and as a result I have been a life long newspaper “adict”. She first exposed me to the Rocky in the early 50’s. As a child I learned the importance of newspapers.
Shortly after retiring, my wife and I moved to Colorado in 2006, and along with hooking up utilities, registering to vote, and buying a snow shovel, subscribing to the Rocky was an important and even urgent step toward establishing residency in Colorado.
I greatly enjoy the Rocky, and appreciate the role it plays in keeping citizens informed. It’s coverage of news and its editorial contributions all are important to me, and all that can be done to protect the First Amendment of the Constituion (Freedom of Speech) should be strongly supported. I consider the diversity of the written word and newspapers to be vital to protecting that freedom.
Keep the Rocky.
How about subscribing to the Rocky at various levels like folks do to support public radio? I’d happpily give up my Netflix subscription and pay $30 or $40 per month to keep the print edition coming. I bet lots of folks would do that.
Why not find out? How about running a page in the print edition asking folks what they’d be willing to pay to keep the Rocky coming. Maybe the math wouldn’t work, but wouldn’t it be worth a shot? I’d volunteer to work a phone bank.
Even when my wife and I lived in Fruita for a few years we subscribed to the Rocky. We begin our days passing the sections back and forth over coffee, commenting on the news, and working our favorite puzzles. I can’t imagine doing that on the computer. Too cold and too hard on the old eyes.
And the Rocky is much the superior paper compared to the Post. I could go on and on, but…Best wishes to all of you. Thanks for all the hard work and great reporting. Can’t imagine not having you around.
A Denver native, I have read (had read to me early) to the Rocky for 69 and a half years. My folks held up the front page headline that FDR had died. I remember the end of the war, Korea, 50’s, turmoil of the 60’s, rise and fall and rise again of Russia, and on and on.
We need the Rocky for the continuity and community for Denver and Colorado. Isolated news items from the Internet lack this cohesiveness. Losing the Rocky would seriously weaken our community of feeling. It is more than just the news.
The Rocky is very well published, with great layouts, compelling headlines, wonderful photography, good series’, and creatively designed. The tabloid format is most comfortable.
I follow the world and Colorado daily. I can scan all the pages of the paper Rocky much faster than reviewing the Web site, although I follow it as well.
I HEREBY OFFER TO SUBSCRIBE TO AN ON-LINE VERSION FOR THE SAME RATE AS THE PAPER EDITION, OR SOMEWHAT MORE FOR BOTH.
I subscribe online to the Wall Street Journal for about 60 percent of the paper edition.
Please let me know how I can help.
If the worst should happen, I won’t subscribe to the Post… guess I’ll get my news on-line and on TV. I never cared about right/left, conservative/liberal slants; I just loved the tabloid format. And the comics. And the Dig section, spring and summer. I want my Rocky.
I’m in the camp that says the Rocky needs to stay.
But I have to apologize on behalf of all of humanity for all the people giving you crap about ‘biased’ reporting. I mean I know there were a lot of horrible commenters on the Rocky site before, but it’s like these guys are just crawling out of the woodwork! And they couldn’t be more wrong. There are like 5 liberal voices in a sea of 50 conservatives at the paper, and somehow that’s the reason the newspaper is closing Then why the HELL didn’t the Post close first, idiots? It’s ad revenue, plain and simple! Gah, it’s driving me nuts that so many idiots can be so, so wrong.
The poison pill in the death-delaying Post-preferred JOA must be counteracted with an antidote that frees the Rocky. I would hope the paper and much of its staff can be resurrected in a new deal in which it has the chance to compete on a more level playing field. What percentage of revenue from jointly sold ads goes to the smaller-sized “broadsheet” with a smaller circulation? And what percentage of the operating costs for the new printing plant and office space is the Rocky paying? Let Dean whistle as he’s chauffered past the graveyard. And let the Rocky rise in a new way. Good Luck!
Lived all my life in Denver. I used to help deliver the Rocky when I was in my teens. My grandparents used to only read the Rocky because of Gene Amole. I hope the Rocky gets saved. Denver needs it. It’s an institution, not just a business. It’s part of the fabric of Denver. Save the Rocky!
I can’t imagine Denver without the Rocky. OK, so I don’t read it everyday. But on the days I do, I look forward to all the wonderful writers/reporters the Rocky calls their own.
There isn’t better journalism in this state.
I learned to read with the Rocky. Over the years, not a day goes by that I don’t get totally upset with Mike, Tina and other Rocky columnists-but, I wouldn’t miss a single day! The Rocky (thank you, Lynn Bartels) accurately reported on a very, very serious accident involving my former company-the accident scene was on the front page the following day, much to our dismay. Years later, the Rocky again reported accurately on the sale of that same company, which was founded in Denver in 1886 by my great-great-great uncle. In 2004, the Rocky, once again, did a lovely job on an obituary for my father, James A. Duffy, who died in March of that year. The Rocky has been a member of our family since Day One. I just can’t stand the thought of starting my day without The Rocky Mountain News.
Kathleen
I had a paper subscription to the Rocky for 40 years, and recently quit for the online paper because of the stale news and environmental issues with paper. When I called to cancel I was talked into subscribing to the online edition for $2.50 month. The online edition is a joke. It’s a pdf basically of the actual paper but it can’t be enlarged enough to read for older eyes, and it’s very cumbersome and user UNfriendly. I don’t get a reminder email every day with a link so I often forget to read it and go to the free edition anyway. When I tried to comment about these things, I got back a very snotty, well that’s the way it is – pfft. They refused to send a reminding email daily. Kind of cuts the nose off the spite the face. So I’m canceling that too. The FREE edition doesn’t leave anything out except all the ads, so why pay? Make the subscription online edition have some interactivity, readability and extras and I’ll reconsider. I would even pay more than $2.50 a month. Still, I’m sorry to see you go Rocky, I always liked the tone and content as well as the format of the paper. But logically, you need to re-engineer yourselves for this day and age.
a few of the commenters here ASSUME that denver will end up a “one newspaper city”, i differ.
denver, like many cities, will be a NO newspaper city in the very near future (2 years?).
it’s the “paper” part that goes away while the “news” part lives on.
good luck on your adaptation.
I am a Denver native and grew up reading the Rocky Mtn News. I know there has been been great debate about the format & size of the 2 papers over the years. I am one that reads it every day because of the smaller size. I do not fully understand the connection of the Rocky & Post, but I only tolorate the Post format on Sundays because its the only option. I will be asking for a full refund of my unused subsription for the Rocky if it closes down. I dont know if the Post thinks they will pick up the Rocky’s business, but in my case and in my friends opinons they could lose more readers than they will gain. I will support my local papers and get my news from other sources and give up the Post on weekdays and Sundays.
Thank you for letting me post.
Good Luck Rocky and thank’s Littin!
I live in Washington, DC, and read the Rocky online for news of what is going on in Colorado. The Rocky is great, and I would be sad to lose it. Having two competing papers really improves both of them too.
I truly hope the Rocky finds a new owner so the journalistic integrity it has had for years will continue to thrive. Long live the Rocky!
I love the Rocky just because it is “compact.” I don’t have to unfold it 10 times to read it. Very convenient! And I love Win, Lose, or Drew. I will never subscribe to the Post or read it online.
I can’t imagine not having my Rocky to read every morning. It fits nicely on my desk and I feel it is more readable than the Post. When my mother was alive, she would get so upset that television news suggested going to their website to get the rest of the story. Like a lot of older people she did not have a computer, but she did have her Rocky.
I want my Rocky!
Back in the day when the Post was the afternoon paper, my family subscribed to both papers. Then the Post decided to become a morning paper, and we became a Rocky Mountain News family. As a public relations professional, I now read both papers, but I’ve always preferred the Rocky. It’s better written. The photos are better. The stories actually come out of Denver instead of a wire service.
I admit that I now read the paper online most of the time. I’m part of the problem–I only subscribe on the weekends.
If the Rocky dies, I am worried about the state of free-flowing information in our city and state. Two papers have always meant that reporters at both papers have to work hard not to be scooped. The spirit of competition has made for a more diverse news environment, especially nowadays as TV news is more focused on crime, celeb news, weather and sports than anything legitimate or even interesting.
I know the newspaper is a dying breed. I’ll be sad to see the Rocky go, if it does go. Hopefully the great voices the paper employs will find new avenues for speaking.
I wouldn’t know what to do without the Rocky Mountain News! There has been a Rocky Mountain News in my life every single day I’ve been on this earth. And I’m 55 years old! My parents subscribed to it, and my husband and I subscribed the first thing after we were married. There has to be a way to save the most historical newspaper in Colorado!
Boy, the idea of not having the RMN any longer is a real bummer. I am a fourth generation native so I grew up on the Rocky Mountain News and so did my daughter. When I moved away from Colorado after college I soon found out that most papers across the country were the larger version such as the Post which I never liked at all. Even though it has become smaller over the years I look forward to my daily RMN and have subscribed for over 40 years. I WOULD NOT subscribe to the Post nor allow the balance of my subscription to transfer to that paper. I would rather do without any paper then do that. I pray that something will happen and that we won’t loose OUR wonderful Rocky Mountain New.
I’ve lived in Denver since 1975. The Rocky is not just a paper, it’s a part of Colorado. Its headlines have announced peices of history over and over through the decades of my readership. I can’t imagine life without the Rocky Mountain News. Save our paper!
I have gotten the Rocky for years and that is the only paper I like. If the Rocky stops I will not have a newpaper in my house. So sad. I like the size, the local news, the commits. I like everything about the Rocky. What will I read as I eat my breakfast?
When i was a little girl in the 60’s, we never called it the Rocky. It was “the morning paper.” The Post was “the evening paper.” My dear grandfather was a news hound and subscribed to both papers. He and my grandmother read them from cover to cover, a habit I gained thanks to them. My grandfather expected me to read the news every day, and would quiz me about events when I visited after school. I read the Rocky more than the Post because of the Rocky’s tabloid format. You didn’t have to take the paper apart to absorb the information (in those days the sports and comics were not separate sections). If I read the Post, my grandfather would require that I put it back together before returning it to him. In the ’80s John Coit was a tremendous columnist. I still have a book of his columns somewhere, and also enjoyed Gene Amole. The possible loss of the Rocky would hurt because of my lifetime remembrances and associations with my wonderful grandparents.
I canceled the Post in 1968 after they falsified a story in my presence, and refused to retract. (It was about a disturbance at an anti-busing rally, which the Post reporter planned)
Keep the Rocky, can the Post.
I have read the Rocky MTN News since moving to Colorado 27 years ago. I like its format better than the Post. I can read it on the bus much easier than the post. I subscribe to the Rocky at this time and if it is not published any longer I will not be turing to the Post. I do not have a computer at home and can only access a limited area on my work computer. I wished that the two papers never merged together, I think then the Rocky would not be for sale, but the Post would be the one closing.
The Rocky is the spirit of Denver. Please save our beloved newpaper.
Please consider cutting the very high advertising rates in order to bring in more income.
Also eliminate the requirement where if you subscribe to both papers, that you will get 2 copies of each paper on the weekend. (2 Rocky on Sat and 2 Post on Sun).
Another idea would be for the Rocky to become a news website and eliminate the newspaper side of the house. Still charge advertisers. You have the name recognition and could keep all the great columns and coverage, just become news organization rather than trying to remain a news “paper”.
But do what ever you can to save the Rocky.
NoNONONO, don’t let the Rocky go! It is an important part of living in Colorado, with grea and balanced reporting, which the other paper lacks. I value the columns and wonderful photos, and am praying for that buyer to step up to the plate and preserve this valuable part of our local history.
As far as we’re concerned, Denver only has one paper – the Rocky. The Post is consistently liberal, makes little attempt to present a balanced view, and seems to have no sense of Denver’s rich and storied history.
We’ve read the Rocky every day since moving to Denver in 1992. Chris’ political philosophy is center-left. Mary’s is center-right. We have both read newspapers from other cities where we have lived. In no other paper have we ever found such consistently balanced views of both sides of major issues. A few weeks after the JOA went into effect, Mary stopped reading most of the Sunday paper (i.e. the Post), because it was a waste of time.
Neither of us wants to subscribe to the Post. If the Rocky folds, we will probably subscribe to a national newspaper. We’ve been discussing how to get our local news, but not really finding any answers.
Save the Rocky!
That the Rocky has a strong reader base can’t be denied, but the few comments above that raise questions about the current financial circumstance and a business model going forward are telling. Denver isn’t unique by any stretch. Newspapers and print media in general are heading into dark territory that will soon see seismic shifts in how news is reported and edited. We can only hope that the craft doesn’t sink to the level of the disgruntled blogger.
Can’t Colorado give up something else instead? Perhaps if we offer the gods something like DRCOG or Casa Bonita, they’ll be appeased a go away. I promise to read every ad, classifieds, too, if we get to keep the paper. Honest.
I love my Rocky! I have taken the Rocky since I moved to Colorado in 1971. It took my a little while to get used to the format, but now, and for many years, I love it. The writing is great, everything is great. I would be so sad without it. I have three subscriptions – home, on line and second home. While the internet is great, there is nothing like flipping through a hard copy newspaper!
i have been a subscriber to the “rocky” for many years. It is easy to handle and easy to read in a restaurant or close quarters area. As far as I’m concerned, you can do away with the Denver Post and keep the “ROCKY”. My family was in the restaurant business here in Denver for 50 years. I don’t know what we would have done without the “ROCKY”! SAVE THE ROCKY!!!!
I was devastated when I opened the paper last week and read the terrible news about the Rocky going up for sale, with the potential for shut down if it didn’t sell. I moved to CO in 1980, and first subscribed to the Rocky. I had no idea how attached I would become. I get up an extra half hour early every morning so I can get my news fix before leaving for work. I cried when Gene Amole and Greg Lopez died–they were as dear as family members, and I knew I’d miss them terribly. Kevin Vaughn’s series’ The Crossing and The Crevasse demanded my attention and brought me close to the grief of all the families involved. I would miss the Rocky beyond measure should it be forced to close.
We have been getting the Rocky for years,can not recall how long, and do not want to see it go. It’s so nice to be able to put this paper on the table and be able to read it, don’t care about the weekend paper, too big: And another thing is that on the T V News, they all ways say go too their web site for the story, we just wait till morning and read it in the Rocky Mountain News. We pray for some one to keep our paper going:
I have subscribed to the RMN since I moved here in 1974. I really enjoy reading it with breakfast, can’t do that with the online version.If the Rocky goes, so do I.I don’t care for the Post like some of the posters on here say they “hate” it I just much prefer the RMN-always have/always will.I will not subscribe to the Post or the online version.I happen to think that having two major papers in a large town is a good thing as far as competition/different political views etc.Please, someone with deep pockets come to the rescue of this great newspaper.
I learned how to read from reading the Rocky and have been reading ever since. It’s by far the better Denver paper (and one of the best in the country in my opinion) in terms of great writers and relevant, accurate reporting. The Rocky is second to none in conveniently readable format. I couldn’t imagine not being able to read ol’ Ringolsby and the rest on a regular basis. I currently have a discounted college student print subscription, but I am more than willing to pay the current full price or above for a subscription if it means I can keep the print edition coming every morning. My student fees have paid for the Post, the NY Times and the USA Today, but I gladly pay extra for the quality and format of the Rocky.
I hate to see any decent paper get deep sixed, let alone a great one like the Rocky. Keep the Rocky alive!
Newspaper is in my blood. My dad was a linotype operator, proofreader and finally an International Typographical Union representative. Though he passed last year, he would be greatly saddened by the threat of print medium falling to the wayside. The Rocky is very much intertwined in my life. I am a daily reader (even though I hate Saturday’s larger format). Getting up on Sunday morning and nestling in with a cup of coffee and the newspaper is one of life’s underrated pleasures. I agree with the others regarding the Post….I will not become a subscriber!
This is the ONLY paper on the front range worth reading. Sundays often don’t even get cracked open. Won’t be reading a newspaper if the Rocky goes. Hope, hope hope it survives!
I am working on getting transferred to an office my company has in Englewood. I hope to do this by early January at the latest. I have been researching the Denver area, neighborhoods, restaurant scene, outdoor activities, etc. One thing my parents taught me (we moved a lot when I was young) was that when you move to a new city one of the first things to do after establishing utility service was to subscribe to the local paper. It was important to learn how your community operated and what was going on. I am reading the online edition every day. In my current research of all things Denver I have decided that I want to subscribe to the Rocky when I get to town. I also like the history I have learned goes with it. I have also compared it to the Post and like the content and style of the Rocky better, so I will simply ask that you do not let this paper die. Please do everything possible to keep it printed.
When my family moved here from Louisiana, we loved the mountains and the people. My father subscribed to both the Post and the News and I became interested in the News as it was easier to read. The year was 1957 and we enjoyed going to places that the News recommended and found new places to visit. I met the man I later married and discovered the RMN around the same time. We were married in late 1958 and one of the first things I did was order the Rocky Mountain News to be delivered. Since then I have used the Classifies for “looking for a pet, looking and advertising for garage sales, and looking for cars and homes available. We have enjoyed the News in our home for 51 years, and while the Post has always been available to us, we like the size and setup the News has always had. Please, I enjoyed you for 51 years, I really want to enjoy you much longer. I enjoy drinking my coffee and reading the items. Please stay around. You have been a guide and companion for 51 years. Thank you Del.
It would really be sad to loose the RMN. I’ve lived in Denver for 20 years…and I have read to it for those twenty years. Way better news both local, national, and international that the small town Ohio paper I grew up with!
PLUS!!! The RMN Funnies are WAY BETTER than the Post Funnies!
If the paper cannot make it, how bout just an online version of it. I would pay to subscribe to the Rocky online. That would be one way to stay open cut printing costs and stick to Singleton.
In a perfect world, all news outlets would attempt to stay neutral like CQ, National Journal, and The Hill. There wouldn’t be liberal or conservative papers (or radio and television stations, for that matter). They would refrain from endorsing candidates and they would balance editorials with opposing views.
At the very least, papers would self-police their news pages to keep them as free from bias and as completely separate from the editorial pages as possible.
Unfortunately, that’s not the world we live in, and journalists have never been more perfect than the world around them.
Which is why the citizens of Colorado are luckier than the residents of many areas. They have a major paper that leans a bit to the left (The Post) and another that leans a little to the right (The Rocky). Fortunately, they are not insanely liberal or conservative such as the Washington Post and Washington Times, and – for the most part – they do balance each other out.
So until the journalism world becomes what it has never been before, Denver is best served by having two competing newspapers with different views of the world. Let’s hope it stays that way. Let’s hope the Rocky survives.
I cannot imagine starting my morning without the Rocky Mountain News. I have read the Rocky for more than 40 years, usually cover to cover. It has the best cartoonists in the business, namely, Ed Stein and Drew Litton. Bill Johnson’s and Mike Littwin’s columns are must reads. The other paper’s comics and size are awful compared to the Rocky. Please, please someone keep the best Denver newspaper alive.
I have been a reader of the Rocky Mountain News since 1970. I enjoy reading the news and I do the crossword puzzle every day. I would miss the Rocky if it went away. It is not the same as reading it on the Web. I do not like the Denver Post.
Thanks to all who work so hard to put out an outstanding paper each and every day.
Penny
For over 30 years I have looked forward to reading the Rocky. I have enjoyed reading it ( except for Griego’s condoning of her illegal Mexican lawbreakers and Mexican criminals entering our country).
Maybe Uncle George can bail out the Rocky too!!!
The Rocky Mtn news is my first choice.
I don’t like the size and shape of the other paper.
KEEP the Rocky going, or I will stop buying any Denver paper from now on.
The Rocky needs to understand that 32 pages of sports coverage in a 50 page newpaper does not a newspaper make. One edition featured Carmelo in a full page – front page photo, a lengthy story on said subject, followed by a Sports section, and the ever-present seasonal sports insert. Does it ever occurr to you that some Denverites are not quite so obsessed with small round objects as you seem to be?
Upon recieving news that ‘The Rocky’ (My Rocky) may have to close it’s doors as early as Janurary, I felt as if a family member or friend of mines was on their death bed and needed my prayers.
I’ve grown up knowing nothing but The Rocky Mountain News being one of the premier news and media outlets in the city. I remember cutting out articles and pictures for classroom projects and book reports as a child from this newspaper. I am preserving some of my most precious memories with dozens of articles and clippings covered by ‘The Rocky’ about the most blessed times in my life, and also the most tragic.
Even as the ececutive director of a small nonprofit, The Rocky Mountain News was the first major media and news outlet in the state to give us the positive messaging venue that we needed to get our mission and goals accross to the public. ‘The Rocky’ has always been a GOD send to our organization and our community events that recognize and organize the people of this great city to come together. I can honestly boast that many community advocates have been able to save countless lives in this city over the years because of the messaging support that the RMN has given to our causes.
This city was founded and became a major transportation hub of the Front Range because of the support and pull of The Rocky Mountain News. Had it not been for the RMN the Democratic National Convention, which brought a quarter of a Billion dollars into our economy this summer, may have been in Cheyennne, which was slated to be the next transportation hub of the region before Union Station was opened in 1880. This city would have never become what it is, and maybe, just maybe through a twist of fate, my of us locals would have never existed had this ‘Cow Town’ never had the growth it experienced and our anicstors had never arrived here.
To Tina Griego, Dave Krieger, Bill Johnson, Bill Scanlon, Myung Oak Kim, and many others who have helped with our community work at RMN, Thank You! No matter what we will all owe you a deep amount of gratitude and respect for your deication to this city and the people who live here. I pray that we can continue to be one of only a few major cities in this country with TWO major media and newspaper outlets doing the daily reporting. We all need to help ‘The Rocky’ be the Rocky Balboa of newspapers. Our city needs that!
Since hearing the news of the newspaper’s possible demise I can’t stop thinking about how my father would have reacted. I can see him sitting at his old desk in the old newsroom staring ahead in disbelief. It would have broken his heart. I can remember him retrieving the Rocky from the porch each morning when I was a child. He would look it over and then sit with me and read the comics. Nancy and Sluggo was my favorite. As I got older, he would show me how to read the words and before I started school, I could pick out words inside the cartoon balloons.
From then on I read of every major historical event in it’s pages; the Bay of Pigs, the assassinations of JFK and MLK, the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, the Watts riots and on and on. And finally, the front page the day after my father died. I still have that one. I think of my father every day and miss him terribly, but I can honestly say I’m glad he didn’t live to see this. In the months before he died, the one thing that kept him going as long as he did was thinking about what to write in his column. He sometimes struggled with what to write three times a week, but when faced with dying, he wrote nearly every day. Without the Rocky Mountain News, his life would have been several months shorter and much less rich. Without the voices of the Rocky Mountain News, all of our lives will be a little less rich. I’m keeping my ear to the ground hoping to hear the calvary.
When I left Atlanta 20 years ago to move here I was happy to be coming to a two-newspaper town. The one I left has since fallen into the one newspaper category and is the poorer for the lack of a second voice. Hang in there, Rocky.
Please continue printing the Rocky Mountain News.
It is invaluable to our region.
Consider five other actions to take instead:
Sell any real estate holdings and do not lease office space.
Work from virtual offices. Work remotely via a PC.
Increase the commercial printing business.
Increase features on/revenue from the website.
Buy a local TV station and a local radio station to bolster the bottom line.
Look at how the grassroots movement worked for Obama. May you succeed in getting that same energy harnessed to save the Rocky! It wouldn’t be Colorado without it! My ancestors read it as did my more recent relatives. I was thrilled to find an historic article about my great-grandfather who was in a fatal shoot-out in 1890 in the Rocky of the time and it was fantastic. After years of searching for more info, there it was, in your archives; complete corroboration of my dad’s old stories!!Good luck and thanks for being there!!
I grew up in a Post family, but switched to the Rocky once I was out on my own. Always preferred the tabloid format. The ‘rents still subscribe to the Post, but I miss my Rocky when I’m spending a few days at their Aurora home. Money talks, and I’m wondering how much subscription rates would have to increase to compensate for the lost ad revenue. I think it’s an incredible bargain, and would be willing to pay twice as much to keep it, even if I can eventually wean myself from home delivery to the web version. Anyway, the Rocky Rocks!
I love the Rocky! It is and has always been the only decent paper in the area. The Pest (Post) is nothing but the local point of spew for the Scripps point of view. They are far to liberal for those of us who grew up here and understand that Colorado is not the liberal suck hole that they would like it to be at the Scripps mother ship. We need a second voice, a better voice in Denver. Long live the Rocky!
I have started my day with the Rocky for the past 34 years. Even though we buy both papers. I always read the Rocky and skim through the Post last. The Spotlight section is always first. The Rocky has always had the best comics. Then, there are the columnists; I really enjoy Drew Littwin. He probably comes the closest to wearing Gene Amole’s mantle. There is just something personal and “family” about the Rocky. I like the way Jean Torkelson covers religion. I want my Rocky.
I delivered the Rocky as a boy and read it for many years. I quit reading it and stopped my subscription about five years ago because I was starting every day angry after reading the biased-to-the-left reporting. Why don’t you try a format similar to Fox News? Keep the liberals you have on staff but add some conservative viewpoint. You have Littwin. Why not add Rush Limbaugh or Shaun Hannity. What have you got to lose at this point?
Don’t Stop The Presses!
Can you imagine, if Denver had only one newspaper!
Only ONE side of the story!
We need to keep the Rocky going, not just because that is what I enjoy reading, but competition really does improve quality. One paper can become one sided as well as see drastic diminishes in quality when they have no one to compete against.
Keep the Rocky going….in the long run quality and Colorado will pay!
I subscribe to 3 newspapers & can’t imagine any of them just folding up. The Rocky is among them. All 4 of us in my family read the newspaper, from the columnists to the funny pages.
I’ve written to some of the columnists such as the scintillating Tina Griego. I really admire the dead-on commentary and sly humor of Mike Litwin. Your news photography is outstanding, particularly the powerful series Todd Heisler shot on the return of the deceased Marine and the grief of his young widow.
This sort of newspaper work can’t just be allowed to “go away.”
Thornton John
I have been reading the Rocky Mountain news since I was 16 years old. I read it everyday and I dont want to stop reading it. I do not want to see the actual paper to go down because of it will take away so many jobs if the paper is no longer.
First: The Rocky has been going south since the 2 papers semi-merged. It used to be a newspaper that reported the news. Now, even “new stories” have a liberal slant. Liberals have 99% of the newspapers and television media in their control. I used to love reading the Rocky because it wasn’t in “their” control. Now it is.
Second: Living on the western part of Colorado means we do not get the paper until around 12:00 noon. What makes it worse is that the only news stories in the paper are 24 hours old. Anything after about 4:00PM takes 2 days to reach us because the printing is already taking place. You people around Denver and the Front Range don’t understand that. They use our location as their reasoning for printing the Rocky earlier. They say they have to get it to us. We still don’t get it in an acceptible time and the stories are old.
Third: We are traditionally conservative on the western part of the state and more Denver Posts are available than Rocky’s. I am quite often the first one to get a paper when they arrive from a paper dispenser (around lunch time). They put 2 or 3 papers in the machine. The same guy stuffs the Post machine. The next morning there are still plenty of “old” Posts and ZERO Rocky’s.
Get the looney liberals out of running the business and it can FLOURISH again.
Someone buy this paper. Ignore all of the other posts except mine and you the Rocky can succeed.
Please save the Rocky!!! I prefer the format and I read it every day to confirm and find out more details about the stories that the TV news leaves out. Been a subscriber for 43 years and I can’t bear the thought of living without it!!!
Anyone can take news from the AP and publish them. Your stories are days behind and the local news reporting is lame. Also your actual stories are factless and opinions only. Just because a story is in your paper doesn’t mean it is 100% right. Get a clue. Should have sold a long time ago. Goodbye, good riddance and we wont miss you!
I was saddened to read about the Scripps decision about The Rocky yesterday.
But your editorial in today’s Rocky about loyalty hit home with me.
You might use me as an example of that loyalty when you talk to prospective purchasers.
I have been reading The Rocky since I was first able to read in about 1952. I have spent some years out of state, and whenever I could find The Rocky at a newsstand, I would purchase it wherever I was. I am unable to purchase The Rocky here in New Mexico, so I do the very best next thing and subscribe to the online edition. I read no other newspaper, and cringe when I have to print a legal notice for my business in the local newspaper.
Perhaps you could take a lead from some other news media and try to publish strictly online, thus allowing for some substantial savings in operating expenses. I would pay more money for The Rocky online publication, as long as the format remained fairly consistent with the current format.
I have always liked The Rocky, even when I disagreed with it. It is far more balanced than your sister publication at the Denver Newspaper Agency.
Guys guys guys — I can’t tell you how many about-to-be-freelance journalists come to me with fedora in hand. But most have the good sense to tell me to whom to make the check payable — I have no earthly idea what the E.W. stands for. (Erstwhile Writers?)
Onward, I say, through the fog!
This is the same newspaper that took a cowardly way out of endorsing a president one month ago.
I have been reading the Rocky since the mid 50s. Internet just doesn’t cut it. I get all kinds of news and not just what I think of wanting to read. I am much more informed than if I just search for what I want to know about. The Rocky is a vital part of my morning routine and arms me for discussions I have during the day. I love it’s format, I don’t have to clear half the table to read it. I am a big fan of the comics and wuzzles. We will be much poorer without the Rocky Mountain News.
Beyond the fact that I prefer to read the Rocky for its content and tabloid-layout, I will miss the Rocky because it brought competition to this market’s journalism. With only one legitimate city paper, this city will only continue to get less and less insight into the complex world of news, politics, sports, business and entertainment.
I know we all love the print version, but what about doing what the two Detroit newspapers did, and going online-only or online + Saturdays only?
The first thing I do each day is retrieve my Rocky from the driveway and then start my day with breakfast and the paper. I usually do the crossword puzzle after reading what I choose from the news, and then move forward to the rest of the day. Would miss the Rocky big time! Can’t eat at my computer so I appreciate the paper version. Thanks! I hope you can keep it coming.
I want my Rocky! I started delivering the RMN when I was 8 years old as a way to make a bit of money. I had a route with 30 subsribers. Come 5:30 a.m., every day, my stack of papers would be on my parent’s front porch. I’d fold, organize and head out on my route each and every morning (except Sundays, my Mom would drive me on Sundays — what a Mom!). I would read the RMN after my route was done, before heading to school, just like my Mom and Dad did each morning. Years later, home from college for a summer, I took another job delivering for the RMN. Times had changed, routes had grown, but the job was as good as ever. Ever since starting my career, I take the RMN with me to work each day. I love the RMN, love the layout, the contributors, the editors, the snapshot of CO you get every morning in the RMN. I’d buy it myself and run it with my brothers if we had the money, I’m just hoping someone else has the same great idea. p.s. Ringlesby is the best sports writer EVER!
The first thing I do each day is retrieve the Rocky from the driveway. Then it’s breakfast with the paper. Can’t eat at my computer, so I appreciate the paper version. Would miss it big time, if it folds. I hope you can keep it coming!
Throughout my entire adult life, the Rocky Mountain News has been to me the most readable paper I’ve ever encountered. The format and layout are concise and convenient, the sections are organized in a way that makes sense (rare for newspapers) and the editorial quality is the best in the west. It also has the lowest incidence rate for inappropriate apostrophes ( ’s does not mean plural, people!) in any local newspaper I’ve read, anywhere. I’ve read newspapers in many states and Colorado has every right to be proud of the Rocky. It’s a Colorado treasure.
I do not live in Colorado, and the only part of the Rocky I read is the Broncos section – especially Legwold’s writings. I cannot imagine the Rocky’s Bronco section gone from us Bronco junkies. Hopefully some body with some big bucks and the ability to take this paper and make it profitable and competitive to the DP will come to the rescue.
I have subscribed and read the Rocky Mountain News since my freshman year at Colorado State, which is now (…shudder…) 20 years. I have read the Rocky on the day I graduated from college, the day I got my first real job, the day I bought my first car, my first stereo, the day I met my wife, the day I married my wife, the day we bought our home together, the day the towers fell, the day my son was born, the day we celebrated our 10th anniversary, the day Barack Obama won the election…It is part of my life, part of my history and if it goes away, I will miss it terribly!
I have been a long time subscriber of RMN and always enjoyed reading it. As a family, we would all read the paper together and discuss the current issues, still do this today. Every morning before I get ready for work, I sit down with a little breakfast and the newspaper. On weekends, I dust off the coffee pot and have a cup of coffee while going through the paper, ads, coupons. I love the layout of the paper, the journalists and their fabulous writing. It would be a very sad day in our history if we lost such an wonderful form of information.
The rocky was the first paper in colorado
and Has always been the best paper…….
I LOVE the Spotlight section–the best comics and features. What about Dedrick’s beer column? We can’t do without that! And the Rocky has the best sports coverage in town.
I WANT MY ROCKY!
I am so sad about what is going on with the Rocky. I cannot imagine not having my Rocky in the morning. I love to read my newspaper. I can remember reading the Rocky in school. I hope my kids (ages 5 and 1) will have that same oppertunity. The Rocky is apart of Denver, our history. Something needs to be done to save this newspaper. I am willing to even pay more. I am sure other people feel the same way. Please do what ever it takes to keep the Rocky going. It will be too big of a loss.
Personally, I don’t care if the RMN goes.
Make sure and delete this post, RMN censors here. I love how all the comments are 100 percent positive for the RMN.
Freedom of the press and all.
I reside in Teller County. The only daily newspaper in my area, The Gazette, is limited in its scope and leans heavily toward the right. I rely on the Rocky Mountain News for unbiased, in-depth coverage of state, national, and international news. To lose this readable and very reliable source of information would do a grave disservice not only to the metropolitan Denver area and its surrounds, but indeed, to the entire state of Colorado. In my opinion, it is the most trusted news source in the state, and one that should not, must not succumb to financial pressures.
I have literally been obsessing over this news since it was first announced. I moved to Denver to finish journalism school in 2002 from another two newspaper town, Minneapolis – St. Paul. While both of those papers theoretically cover different sides of the river, they still compete like hell on the big stories around the Twin Cities and that competition makes for damn good journalism.
If the Rocky disappears from Colorado, a small piece of our freedom, a small piece of democracy goes with it. The press, along with the rest of the rights granted under the First Amendment, are the cornerstone of a thriving democracy. Competition among news outlets to get the best story, the one detail that the competition missed, drives each and every reporter to dig as deep as possible to get the truth and ensures that the American people are able to make informed decisions.
In school, I was fortunate to take classes taught by a number of the Rocky’s editors and reporters, along with editors and reporters from the Post. Even though I went into PR rather than news, I can tell you that if it weren’t for the Rocky, Post and other local papers competing with each other; and the willingness by the staff of both to help a new generation learn the craft, I would not be nearly as fortunate in my career as I am today. I remember interning at a suburban daily just outside Denver praying one day I’d get the “scoop” on the two major dailies – and again, that competition only serves to make everything better.
I cannot imagine living in Denver without the Rocky and will happily do what I can to help it succeed. To the reporters, editors and photographers at the Rocky – you are all class acts, even the columnists I disagree with who make me curse first thing in the morning.
When I moved to Colorado 20 years ago, I picked up both the Post and Rocky at a news stand to chose which I’d like best. The Rocky won, hands down. I have subscribed ever since. Seeing the paper end would truly break my heart.
As sad as this seems, times are changing, and the old ways are not the way people get the news anymore. I have contacts in the Rocky, and even they say the Rocky has not be progressive enough to keep up with the technology.
My recommendation is if the Rockly wants it to work in the future, concentrate on innovative online features. Make sure the internet and paper compliment each other. More streaming video on the website would help a ton, for ads as well as features.
Good Luck Guys, it would be a shame to see you go, as the Rocky is far superior to the Post.
I’ve been a Rocky subscriber for over 40 years now. I don’t like the online version and don’t care for the Post. This city really needs both papers for the diversity of opinions, politics and the competition. If the Post gets to be a print monoply, I see the price going way up because there won’t be any competition.The public and advertisers are going to lose big time.
SAVE OUR ROCKY PLEASE!
I LOVE my Rocky! I WANT my Rocky! I NEED my Rocky!
I love the format, the journalists, the columnists, the Spotlight, you name it…I love it! I hated when the 2 papers merged, but it was what it was. I hate that you need 4 hands to read the Post, but love the RMN format.
Just my size and just right for my dog to fetch from the driveway.
I live in Oklahoma but have traveled in Colorado extensively the past 10 years. When in Colorado, I always pick up a Rocky. It is a wonderful newspaper that needs preserving. Readers beware. I’m a newspaper reporter, myself, in Tulsa.
When the city loses a voice, the city and its readership suffers.
I used to work for the Rocky (before the merger) and I am sad to hear that it may be folding. While I’m sad for the people who will be out of work, I wonder if it’s time to face the facts – people read their news online now and newspapers are old-fashioned. Why wait for that newspaper to hit your front door mat, when you can fire up the laptop and find exactly what you seek? I haven’t picked up a newspaper in probably 7 years. The talented folks at the Rocky will find another outlet for their work, probably in the online arena.
Have been reading the News for 20 years and it is a part of each day for me. Where are we going tot get the best comics found anywhere and the best columns, op-ed and editorial writers in Denver.
It msay sound crazy, but the Rocky should increase it’s subscription rates by twice to cover for the loss in advertising. I think people that really enjoy the paper would gladly pay the increase as it still would be cheap and people who buy the paper to line the bird cage will not be missed anyway.
I grew up with the Rocky in the 1940s. As a lad I delivered the Rocky for over 5 years (up at 4:30AM, an old bicycle and two bags filled with papers 365 days a year, and my paper route paid for all my school clothes). Delivering the Rocky taught me about reliability and thrift, and reading the Rocky taught me about the world. I subscribe to both papers (no choice), but it’s the Rocky that I read. I sincerely hope that the Rocky can stay and prosper.
All my adult life I have set the alarm an hour earlier than necessary. Why would someone lose an hour of sleep every work day? I do it so I can start my day smarter, wiser, and hopefully, with a smile. I awake, start the coffee, feed the pets and settle down in the nook with a cup of coffee and the Rocky Mountain News. The RMN fits my nook table. It’s bothersome on the weekends these days to wrestle with the different format, but I don’t worry, because I’ve always known that it would fit my table again on Monday.
Now how in the world does someone do that routine, minus the paper? It is just a foreign concept to wake up, start the coffee, feed the pets and turn on the computer??? There’s something almost unAmerican about that version of my morning!
How can the rest of my day go if I don’t have Littwin, Griego or Johnson to read. I have to admit that I don’t read the entire sports section, but I read enough to know that I appreciate Krieger’s take on the ups and downs of the Broncos. I peruse Vincent Carroll, but don’t take his views to heart. I savor all of it before turning to the comics. By the way, when I moved back home in the ’70’s I started with the RMN because you carried Doonesbury. I stick with the RMN now for so much more, but if you had ever dropped Doonesbury, I would have had a decision to make!
I ran into Mike Littwin one day shortly after the new format had started. I cried out in dismay that they had moved him to the back and he had some kind of witty come-back. You know what, Mike, Tina and Bill? I like the placement now. It’s saving the best ’til last.
So, how can we save this institution, this connection to the community and the state? I hope E.W. Scripps is monitoring this site to see how many loyal readers there are and will reconsider shutting the RMN down if there is no cavalry riding to the rescue. I can’t imagine starting my day without my Rocky Mountain News.
The Rocky Mountain News is with me throughout the day, spread before me as I eat my breakfast…at my desk for a mid-day puzzle fix during my lunch hour…back at home in the evening, when I catch up on whatever I didn’t have time to read earlier in the day.
From the format, to the top-notch news and columns, to the entertaining, thought-provoking comics (the best part of the paper, in my opinion!) and puzzles, the Rocky Mountain News is integral to my life and I’d feel lost without it.
Just wouldn’t be Denver with the Rocky Mountain News. I am a Denver native and unfortunately live out of state now. However, there is not a day that goes by that I don’t read the Rocky online. Also seems like there’s not a day that goes by that some other well known institution is going by the wayside…..ahhhh…..for the good old days.
I need my Rocky. Each day it gives me the information I need and answers my questions in stories that I want to know, especially the Business section. The news you cover is the news I need. I am hopeful someone smart will but the paper because it is a smart paper. It is a key part of my day every day.
It has been 26 years since I was hired at the Rocky, when journalism was still fun. It was my entree to “big-time” journalism in a highly competitve market in a major metro area.
It has been about 20 since I left there, later going to The Denver Post. The competition was sizzling at that point and I loved every minute of it. I still have many good friends at the Rocky; few at The Post.
That fact is very instructive to me. I firmly believe the Rocky has held onto its talent because of the leadership of editor John Temple. The Post? A sizeable list of editors worked there over 25 years when when adivsed by own Dean Singleton they were history was a terse and “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.” His behavior during this period of anguish for you has been reprehensible.
I truly believe that the JOA of 2001 was the start of an agonizing death march.
I’d heard rumors of the Rocky’s demise since last summer. But when I learned the report two weeks ago that it may very well fold, it was like taking a shot in the gut from “Iron Mike” Tyson. My head fully understands the dire situation for newspaper all over. My heart just doesn’t want to believe what’s happening.
Many of you were at my wedding in 1988. I still have the stills and videotape. We were all a lot younger then. I urge you all and the staffers I never met to keep up the good fight. All the way. Don’t quit.
I will miss the Rocky Mountain News if it goes away. It has always had such a distinctive personality. Like most of you.
I live on the other side of the country and am not a regular reader, but “I want my Rocky” just where it is. I know how important this publication is to its community – and to the nation – and my hope is the presses will keep rolling so the voice Rocky provides will be heard loud and clear for generations. Much luck and many prayers to the paper, its staff, and the people it serves.
Many thanks to Mike and others for putting up this fight! The news is an important part of Colorado history. And it would be sad to see Denver join the ranks of one-newspaper towns. With too much information on-line it may be more important than ever to have quality professional journalism — in whatever format.
I wish Action Line could resolve this….
Having Mike Littwin pen a plea to save the Rocky isn’t the way to do it. If we wanted the liberal views of Littwin, Griego, Johnson, Stein, etc, we could just subscribe to the Post! I have read the Rocky for 10 years IN SPITE of Littwin, etc. I hope to continue to do so. I will never subscribe to the Denver Post.
I suggest the Rocky staff form a corporation and buy the paper. Sound impossible? I don’t think so. You would need someone local to spearhead the campaign. It would help if you could find a local entrepreneur to provide some base capitol. Then sell shares to the staff as Southwest Airlines and many other companies have done. With employee ownership employees would be more willing to make concession on salerys and benifits. Shares could also be sold to the public. A venture capitol company might be interested in such an investmet. If an attractive package could be presented to the current owners, they might make price consessions that would enable them to recover some of their losses over time. Some income is beter than no income. Someone at the Rocky would have to spearhead the project. It might save their job and many others while continuing to serve Colorado.
As a long time lover of the Rocky Mountain News, I’ve never once purchased the Post. I can’t imagine why or how the Post would be chosen to keep running but not Rocky Mountain News. I’ve always preferred RMN over the Post and will not contribute to their continuation.
Keep fighting, Rocky! You are too good to lose. If you leave, we are stuck with the Post, which cannot touch you for wit, humor, inspiration and community awareness. I look forward to reading the Rocky every day, it’s like a welcome friend waiting for me every morning. You have the best columnists and your point of view on most subjects is approached with fairness and with the welfare of the community in mind.
Your loss would be a severe blow to this community, the enormity of which we have not yet begun to realize. If there is any way you can save this newspaper, Denver needs you.
The Rocky Mountain News is our eye to the world. It is our conscience that in some manner will alert us to recognize right from wrong in relationship to one another. In America a newspaper such as the Rocky Mountain News represents the soul of freedom.
Below you will find the rambling of truth or maybe not. Where, except in a newspaper of the free press could such subject matter be approached and interpreted by intelligent, free people to accept or deny by freedom of choice?
We will soon celebrate the birth of a life that epitomized how we should approach and treat one another. How hypocritical and desensitized have we become when we can no longer rationalize our behavior in consideration of the value of one human life? In the name of comfort we look the other way and allow the truth to be manipulated by opportunism. We are so much more capable of being better human beings than we settle for. The “red tape” of society that serves as quality control has become a crutch for individuals that seek only survival of self. Because we have chosen to live by interpretations of truth, reality has become an adventure that sequesters only a few lives, while leaving the rest of the population to dwell in mediocrity.
Before we allow the Rocky Mountain News to succumb to death by Pontius Pilate fascists who play games with people’s trust and lives, lets rebel and tear asunder the nobility that led us to the precipice of failure. Not the nobility associated with class structure, but the nobility of ignorance that presumes to allow us to believe we are superior to someone else.
The Rocky Mountain News is symbolic of freedom governed by truth. The Rocky Mountain News will not meet its demise because of progress, but because people forgot to communicate with one another. Too many “executive hearings” behind closed doors…Too many “executive decisions” that were enacted without consideration to human value and truth.
Come on folks, we can’t even separate church and state in order to guarantee our society’s future. Zero population doesn’t mean “zero”, it means ecologically and economically figuring out how many people mother earth can sustain. The next step is respecting one another to show you care by doing what is right. Love can cure all if it is wielded by truthful individuals.
When are we going to stop being so passive and at least point a truthful finger at those who diminish what it is to be human at the very best? Until wrongful transgressions against members of a society are exposed by a medium such as the RMN such callus behavior may continue unexposed.
No matter what your chosen path in life, we are supposed to be mature enough and rational enough to figure out when enough is enough! Yes, there is cost of living increases, but why every year? What happened to the quality in “quality control”? What happened to the “quality” in us?
Look at yourselves and ask how we got into these economically dire times when we have aspired to such great intellectual heights. Perhaps God’s plan was simple when he raised his son to serve as an example for humanity…treat each other with love, kindness and equality. And for those who have their own game plan…do so at the risk of falling from grace considering society’s laws as well as perhaps a higher magistrate.
Let’s hope a time proven and historic tool such as the Rocky Mountain News survives the ravages of greed to herald the rebuilding of America and the advent of a society becoming acutely aware of interpreted individual rights impacting a society as a whole!
This is all fine and dandy and sentimental but how is it gong to make up a $15m shortfall? And now Singleton needs $20m in cuts?
I want my ROCKY! Can’t imagine not being able to read it every morning. My husband and I have had the ROCKY delivered to our home for the past 25 years and we do not want it to stop. Don’t want it on-line, want to have it in hand at the table. Get rid of the post, we’ll never read it. Keep the ROCKY coming!!!
The Rocky Mountain News has been a Denver tradition forever. If we loose you and the talented staff that is so valiantly trying to save you, Denver will be worse off because of that loss. I like being able to hold the News in my hand, it seems more tangible, I spend time on the internet just like everybody else, but I enjoy my newspaper. I hope the News can be saved, I like most Denverites will certainly miss the paper and all of you who call yourselves staff but who are the heart of the News. Good luck in your effort.
Im a native of Denver of 49 years. I have been reading the Rocky since I was a little kid, never really cared for the Post. And I certainly have never liked opening and folding the Post, worse than a street map.
I work with the internet all day every day and I enjoy reading the paper, as a paper and not online. The paper has features and stories I wouldnt ever see online. Obviously online has late breaking.
I have no ideas how you can save your paper. Just a sad situation, I dont know how the Post can survive either really since all papers are facing the same situation.
I will always be the type of person who enjoys reading offline, book or paper.
20 years ago I remember delivering the good ol’ Rocky, I have always been a loyal reader to the Rocky…SOMEONE please step up and SAVE OUR ROCKY!!!!!
SOR!!!
“Since the day the proposed sale of the Rocky was announced, we’ve been waiting for the odd billionaire to join our cause. This may surprise you, but none has come forward. Apparently Phil and Tim and Pat and the rest of the team must have misplaced our e-mail address.”
Gosh, does anyone else sense the irony of a capitalist-hating hippie like Littwin going cap in hand to … shudder … capitalists and being rejected! Oh, sweet, sweet irony.
It would be a sad day for Denver without Vince Carroll’s editorials and columns. I love reading them because they present a different point of view from what we get from other writers in the Post and News.
Please find a way to continue in business.
I’m too far away, and not even a hundred-aire, let alone a billionaire, so I’m not much help. But I believe that when a newspaper is extinguished or compromised all journalism is diminished. RMN has a great history and reputation (and website). From down here among the pines we wish y’all the very best
I want my Rocky!
For 41 years, the Rocky has been delivered to my door, bringing the best of the best in journalism to Denver readers. Sure, I check the Rocky online throughout the day so I know what’s happening–I’m web-literate. But I like the substance of the paper in my hands; I love the feel of the paper and the smell of the ink. I like that they’re waiting for me until the end of the day: Curt Anderson’s thoughtful headlines, Ed Stein’s dead-on editorial cartoons, Mike Littwin, Gary Massaro, John Temple on Saturday, all of columnists I’m not mentioning by name, award-winning photography, impeccable editing. Remember John Coit and The Kid, Gene Amole and the Idea Fairy?
A day in Denver without the Rocky just wouldn’t be the same. The best paper will not prevail if the Rocky goes and the Post continues.
Let’s save our Rocky!
While I am sad to see the Rocky Mountain News close its doors I am opposed to the Newspaper Preservation Act. As a nation of free speech with a free press we must preserve that integrity by allowing people to vote with their pocketbooks. If that means a newspaper is no longer a financially viable going concern it should fold and allow the next market driven business model to prevail. Free speech is determined by free markets, not the government propping up failed business models.
This newspaper is the only one my husband can read. THe format fits his disablity as the Denver Post is NOT disabled-friendly. Also, we have been taking it since 1975. I chuckle at the “conservative” label, but its not as left as the Denver Post. DON’T TAKE MY ROCKY AWAY!!!! Westword won’t cut it. It would be like a world with only the Democrats in total control (well, actually they are 99% now), and not even a moderate voice or reason or conservative viewpoint out there! I am a 4th generation, longer than that as our family was here when it was still a territory!
no rocky….we all lose..it is the voice of colorado!!
I’m a third generation reader of the Rocky. The best of journalism,photography,news stories as well as so many professionals working to make the Rocky one of the best papers in the country.
I look forward to reading the paper every day the same way as looking forward to a visit from a long time loved friend.
I like the format too so I can easily read the articles with my coffee each morning.
Please save the Rocky Mountain News.
Donna
I read the Rocky for gardening news and also because its site is faster than the Denver Post site! Plus, I’ve written a few articles for the Rocky and I want Maria Cote to keep her job!
If I had to choose between the two, I would rather have the Post. The Rocky has been slowly going down hill for years. C’est la vie! Hope it works out for you.
I am going to be so sad if the Rocky shuts down. I have been reading the Rocky Mountain News since I moved to Colorado 20 years ago. I chose it over the Post mainly due to the format and the great comics section. Now my 15 year old daughter reads the comics every morning at breakfast. I love to sit down and read the paper every day – many days that is the only thing I do for myself. I do not like to read articles online, and do not want to subscribe to the Post. I hope some miracle occurs and a buyer is found so that the Rocky can continue to be delivered to my door every morning. If not, I am sorry for all the folks who will need to find new jobs in this terrible economy, and I wish you the best of luck.
I am super bummed about the infamous news that the Rocky will close its doors if there is no offer to buy by Jan. 15.
I have friends who work there and am appalled that a newspaper with the Rocky’s longevity and illustrious history can just close down, just because it’s a “business decision.” What happens to all the people who work there? A severance package, and a wait at the unemployment line?
And now, what am I supposed to do? Read the Post? Oy…
I love the tabloid size of the Rocky. I love to read the Rocky, I have my favorite columnists and journalists whose commentaries and exposes make my mornings very enjoyable.
I am very sad not so much for me as for all the people who are losing jobs.
So what now?
My day starts with picking the Rocky up on my front porch and has done so since 1956. Yeah, I’m one of those throwbacks that treasures the feel and look of a newspaper and the tabloid format. For my money the Rocky is the best. I can’t imagine a day without it
I am a former employee and I want my Rocky Mountain News. You have the power to keep it open. Please don’t let my community lose its oldest newspaper. You guys blinked in 2000 with the JOA. In 18 months the Denver Post would have been closed. This time please don’t give in to Dean keep going for a few more months and Dean will be bankrupt and the Rocky will win.
Thank you,
I’ve moved around the country a fair amount for my job and have been an avid newspaper reader for over 30 years. My hometown of Sacramento went through a similar situation years ago where we lost the Sacramento Union, and the city was poorer because of it. Competition helps drive excellence.
RMN is a great paper (don’t just take my word for it – look at the Pulitzers) and compares well to others I’ve had the chance to read over the years. You have my support in doing everything I can to help keep the paper alive.
I grew up with the RMN in the house and after I grew up and left home, I subscribed to the RMN and have been a subcriber now for just over 20 years.
The RMN is as part of my day as eating and drinking. I would suffer a terrible blow if the RMN were to go under.
I hope that somehow, someway the paper is saved. It seems clear to me that the RMN is the better of the two newspapers in our city, I cant understand how the Post is goign to surive while the Rocky goes under…..it makes no sense.
Please, lets find a way to save the RMN!!!
I have enjoyed the “NEWS” for years, then one day I found they had stopped two of my favorite comics. I called to complain to no avail, so then I took the next step to get my point across, I stopped the paper. After a few days, I missed the “NEWS”, I gave in and called to start it up again. My hope is after they get their problems cleared up they can start my favorite comics back, I always read them first to get my day stared on a happy note, then go on to the bad news of the day. I hope this problem can be worked out, I would miss my “NEWS”. The only paper in town.
In the early morning darkness the smell of the late spring air filled my head with anticipation of summer as I waited in front of my home for the Rocky Mountain News delivery truck. The glow of dawn was still an hour away and the chill that blankets that hour forced me into the house for a coat. Whe I returned the bundles of newspapers were already sitting on the sidewalk and the News delivery truck was puffing toward Colfax on Ulster St. in east Denver.
I dragged the bundles of soon to be delivered newspapers into the garage to be folded. I considered waking my older brother Dan for help, after all it was his paper route. However, I considered that he liked his sleep and he always punished the messenger. By the time Dan showed up all that was left to do was jump on our fully loaded bicycles and deliver the Rocky Mountain News to “his” customers.
I felt a sense of freedom, excitement and responsibility as we pedaled through east Denver tossing those newspapers. Returning home, with just three Rocky’s left, we tossed one on my grandmother’s porch and one on my great-grandmother’s porch, both who lived in the same block as we did. The third paper was mine and I would begin reading it as soon as I got home and poured a bowl of Frosted Flakes.
Thus, began my love afair with reading the Rocky Mountain News. I read the sports page first and then read the rest of the paper. I read all of the big events in my life and saved some of the newspapers. I read the Rocky after my friend and partner, Denver Police Officer Pat Pollack, was shot and killed by a robbery suspect just two houses away from where I folded those newspapers many years earlier.
I read the Rocky after President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy were assasinated. I read the Rocky after Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. I read the Rocky when the Bronco’s won their first Superbowl. I read it front to back. I still do, but I start with the Obits. If I’m not there, I continue reading.
A closure of this journalistic icon will leave a vacuum that the Internet cannot fill. I know Gene Amole is turning over in his grave.
I will miss walking outside to pick up the Rocky, anticipating the headlines. I will miss sitting peacefully in a soft chair and wrapping myself around the words of dedicated journalists who brought me the world in their gifted prose. I will miss silently arguing with columnists who thought differently than I, but who offered me insights I didn’t contemplate.
I think I will drive over to Ulster St. where this love affair began, park in front of Grandma O’Shea’s old house and read the Rocky Mountain News- before it’s too late!
I like the Rocky format and the puzzle pages are the best. However, did you not realize that by establishing a website to “save” your paper, you are using the very thing that will eventually destroy all paper versions of newspapers? The internet was and is seen as a great tool – everything at your fingertips. However, we are now seeing the down side as it is slowly diminishing and destroying hard copies of newspapers, magazines, etc. How many times have you been reading an article in the paper or a magazine, and at the end it has directed you to their website “for more information?” As much as I like the ease of the internet, I can’t cuddle up with a computer to do my Sunday crossword puzzles or read a nice long article. WHat’s next – TV stations? How many times do they end a story with direction to go to their website for “more information?”
We must find a way to keep the Rocky – I have lived in Colorado for 35.5 years and have read the Rock as well as the Post — but gave up on the post about 34 years ago — the Rocky is without question the paper that gives the most comprehensive, balanced and timely reporting – I have read newspapers all over the country – the Rocky is one of if not the best — The post frequently makes mistakes – frequently takes a political view and fails to report the facts – so very often only one sided – and are consistently influenced by the politicians. The Rocky is just the opposite – they report the facts are not easily influenced.
The Rocky is a superior newspaper and although the internet and tv is a major competitor to newspapers – we need to keep the Rocky alive for Colorado and the western region.
Surely there must be an individual or group of individuals who can pull together financial support to invest and keep the Rocky alive.
oh puleez just get over it!!! this is our “brave new world” we have ourselves to blame for the demise of the RMN. How many of you “tech savvy readers have bought goods or services through the “want ads” in your local newspapers, and not off of craigs list or e-bay instead? why? because it’s cheaper and we are making use of our purchase price of our computer and DSL provider right? hey we have to justify the cost right? this is why the RMN is going down. please when you put a “proud to be an american” sticker on your vehicle, let that be on an american made car, truck, or motorcycle. If you don’t you are the cause of the problem, not the solution.
I START MY DAY WITH THE ROCKY MTN. NEWS. BEFORE I DO ANYTHING ELSE, I READ THE HEADLINES AND DO ALL THE PUZZLES. PLEASE TRY TO KEEP THE PAPER IN PRINT. I WOULD HATE TO LOSE MY MORNING “FIX”.
Where will I go for all my photography inspiration. Obviously there are other talented photojournalists around the country but not so many in one spot so close to us here in Vail. We have never taken that talent for granted and look up to it and reference it often. The paper as a whole is possibly my favorite paper and how a paper should be. It’s death suggests an almost inevitable death for the rest of us. Don’t let it happen.
I am a current subscriber having recently switched from the way too liberal post. I want to keep the Rocky. IT IS DENVER’S NEWSPAPER, and has been for nearly 150 years. Doesn’t anyone care about history? We need to maintain our sense of history and tradition. We need to know where we came from, to better understand who we are. I subscribe to the Central City Times for the same reason. KEEP THE ROCKY!!
I recently cancelled my subscription to the Rocky…mostly because my wife was sick of me spending time reading the paper that I should have been spending with her and our son…but honestly, after this last election cycle, the news coverage made it much easier.
I’m fairly middle of the road, lean conservative, and I had a really hard time reading so many articles that were so predictably one sided in both opinion and editorials that it made me feel like I was reading true propaganda…and also articles that were old or taken from some other publisher. I know many journalists now feel it is important to steer conversation rather then just reporting what happened…for me a real loss in value regardless if the positions are on the far left or the far right. Mike Littwin was a high contributor to my dissatisfaction with the Rocky.
It is unfortunate to lose the paper, and maybe it can live on in an on line format…even in my late 40’s I tend to get more news that way…but frankly the paper felt so much like the post and other papers that I really am not sure what the value is in having multiples other then tradition and…cost competition for the others…the very reason why the Rocky can’t hang on.
For those losing jobs I do feel bad, but like the rest of us, it is our duty to ourselves to understand forces that are shaping our indsutry and hoepfully you saw it coming…or you really haven’t been paying attention to the news lately. Regardless, I do wish you all the best of luck in landing someplace that makes you happy.
Wow – I am really going to be bummed out if the Rocky in newspaper form goes away!! The nicest part of my day is the early morning with a cup of coffee and my newspaper. I will not read news on the internet. I look at a computer screen for most of my day at work…I sure as hell don’t want to sit at the breakfast table and look at the PC. Too many distractions for work related items and other internet crap. The POST is not much fun to read either….I need 2 types of reading glasses and an oversized table just to spread the dumb thing out…not to mention it is more of an editorial page than actual news. I pay my paper delivery person extra just to NOT deliver the Sunday paper.
Please,please – lets figure out how to keep the Rocky! I would pay at least twice what it cost per year now without hesitation. I say increase the price and let the market decide.
RT in Castle Rock
I have been a faithful Rocky reader for the past 40 years. I really hope that there is some way to save this mighty paper. It is part of the history of our state. What other business can say they have been around for 150 years? What would we do without the Rocky Mountain News? Sure we can get the Post but who wants it? I love the format of the Rocky. The Post is way to large for me and I rarely even take it out of the sack on the weekends (OK sure I do take out the ads after all I am a woman). I do not have a table big enough to open it up and sometimes I am way to sore to fight with the paper to fold it to a reqadable size, and then a story on page 3 is continued on page 20. Our Rocky does not do that. Yes I have a computer but I do not wish to read the news on the computer. PLEASE SAVE OUR BELOVED ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS.
I delivered the Rocky in the 1950’s, my son delivered in the 1970’s and now we would like to review the retroactive child labor laws-just kidding–
Seriously, the Rocky is an institution in Colorado and I have considered it in the past as a cut above the Denver Post as far as unbiased reporting, up to date sports and outdoor sports articles and a well organized classified section at reasonable rates. I lived by classified ads forever, because classified are a way for the little person to make extra $. However, after the DNA merger, classified ad costs went to the point of being unreasonable for people like me,( I now restore motorcyles) and craigslist is now the king. I’m not sure how to tell you to compete with a no cost option, but I’m sure that more reasonable rates would have helped–one answer may be to open a free classified site or section, using similar tactics, that is charging for certain advertising.
If the business model can be arranged to be successful, I would further recommend that you seriously consider balancing the conservative/liberal journalism, in that I personally think that the Rocky is way too liberal, whereas in the past I thought is was unbiased. Possibly, have point/counterpoint columns, etc.
I’ve been reading the Rocky since my father put me on his knee to read the Sunday Funnies. (some 50 years ago) It is a part of my life I am not willing to give up. I would pay more for my subscription if that is what it will take to save the Rocky.
I have never cared for the writers in the Denver Post and if the Rocky shuts down, I will use the internet exclusively for my news. This will make me very sad.
The Rocky Mountain News is our history, COLORAOD HISTORY and the nation’s history. The reporters are the BEST as you can see by their numerous awards.
We have lived in CO for over 5 years. We originally subscribed to The Post (probably because of a move-in special or sonmething). We switched from The Post to The Rocky only because I signed up for a “free trial” to receive a free hat during a rainy cold Bronco game that I failed to pack any headgear for. To our surprise, we were much happier reading The Rocky over The Post and had no problems switching. The Rocky articles seem more interesting. The pictures are fuller. The format is easier to follow. The magazine style is easier to read than a full fold-out paper. Denver is far too big to rely on only one opinion. Although we may have signed up as a fluke, it is the best $9.95/month we spend.
I have subscribed to the News since I moved here 25 years ago, and I cannot imagine my mornings without it. I keep up with the news online throughout the day, but the quality of the writing in the Rocky (not to mention the great comics) keeps me subscribing year after year. Keep up the fight!
I delivered the Rocky when I was 13 & 14 in 1973 & 74.
This is like the buggy whip company scenerio. The world and colorado are slowly turning away from out dated and slow print media. The instant news reporting from the internet is the wave of the future. I read the Drudge Report a couple of times a day. The Rocky and even the denver post don’t really have a very friendly web site either. Have you ever tried to look up anything in their classified section on their website? Not a plesant experience! Craigslist is the way to go. Their left leaning bias also was the reason why I cancelled my full subscription to the rocky mountain news. My wife still gets the Sat/Sun paper only for the ads on sunday. We don’t even look at the rest of the sunday Denver Post. The Rocky on saturday usually gets put in the recycle bin with out even being taken out of the plastic sleve. Its a shame nobody at the Rocky could think to use a less biased, more user friendly approach to reporting. The consumer will determine what they like with their wallets!
Environmentally its better to read the news from the internet then to have the paper deliver to you door, printed on several tons of paper, only to have to be thrown away when your done reading. It makes no sense. News from the internet is a better solution!
A day without my Rocky? Without Bill Johnson? Without Drew Litton? What a terrible thought! I’m a native of Colorado and the Rocky is like breathing the fresh clean air – I can’t imagine being without it. The format is wonderful, more inviting, like a family member, so to speak. If paying more to keep this wonderful paper here is what it takes, well sign me up! Please don’t take away “our” Rocky. Should that happen…well, I guess I won’t be looking at print media any longer. The Denver Post doesn’t hold a candle to our beloved Rocky. Oh my, what would Gene Amole say?!!
As a longtime paper-media person, and someone who has about 50 friends that still work in the business, most of them at the Rocky, there isn’t much I wouldn’t do to help to save it.
I agree with some previous posters here, who I hope represent more of the population, that I have a really hard time reading newspapers online. I try, because many of the papers I support are in other cities (Providence, Boston, Denver). But in my current city of Chicago I do my best to BUY actual newspapers. So I hope, for jobs, for the media, for the Fourth Branch, that we can keep the Rocky in business, as well as the other papers around the country.
And another thing: Having lived in three big cities, it IS important to have two papers in such major markets, I think. Millions of people in a large metro area need to have access to different, RESEARCHED points of view. It just needs to be done well. A thousand blogs is not the same.
I could go on, but I’ve more research to do. Good luck everyone!
I have read the Rocky for 35 years and want to continue reading it for 35 more years! I recently retired and look forward to having my morning coffee and reading the Rocky. I like the tablet format (hate the huge Post paper, need a banquet table to read it). Please don’t take the Rocky away!!!
I’ve been a journalist since I started editing a grammar-school newspaper in the fourth grade and then actually writing and photographing for my hometown newspaper, the Beverly Evening Times. So with my start 48-51 years ago, I have grew up with local newspapers. Unfortunately, I’ve seen the quality of newspapers decline as fast as the circulation figures. “Who, What Where and How” was always included in the stories — but the “WHY” rapidly disappeared. I don’t know if columnists thought they were replacing the “Why” factor but there is a big difference between news analysis and news commentary.
If the Rocky comes back in some form, I hope you’ll take this opportunity to reinvent yourselves and then take time to go out and teach the general public how to read and process the news. Look to foreign newspapers — their reporters actually go out into the community to teach people about the value of newspapers. Some foreign newspapers are showing a profit and increases in circulation because they gave up on reporting pop-culture and started to address the news that is important to preserving a healthy and vibrant democracy.
Without a healthy democracy, there is no First Amendment.
I NEVER MISS A DAY OF READIND THE ROCKY. IF I DONT HAVE TIME TO READ IT ONE DAY I WILL WAIT AND KEEP ALL THE PAPERS UNTIL I HAVE TIME TO READ THEM.ONE DAY I FORGOT TO BUY MY PAPER AND PROCEEDED TO FIVE DIFFERENT STORES TILL I HAD MY PAPER. HOPE SOMEBODY BUYS THE PAPER, BECAUSE I WOULD MISS MY ROCKY.
We have been reading the Rocky for over 35 years. We do not like the Denver post, we feel that it is to bulky and Cumbersome.
better and easier to read. We have never cared forthe Denver Post and if the Rocky shuts down,we will use the internet for our news.
Please keep the Rockymountain New.
Please don’t let the Rocky die. It is absolutly the better paper in Denver.
I always look forward to the paper in the morning for a quick look-see on what’s been happening and read it more in depth when I get home from work.
I am a newsaholic and get the news online during the day and on the radio coming home so most of what the paper has to offer is old news.
I’ll miss reading the Rocky but I won’t miss the 70% of the paper that has all the ads.
I guess with prices rising, they need more ad revenue, hence all the ads.
Times change and we need to change with the times.
I was a journalist for Scripps for a decade until just recently, and was very sad to learn of the Rocky’s possible demise. And then I had to run an obit in the paper, well actually in the Post because I wanted it in a Sunday edition. The Denver Newspaper Agency, which handles the advertising for both papers as part of the JOA, charged me $1,030. That is not a typo. I knew obits had been taken away from the newsroom to become profit generators for the company, but I had no idea how ridiculous the rates were. The Rocky is not alone — $140 in the Washington Post got me three lines. Newspapers are not failing because of demanding profit margins or a public too plugged into the Internet — they are failing because they have gotten so far away from the basics of what makes them so valuable in the first place. They are the mirror of the community — a snapshot of each day from the bagels on sale at Safeway to the name of your neighbor’s new bouncing baby boy. And while it’s nice to have a couple Pulitzer Prizes under your belt by reporting on global issues, what about the bus driver in Aurora who dies of heart failure? Or the Thornton woman dead of a brain tumor after spending her nights cleaning offices so she could care for her grandchildren during the day? Are they not worthy of mention unless the loved ones they leave behind have a small fortune tucked away? I hope somebody who values the First Amendment swoops in and saves the Rocky. And if they do, please get back to the basics of serving Denver and her surrounding towns, not the Almighty Dollar.
WORD
I have been reading the Rocky my entire life. My Mom has had the Rocky delivered to her house for as long as I can remember. When I moved out of her house at age 18 (39 years ago), I immediately subscribed to the Rocky and have started every day off by reading this wonderful newspaper. It will be a sad day in Colorado if the Rocky no longer exists. Please, save the Rocky Mountain News.
Cindy DeVore
Hello,
The Rocky is the perfect newspaper. There is coverage of all areas from National, sports, spotlight,editorials, etc. I love the size because one does not need to fold it to read it. The cost is very reasonable and I enjoy the advertisements. Save our oldest newspaper.
Norm
Please, please don’t take away my Rocky!!!
I am a Colorado native and have been reading the RMN for over 30 years. I learned to read using this paper.
This newspaper is an icon of our state. It is not JUST another newspaper to some of us. The news writers of this paper represent the way many of us Coloradoans think and share many of our same beliefs. It would just be a real shame to lose this piece of our world that is a big part of many of our lives. Even the funnies section will be missed.
I will NEVER EVER read the Post, if that is what I am left with. I hope someone will help us! Please Santa, help us keep our Rocky!
When I moved to Denver from DC, and began working for Senator Tim Wirth twenty years ago, I fell in love with The Rocky.
We have always been a 2-Denver Newspaper household. My husband read the POST first while I read The Rocky, and then we switched off.
For me, and for many others, The Rocky is the very heart of Colorado. It is more than a newspaper or a symbol. It is a community of ranchers and intellectuals and every-day people. When I think of The Rocky, it’s like I can see the mountains, and smell the dust kicked up by horses, and hear the music of the west in the writing.
Born on the west coast, and educated in the east, my ear is attuned to the dialect and cadence of place and region.
The Rocky is a vital voice for the mountain west and this once-and-still frontier city,the Queen City of the Plains, the state of Colorado, and the country.
If The Rocky goes down for the count, we will lose something that can never be restored.
WE HAVE SUBSCRIBED AND READ THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS FOR OVER 3O YEARS. WE LIKE THE SIZE AND FORMAT OF THE ROCKY. WE HAVE NEVER CARED FOR THE DENVER POST AND WILL NOT SUBSCRIBE TO IT IF THE ROCKY GOES AWAY. AS WE SEE IT, IF THE ROCKY GOES AWAY WE WILL GET THE NEWS ON THE INTERNET OR THE TELEVISION. IT WILL DEFINATELY BE A SAD DAY TO LOSE THE ROCKY!!!!
I have been a long time reader of the Rocky and would like to see it continue. I am a Realtor and used to advertise regularly in the Rocky, then a few years ago, prices jumped through the roof. What normally cost $22 for an ad, went up to the hundreds. This was true for employers running a help wanted ad. For 5 days, it could cost over $500. I feel this led to the demise of the Rocky. Greed, plain and simple, more of what we are seeing everyday in the news. Why is it you can’t see what is so obvious. The classifieds are almost non-existant. Bring back the affordable advertising and it might save your paper.
I remember delivering the RMN around 1962. Big, square handlebars and canvas paperbags. The snow was about 2 feet deep, and I was walking my bike in the early morning darkness, just finishing deliveries to the State Home. I was more than normally tired, and couldn’t figure that out, until I looked back and saw that my rear tire was completely frozen. I was dragging my bike, not walking it. But the State Home always paid for the paper, so I had to finish.
In those days the RMN was a money-losing proposition only for the paper-boys, because every customer that skipped out took the profit, (45 cents), for three or four other paying readers.
As a loyal, former employee, I have read the Rocky, cover-to-cover, for close to or more than 40 years. I cannot count the number of times that people have asked me how I knew something, and my answer was that I had read it in the paper, (the Rocky).
As you can tell, I am a dinosaur. I know that the internet rules. I myself have advertised on Craig’s List, yet in the back of my mind I always felt guilty because I knew I was getting the service for free.
But the problem is more complex. The fourth estate, (the press), has always had the obligation to tell the truth. “Give Light and the people will find their own way,” has always been the Rocky’s credo. The internet has no such obligation, the potential for fraud is so much greater, and it actually does threaten the foundation of our democracy.
I have no answers. Perhaps the good merchants of Colorado would pledge to only print their best coupon-discounts in the newspaper, and give back to that paper for each coupon cashed. Perhaps the Rocky could start their own Craig’s List, with a nominal fee to help pay for the publishing of the paper and website.
In any case, the ideas used to help the Rocky raise money to save itself will go towards an independent, competing free press. Historically, this has been a mainstay to our democratic, free republic. It would be risky to lose it.
How was it determined to put the Rocky on the chopping block and not the Post? Was it based on distribution numbers? I subscribe to the Rocky because I enjoy the format better, I feel it is better written, and it offers a different perspective than the Post. I wouldn’t mind seeing both papers continuing in circulation just to keep each other honest, but I would rather see the Post go if one were to fall. I also prefer the online layout of the Rocky to the Post.
I have read the Rocky ever since…I can remember knowing how to read. As one of the few Colorado natives left, I have read at least part of the Rocky every day for 30-something years. Currently, the News section is how I start my day, I read Business & Sports at lunch, and the Spotlight is how I decompress after work. Every day. My parents and I have already decided that we will only get the Sunday Post for the ads if it comes to that. We can’t bear to think about life without the Rocky. Seriously.
I can’t imagine not laughing at Littwin and Adams, or crying with Griego and Massaro (thank you for profiling my Aunt Mary while she’s still alive!). John Ensslin once wrote a story about a dear friend serving in the Army. “Final Salute” photos and “The Crossing” and “The Crevasse” are all in my “newspaper box,” along with dozens of clippings and front pages and Ed Stein cartoons.
My point is…I know the names. We ALL know the names. From Penny Parker to Dave Krieger (I’ve copied your ‘random thoughts’ idea many times), and “The Buzz,” who previews all my new hangouts for me…we know the names. Never mind my cousin who’s worked there behind the scenes for years, who is now facing unemployment…I know her name AND her plight.
It’s not JUST a paper…or even “THE paper”…it’s the PEOPLE who produce the paper we’re reading that make it special.
The Rocky HAS to continue to be a part of the story…it is an integral part of the city’s history, and its absence would leave a gaping hole in the fabric of the city.
SAVE THE ROCKY!
As a fourth generation Colorado native, I cannot imagine a morning without My Rocky. I started reading the RMN as a child when my grandmother lived with us and subscribed to the RMN. I can remember receiving the RMN at our house in the morning and my Dad got the other paper in the evenings. My husband prefers the other paper, but I have to have my Rocky and have subscribed to the RMN for over 30 years, please give me 30 more. Save the Rocky, it’s part of Colorado’s heritage.
BJ
I love the Rocky Mountain News! I am writing a mini series on the Columbine tragedy and the Rocky Mountain News was my primary news source of research. I used to work at a newspaper (the Reno Gazette-Journal) and know the commraderie of the newspaper environment. Sometimes I miss it. I will not say goodbye, as I have hope there will be a new life given to the RMN.
My only suggestion is that all the employees pool their credit and buy it themselves, make it employee-ran instead of corporate ran. The unions wouldn’t have to negotiate anything. You would set a shining expample of why corporate greed and irrisponsibility will not endure.
My love and best,
Todd E. Ponton
If this helps… I vow to stop stealing my neighbor’s RMN and get my own subsciption.
I am a fan of Mike Rosen in the Rocky Mountain News. He is an open, honest, conservative commentator in a sea of many with hidden agendas who are too cowardly to admit where they stand.
I have not and will not support the Denver Post.
I, like so many others, will be sad to see the Rocky close its doors. But at the same time I am reminded of what happened to the train system in this country. The railroads thought that they were in the railroad business, rather than in the transportation business. Newspapers have held the same vision of themselves as being in the newspaper business, rather than in the communication business.
When I was studying and writing for newspapers in college I think the advertising to news ratio was about 60% news and 40% advertising. Advertising sales determined the number of pages in the paper on any given day, thus the large Sunday paper when people had (have) more time to read. I suspect that ratio is reversed today, count the number of full page ads compared to full pages of news. This seems like a vain attempt to get people to buy more newspapers by giving them less to read.
There seems to have been no attempt to reinvent the newspaper, to streamline it, to provide the reader with what they want – the news. The strength of the newspaper was always the details, the timelines, the transcripts, the minutia that television and radio were not suited for. That type of information is no longer being published in the newspaper, it’s found on the newspaper’s web site, or the television station.
Mike Littwin noted something like “we might as well be writing on stone tablets” in his first column after the for sale sign went up.
That’s exactly what the newspaper represents – the permanent record. How many of us have a clipping about ourselves, or a member of our family or a friend that appeared “in the paper.” Getting your name in the paper has always been a sign of arriving. Not just the John and Jane Does or Joe or Jean the Plumber, but celebrities and politicians do the same thing. They track the progress of their campaign, their business, their effort in any number of areas by the mentions in the paper.
Will that desire to be recognized go away? Will my words among thousands of others on this blog have the same staying power as a “letter to the editor” would have – I doubt it.
Has anyone asked why – or how – this joint operation felt it necessary to build an enormous and expensive new building on some of the most expensive land in Denver. I can see building a new structure for the presses and to provide for joint circulation, but how can the management justify creating such a massive debt and then pretend to try to stay afloat. Sounds like a pretty bad business decision to me, one that seems to have insured the demise of one or both of the Denver dailies by saddleing them with a debt that amounts to a poison pill in seeking a white knight.
I’d like to see the Rocky survive, but I doubt that it will, unless it does something to reinvent itself.
-30-
Hi there, my name is Zach. I was born and raised in Broomfield and am now a senior in high school here. As I’ve grown up and adapted to many changes, the one assuring constant that I could always count on in my life has been the Rocky. Like a beacon of knowledge and a connection to the world at my reach, it’s always been a comforting sight to see it lying there on the driveway with the coming of each new day. I’ve developed into an aspiring journalist, with four years on the Broomfield High School newspaper staff behind me as well as an internship with the local city newspaper here in Broomfield. My greatest influence has always been the Rocky, as I know it has for so many others. I’ll never forget the first issue on the newer, more savvy printing press a few years back, or the breaking news on the world’s most integral events. The Rocky simply cannot disappear. It means too much to people who are like me. Altogether, it’s these people that make up a city and even a state. We care too much to let this paper go. Even if the worst shall happen, the Rocky will never be forgotten in this great city of Denver. I may be young, but I’ve lived and learned enough to know that. The Rocky Mountain News is a staple to the society of the Front Range. Hopefully these financial times will not erase something as valuable as that. I’m not sure how I’ll study Journalism in college next year if my Home Paper is gone… We love you and you inspire us, Rocky. May you be at our reach for many new days to come.
~Life-long Reader
My Husband and I have been loyal and faithful readers of the Rocky since we moved to Denver in ‘71. I loved the Gene Amole bi-weekly column and felt I “knew” him. I wrote his several (real) snail mail letters during this time. I especially felt close to him during his last months when he wrote his “diary of how dying” is/was. I also attended his Memorial Service downtown that year.
BTW, how is his wife/widow doing? I’ve forgotten her name but recall his many references to her.
I’ve also corresponded with Ed Stein. He’s very talented.
Love the format of the Rocky; it’s easy to read w/ breakfast. It’s a truely sad day for Denver if we have only one paper in the City; a monopoly. Not good. Plus there are so many excellent writers and photographers.
Let me know what I can do to support the wonderful writers during this difficult time.
take care,
Dorothy
I am a big sportsfan. I discontinued my Rocky subscription over 2 years ago, as I got tired of uninspiring and boring columns of Bernie Linecombe. The Rockies apologist, Dave Kreiger and the other shill for the Rockies, Tracy Ringolsby.Oh yeah, the inacurate reporting of Chris Tomlinson. Gee, I can’t understand why the paper is failing?
As a kid, I was a regular ready of the Rocky. I have always enjoyed the paper’s commitment to balanced reporting, great insight, and high level of readibility.
As a former civilian journalist, (and current military journalist,)I am saddened and concerned about the prospects of Denver becoming a one-paper town.
The Denver Compost has some decent reporters, but is an exercize in liberal propaganda, and due to its format, oregame.
I really do hope a buyer emerges and saves the paper. The Rocky is often a voice of reason in a city gone mad.
Reading the Rocky today, I again felt the sad familiar sensation one might feel for a dying friend. It is the Christmas advertising season, and instead of the phonebook-thick, glossy-ad and features-rich Rockys of yesteryear, I read through the emaciated version produced now. While saddened by the dwindling realm of the printed word, I also know that I share some of the blame. I check the news in the morning on my iPhone, or click on MSNBC for a quickie news fix. Where I used to place an ad to sell my car or motorcycle, (remember 8 days, 2 lines, 5 bucks?) I now download a picture onto Craigslist for free. Movie times are available on the internet– with trailers–and tickets can be purchased in advance. I’ve gone through two audio books in the amount of time it normally takes me to read 1/4 of an average book. What the written word made good, electronic media, like cable television, and to a larger extent the internet, have made better.
It is easy to look at the printed word as the collateral damage of progress. The challenge of a static medium, in competition with the dynamics of digital information, are beyond daunting. Especially during this time of economic recession, the relationship of newspapers to electronic media cannot be competitive. The only relationship that can possibly endure is one of symbiosis.
Instead of courting media gazillionaires, I think the survival of newspapers like the Rocky depends on establishing a progressive and mutually supportive relationship with the internet. Think of Google, with all of its capital, buying the Rocky. While supporting a regional newspaper, it could reach a demographic that it currently misses. Its own supportive demographic would be enhanced by a printed version that puts both commercial and non commercial website information into print. Print is great. You don’t need a wifi host, or even an electrical outlet. Exposure in print is historically proven to increase commerce. Print is recyclable. Print endures.
I truly hope The Rocky survives. Perhaps courting mega-browsers like Google and Yahoo would give them a chance.
Dear Friends at the RMN,
I’m a socially liberal, conservative libertarian. As a recently naturalized US citizen, I don’t agree with your policy of calling illegal aliens ‘undocumented’, but politics aside, I’m rooting for you.
Newspapers and a free press (whether biased or not) are essential for an informed populace. I’ll admit that I’m guilty of getting my news from the “new media” – fark.com, drudgereport.com, huffingtonpost.com etc., but I’d hate to see you guys go out of business, and I’d really hate to see anyone laid off.
You’re part of the character of Denver, and I’m crossing my fingers for you.
If you can solve the conundrum of turning a profit in the face of entities like Craigslist etc, and can develop a business model that will endure during this monumental paradigm shift, then hats off to you. Can you not adopt a Craigslist approach?
As a news consumer, I like to feel that I’m in touch, on top of the latest developments. Is there any way you can go to publish two editions? A morning and then an amended evening edition?
What I love about the web is that I can read a story and then check out different sources and perspectives, very quickly.
Obviously, I can’t do that with a physical paper. I’m limited to the 500-1000 words on the printed page. Is there any way to bolster your internet presence, whilst generating harnessing online advertising revenue? Like I said, it’s a conundrum, but hopefully you can figure out a way to solve it. People are amazingly creative when their backs are against the wall. Needs must when the devil drives and all that.
Good luck and all the best,
Andy
Mike.
You’re a deluded hypocrite.
I can empathize with not wanting to lose your gig here, entirely acceptable.
But to go begging the same billionaires you regularly have decried, and then whistle past the market failure the Rocky has become is ludicrous.
I was amazed to see circulation down to the low 200,000 range. Face it, you’re begging for a sucker to save a black hole.
Apply for some TARP money, try and make any good case that the Rocky is a “bank” of ideas…most left leaning…but hey, the odds improve if you make it past January!
A pretty sad display, you should be ashamed of yourself.
The Rocky is clearly the leader in quality local news coverage. It went ahead in the 70s in that regard when Mike Howard was here in charge, and in my opinion still stands head and shoulders above the Post for covering the community.
We need that here. When the Rocky goes, you will never know how much you needed it because you won’t be getting the same depth of coverage from the Post, the same quality of writing and the same passion for people.
Some things I like about the Rocky: It knows the West. Read Jerd Smith’s coverage of water issues over the recent years, especially since the ‘02 drought. This is a major issue to us in the West. Ann Imse and Laura Frank on the workers from Rocky Flats and their health effects from working for our defense. Jim Sheeler’s Pulitzer winning stories on the Marine who notifies families of soldiers killed in Iraq. Kevin Vaughan’s series on an intensely painful day in Colorado history when so many children died 40 years ago in the school bus accident, tracking down all the people impacted by it and how it affected their lives.
I also follow Marc Shulgold’s coverage of our classical music scene, Marty Meitus’s helpful food pages and Vince Carroll’s always-on-target commentaries.
So for you constant whiners about “liberal this” and “immigration that,” get off it. A 150-year-old newspaper is so much more than your single-issue biases. We lost the Rocky, we lose a touchstone to the breadth of our community.
Folks, these people follow in the footsteps of some giants in Colorado journalism. We have to support them.
I sincerely hope the Rocky will be saved!
I can’t believe the Rocky may lose out to the Post and Denver would be left with only one editorial viewpoint. And Denver would be greatly diminished by losing either paper. Competition spurs creativity and brings out the best in both papers.
I look forward to reading the Rocky every day. And I much prefer reading a paper. I do not care to read online. Even though I am a web developer. In my opinion, an opinion shared by most everyone on this site, the Rocky is by far the superior paper. Not only for its award winning writing and photojournalism, special sections, comics and voice, but its format. Ever try wrestling with the Post bedsheet (er… broadsheet) format over a small table in a restaurant? The tabloid size of the Rocky is much more user friendly. Even at that, the Rocky finally got it all completely right around time of the JOA when they began continuing all stories on the very next page rather than continuing on some page deep inside the paper. I was very sad however, when the JOA began and the Rocky was forced to move from the tabloid format to the broadsheet format on Saturdays, and the Post was the only Sunday paper. I guess that was the beginning of the end for the Rocky. What a shame. How ironic that the Post’s format is the sole key to its business advantage as it allows them to sell more square inches of advertising space. Although this format is less convenient for the reader.
But I hold out hope that somehow, someway, that the Rocky will be saved. The Rocky is truly a part of Colorado and this region’s history and it would be such a travesty to have it finally fail due to an economic slow-down. The economy will come back. The Rocky has survived and reported much history from the days of the Civil War, through the Great Depression, two World Wars, to reporting of man’s travel to the moon and ’til the present. There is so much more for the Rocky to witness and report in the future. Hopefully the Rocky can weather this storm.
Please Save the Rocky!!!
Well I have not read nor even seen the Rocky Mountain News maybe one of the reasons is I live in India which is far far away.
Having said that I have read about Denver and the colorada region known for its frontier spirit and being a gateway to western america.
It would be a sad day if the printed news disappear and everybody has to depend on the vagaries of online news which are highly biased and change according to the whims and fancies of the bloggers and other sources.
Nothing like holding a paper in one hand and wheaties(whatever that is would appreciate a pic of it)in one hand.And a local paper is the lifeblood of that particular region which no online source can hope to replace.
Hope the owners change their mind and look beyond profit and treat it as a social institution, or the staff themeselves could takeover and run the paper with some outside support.
I want my rocky. Good luck to you all.
I have been a subscriber for 30 years. I love everything about the News. I hope someone will buy the paper or the owner does something to keep the paper going. I want my Rocky Mountain News. Good Luck & Happy Holidays
What would we do without the Rocky? I read both the Rocky and Post every day. Having two papers, multiple perspectives and insight offers the community a well-rounded view of all of the issues impacting us daily. If we lose the Rocky, we’ll also lose award winning reporters with connections to the heartbeat of the city. I want my Rocky!
Sorry to see the RMN go but I had my mourning time after the JOA.
I wish the best for everybody at the RMN. Yes I want the RMN back. But the RMN I want back was disbanded at the time of the JOA. That’s when I cancelled my subscription. I believe the RMN was forced to drop its Sundays and then became more liberal right after. Then they went online. I knew the RMN was being buried when the Post got the upper hand. And nobody else saw this coming? Oh and lets not forget management and the job ads.
The merger and management started to cost the paper subscriptions and advertisements before they went online and before Craig’s List and E-bay. The internet and the sales mediums available on the internet were just the dirt being thrown on the coffin.
To go back now I think is a waste of financial and human resources. You can’t resurrect the embalmed.
The Rocky Mountain News is a part of our Denver history and must be saved! They should shut down the Post to save the Rocky. I, along with many others, will not subscribe to the Post and we will be forced to go without any daily on our porch. If the Denver Post thinks it will pick up all the RMN subscribers they are dead wrong! It is truly a sad day for journalism.
I love having the Rocky every morning, and especially like the Tabloid format.
I do the crossword everyday and would miss it. When we go over to the Western Slope, we have to buy the Rocky at the news boxes because we don’t want to be without it. The Post is too liberal for us. I can’t imagine trying to click on the web every day to get the news, which is national, anyway. We need this paper.
The Rocky has always been for the people. I read the internet and paper versions. I need the Rocky Mountain News. I have been reading this paper since the 70’s. Like George Bailey said about Potter: WE NEED the Rocky Mountain News so that the little people have a say other than the Big Bad Post of the wealthy and aristocrats.
Just like the Rocky editors to censor reader opinions that they do not approve of. It’s the way they ran their rag, and why they won’t be missed.
Unfortunately, the Rocky doesn’t do what you grew up expecting from a newspaper. The only investigative reporting being done in this town is by the Westword; just about all the Rocky’s people do these days is regurgitate Associated Press stories and spew incontinent opinions.
Dale Carnegie tells a story of how a newspaper in New York was losing sales and advertising revenue because consumers felt that there was no content in it. The paper put out a special edition, entitled “One Day” — in which they ran no ads, stuffing it full of news, features, and investigative reports. That act showed the value of the paper to the community which, in turn, saved the paper.
Don’t expect that kind of creativity from this bunch.
The News going under just might save my marriage! Every morning for years, my husband has completely lost himself in your fine paper (especially the Sports section) . I’ve been left alone to feed the kids, pack lunches and get the day started…..But once he’s out the door and I’ve settled into my home office, I dive right in myself. I love so many things about the Rocky Mountain News. The size is so convenient, the reporting is terrific. I especially love the Home Front section and Mary Winter’s columns which make me feel like she’s my friend who knows the ups and downs of my life. Marty Meitus’ self-deprecating humor always cracks me up too. And your business section is first rate. Love the way the News humanizes the business world with its columns outlining business leaders’ first jobs and best advice. John Rebchook alwasy has the story before anyone else and I’ve enjoyed his real estate insider info for years. Fight on, Rocky Mountain News! I’ve got my fingers crossed!
We live in a time where news is often expected to entertain in bite-size pieces rather than inform and investigate what is truly happening in our government and in businesses. The Rocky has established itself as an informative newspapers that takes journalism seriously. We need serious print journalism like The Rocky, as opposed to the tabloids that some people rely on to stay “current.”
To the powers that be… we need the Rocky. Freedom of the press is a sacred component to our nation’s history. If we lose our newspapers, we are losing one of our great freedoms.
In a world that’s already so out of tune and out of sorts, we can’t afford to lose yet another viable part of the communications business. Given the glut of blogs of many nonprofessional journalists who seem to have invaded the internet, those of us who value truth in journalism are being robbed of quality reporting, which seems to have become a precious commodity. If the Rocky Mountain News were to be added to this ever-increasing imbalance, Denver would be just one more city in a country that can’t in any way afford to experience the gradual death of the print media. Please do whatever it takes to keep one of this city’s great newspapers on the scene.
I’m sad, disheartened, sick, and basically angry at how this is all transpiring. Does anybody realize that Media News is probably just as broke and on the verge of falling in as well? Have you read your (Rocky Mountain News) newspaper? How could Scripps not see this, and then let him get away with his little “cost cutting” meeting last week that specifically excluded Scripps? Very brave and very telling, Cincinnati. You let the little tail wag the big dog again.
Scripps has always managed to stay away at the most opportune times for the competition. They’ve sat back and let the Denver Post dictate the life of their newspaper, failing to take the lead as the State’s best newspaper (which it is still), and hurting their people in Denver who were trying to sell it and market it as such. They got duped by someone who didn’t blink. Scripps never did like to get dirty. They fell into a money pit with their networks and got too fat to remember that E.W. himself, with just his newspapers, was the one who got them there.
Media News is about to get a bitter taste of the economy. Would anyone think that they’d be any less prone to massive hardship, if not bankruptcy, too? They are in a precarious situation. Dean Singleton has made it plain he wants the Rocky to close. He wants it to close fast. If it doesn’t, the Denver Post (and other M-N papers) might, and could close, too. Anyone want to bet Scripps will find a way to mess it up?
Please Scripps. For 150 years, the Rocky Mountain News has been the true and original Voice of the Rocky Mountain Empire. For 150 years, the Rocky Mountain News has gone into homes and given the story. The Rocky Mountain News is about Colorado in the truest sense of the word. Don’t let the Rocky Mountain News go away! Sell it (and finance it, if you have to), but don’t close it.
We need the Rocky. It is not a matter of Rocky vs the Post or conservative vs. liberal, but what we need as a free society. A free press is important to the survival of our liberties. I, for one, do not want my news from internet sites that do not care about the content of what is published. Nor do I want my news from folks on talk radio who issue opinion not news. There is nothing like picking up a printed paper and reading the stories affecting our communities, the nation and the world. However, I understand that there may be financial reasons to move newspapers or some component thereof to an internet format.
I do hope that someone or some company decides that the Rocky’s survival is as important as the survival to any of our Colorado communities that it serves.
My family has been in Colorado for longer than the Rocky has been around and for as long as I can remember we have gotten the Rocky Mt. News. I know that my family will not get any newspaper if the Rocky is shut down. The Post has a horrible format and is anathema in my house. Hope someone buys the Rocky so it shall remain. Best of luck.
My mother-in-law asked me to send you her letter since she does not have access to a computer. She is housebound and keeps up with the world through the Rocky.
“Don’t know what I’ll do without the Rocky Mtn. News! It’s the start of my day – I know Mike, Bill, John, etc., almost everyone. At the start of WWII, I was 16, my mother always got the Post. With the war on, the GI’s came to town. A column started in the News called Molly Mayfield. It was a hit. We changed to the News and liked everthing about it – 67 years ago. I still enjoy it every morning. Please don’t let it go. I don’t like the Post. I will say a prayer cause I’m sure God reads the Rocky. Phyllis W.”
My husband and I have to add our two cents worth. We have read the Rocky for forty years and will go without the paper if we have too. We do not like the format of the Post (we have to spread out all over on the weekend mornings) and our favorite comics are all in the Rocky.
I just got my bill to renew my subscription. I’m not renewing until I know the fate of the Rocky.
Amy, hi! How have you been! For those who weren’t around back in the early ’80s, Amy Shapiro was our Action Line columnist. What a great colleague.
I want my Rocky.
I admit it, I’m a bit of a dinosaur amongst my friends. I like my morning paper. I currently live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where there is NO option for a morning paper. The earliest I can get a paper (Detroit or Milwaukee)is about 11AM; the Trib shows up in limited places about 2 PM; the local POS paper is (still!) an evening paper and worthless. So I rely on the internet and it sucks. There is nothing like putting on your robe and slippers, wandering down the driveway and getting the paper.
I’m currently in Colorado, taking care of my Grandmother, who has ‘taken’ the Rocky forever (she’s 91).
I’m 45 years old. I grew up in a Colorado Mountain community where the local paper was weekly, and the morning paper WAS the Rocky. We had no cable TV (we could sometimes pick up KOA-TV, on a good day). If we wanted immediate news, we’d turn on the radio and tune in to KOA (’The 50,000 Watt Voice of the Rocky Mountain Empire.’ Remember that tagline? Clear Channel ruined that!) So should the Rocky fold, I would greatly miss it.
That being said, I’m not an idiot. The world has changed. 24-hour news cycles, the Internet, Satellite TV, all have made print newspapers and their business models pretty much obsolete. Print newspapers are going the way of the Dodo bird.
Yes, I’d pay $10/month for the internet version of the paper. BUT, there would have to be more content. The content of today’s Print media have clearly declined over when I was a kid, and even more so since Grandma’s day. I’ve been cleaning out her house…there once was MUCH more ‘News’ and less ‘fluff.’ And the Rocky USED to cover the Rockies…news items about the City Council meetings in ‘outstate’ towns; when my Father tragically died 44 years ago the Rocky carried the news article, and also explained (in the Business section) why his co-workers were going to be paid late (they got paid about 5 days late, he was the Payroll Clerk for a very large employer in Denver).
But in whatever form, I STILL WANT MY ROCKY.
Colorado’s history is long, but its ‘civilized’ history is extremely, extremely short. Don’t let the oldest biz in town die!
Freedom must have the “fifth estate” = Newspaper, to exist.
The Rocky is the best of the best. It MUST be saved.
The Rocky Mountain News is the best read in Denver. Whatever happens I’d just like to thank everyone who works so hard to make this Newspaper Great! The talented journalists at the Rocky are the best in the West, without a doubt. Please keep this informative and entertaining publication going – whatever it takes!
My dear Rocky,
I am having great feelings of loss as I think of not having my Rocky. What will I do without my constant friend Mike Littwin who keeps me in clear and stable perspective? What will I do without my anticipated ritual of walking up my long driveway, no matter what the weather, to get my paper so that I can endulge in my wake-up process of coffee and my paper that I can touch, feel and smell and SHARE with my husband. I shudder to think of a time when we’ll need to take turns to get the news on the internet. How isolating. And you can’t scan and get all the little stories that can be so interesting. I feel that I’m going to lose a vital and necessary ritual that contributes to my well-being.
Rachel Turelli
What a shame. If the Rocky goes under I don’t know what I will read and suscribe to. I do know that it won’t be the Post!
The views of “Bouldergeist” above do not necessarily reflect the views of KnowYourtCourts.com. Although I occasionally take exception with the fact-reporting by some reporters and, although I also recognize that not every newspaper addresses the issues that I would like to see addressed and that there may even be pragmatic reasons behind that (e.g., ratings, not wanting to draw the ire of the judiciary with whom the paper is a frequent filer, etc.), KnowYourCourts.com works hard to maintain good rapport with members of the MSM.
I recall, for example, that the Rocky did a story last year on Colorado’s Commission for the Abolition of Judicial Discipline (actually, it’s the Commission on Judicial Discipline, which I find misleading) that squarely addressed one of those hot-button issues that I am interested in.
I really hadn’t thought about being passionate about my Rocky but it turns out that I am. Not having the Rocky to read with all the columnist, reporters, photographers, feature writers, political and sports cartoonists, headline writers, and comics (yes, comics) that I so enjoy, would leave a huge hole in my life. The thought of loosing the Rocky, which I have read from the time I learned to read (and I’ve been around 60+ years), is devastating. If the Denver area is left with only the Denver Post (which, by the way, is on thin ice itself even though Singleton tries to make noise that it is otherwise), it will be a sad day indeed. I will not subscribe to the Denver Post. I am willing to pay more or alter my habits if a way can be found to continue the Rocky someway, somehow. Long live the Rocky Mtn News!! I feel like it is family.
I’ve read the RMN for many years now and would hate to see it go. From an editorial standpoint, I disagree with the right-leaning philosophy, so I skip columns on the editorial page. There are journalists that I would miss terribly (Mike Littwin for one). Then there are the comics which are far superior to the Post’s. Some like Frazz, Doonesbury, Non Sequitur, Zippy, to name a few, have gotten me through the Bush (1 & 2) and Reagan years. Mostly, I read the Rocky for local news/events and depend on NPR and PBS for national and world news. Although I read some instant coverage of news stories on the internet, I’ve always enjoyed taking some time to read the Rocky. Although I realize it’s a long shot and would take a great deal of imagination to save the Rocky, I hope it happens!
My husband loves the Rocky Mountain News! He’s a native Coloradoan and has been reading it for years. As a transplant to Colorado, I’m a relatively new reader but I’ve become quite fond of the Rocky’s tabloid format; it’s so much easier to read than traditonal newspapers. I’ve also become addicted to some of the columns and I know that I will miss those writers the most.
How tragic for the readers and the employees of the Rocky if someone or some organization doesn’t see how important this newspaper is and buy it.
Someone? Anyone? Please save our Rocky!
We’ve always loved the Rocky. Everything about it. The format, the sections, the editorial pages and the comics. My husband cannot read on the internet and enjoys the paper every morning. I don’t want to go on line and read the paper. It’s a part of our daily routine and we don’t want it to end. Please, please save the Rocky.
I have read the Rocky Mountain News my entire life. It is hard for me to believe that the owners do not understand basic economics. They say that the Rocky has more subscribers than the Post but the Post brings in more advertising, So why not close the newspaper that is obviously less liked by the public(the Post) If there is one left(the Rocky) the advertising customers will have to use the Rocky as it will be the only paper left. The Post is far too awkard to read at the breakfast table or on the bus or anywhere else. I have talked to many of my friends who take the paper and they all agree with me that if the Rocky goes , they will quit buying a paper. I refuse to read The Post and fight with it every morning to have room for my cup of tea and toast. They are making a big mistake,the format of the Post just doesn’t cut it. I won’t subscribe to it even though I’ve read the paper every morning for 50 years.
Perhaps if the newspapers of this city(and country) were more balanced with viewpoints, they would not be in the trouble they are in. Even though the News is just marginally more diverse than the Post in viewpoints, its still FAR from balanced. The Liberals in this city wont support 2 sets of red meat journalists and 2 leftist papers. Denver is a microcosm of the nation as a whole. Liberal print bastians are going the way of the dinosaur. From the NY Times, LA Times, etc, are losing readers and circulation is dropping dramatically because of their one-sided voice. I’m not for anyone losing their jobs, but free market dictates success and the News must make the necessary changes to survive. If not, it will fold and I wont lose a single tear for the paper, just the effected employees.
I have subscribed to the Rocky for many, many years and love the paper. I don’t want to see it go away. I love the size of the paper, which makes it easy to read with my morning coffee. I have never liked the Post and would not subscribe to it. I will continue to subscribe for the rest of my life, as I do not like reading the paper on the internet. Please save it.
Raised in Southern Colorado I had a glimpse of what was happening in Colorado through free issues of the Post. When I came to the Denver area I picked up the Rocky and whenever I’ve lived here I have subscribed to it. I used to read it from cover to cover but now find myself taking more interest in the editorials. I supplement my news through online news, but nothing satisfies like reading the paper while drinking a cup of coffee. I work on computers so it’s nice to get away from them and read the old fashioned way. I hope the Rocky doesn’t go away. Where else would we read about “The Crossing”, the marines who bring their comrades back home, the ice climbing accident in a fashion that only those with roots here can present them? Although the comics have thinned out a bit, I’ve read them all the way from Ernie Bushmiller’s Nancy to Drabble and still save them for last. The wacky questions from readers is one of my favorites. If I had to, I’d pay more for a subscription and seriously think about accepting the larger paper format if that would help.
I’m a Denver “Native” — Delivered the Denver Post as a kid, read neighbors “Rocky’s” because it was “Tabloid” size and never went back to BIG, ungainly “papers. I delivered papers 1951 to 1955…so it has been awhile. Hope the “Rocky” stays….it’s my wake-up call and morning java companion. Get antsy IF it is delivered after 6:30AM. It’s a “good ole Habit” that I’d hate to loose….love it cover to cover and all the little inserts too. I have two computers. couple TV’s. Don’t want to “Watch” news on TV OR get “news” off the NET!! I could do it — but probably would not do “NEWS” if I could not read it. I rely on 5PM local/national news and drop it. I know ads produce income, necessary for the paper, but I’d NOT MISS ads either.
Nothing is as good as sitting with the RMN and a cup of coffee…To sit and read an article in depth in a newspaper is better than anything the internet has to offer. PLEASE don’t take this away from me!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s reassuring to see the outpouring of support for the Rocky and the people who have worked so hard to bring you your daily news. As Joni Mitchell sang so long ago: “Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone?” In this case, it’s not just the Rocky but the potential for the loss of yet another institution whose mission in serving its community means scrutinizing the workings of our government. I embrace the new world of social media and online communication while fearing the potentially unchecked power of those in control of the country.
I worked at the Rocky Mountain News briefly back in 1998. I was recruited to be the Automotive Manager working under the Classified Director. I left because it only took a few weeks to understand that the paper was not economically viable longterm.
Not long afer I arrived I learned that due to an accounting glitch the actuals for my department were off by hundreds of thousands dollars. The annual contracts with the automotive dealer community were, to a number, poorly negotiated and positioned to drag revenues down for the second half of the year.
One of my first chores was to meet with publicly traded AutoNation in Ft. Lauderdale. They had bought the Emich, Chesrone and Elway car dealership groups in Denver. One contract was above $2/line, another was just under. But Elway was only paying 70 cents a line. Needless to say, the new contract came in at slightly above the lowest rate. Why was Elway paying such a low rate? Because John Elway is a celebrity. Did it increase his volume with the paper? Maybe a little but in the end it simply freed up plenty of dollars for his dealerships and ultimately all three groups to advertise with the competitor.
Another anomaly that I observed was a newspaper advertising department that had negotiated away color charges with virtually every single car dealer in town. Weirdly enough, I had to call a handful of advertisers ever week to inform them that we had run out of color positions and it was their “turn” to live without color. After a few weeks I began asking “Would you pay extra to be guaranteed color?” The answer was overwhelmingly, “Yes!”
I think your effort with this website is admirable. But in the end, everyone will need to make a living and potential investors will most likely want to see a return on their money. I hope that you succeed. And I hope that the people creating the content keep a closer eye on the people driving revenue. Looking the other way and hoping for the best is a sure recipe for failure.
Remember that salespeople and sales managers tend to be very short sighted and their goals will tend to reflect that. As most of us have learned recently, long term goals are a necessity and those of us whose incomes are heavily incentivized must be monitored carefully.
Best of Luck! I love your paper and I love your community. I certainly hope that your new path leads to a whole new industry with jobs for all the good people who spread the news.
Waaaay back in the 70s, when I was a reporter at The Post, the competition with the Rocky was fierce, and downright enjoyable. Moreover, I made a number of great friends at “the other paper,” folks who remain friends today. It was a great time to be a journalist, beating each other up during the day, and sharing a belt, or two, at the Press Club in the evening. Those are memories I will carry with me to my grave.
It will be a dark day if/when the Rocky ceases to exist and Denver becomes a one-paper town. We are blessed to have two newspapers and here’s hoping we remain a city and a state served by two competing dailies.
I really hope your paper survives. I am news reporter in Melbourne, Australia working for News Limited’s suburban newspaper group Leader. It is a scary time for us journos and the need for strong journalism is so vital.
Best wishes from Down under.
I suggest a Management, Staff and Readership/Subscriber buyout. Probably by setting up a corporation that can issue shares, that we can buy. You need a financial consulting team to help you, and the good will of Scripps. $5, $10 or $100.00 a share could bring in millions! Definitely, a web-based paper is the way to go.(costs are a fraction of publishing and distributing a hard copy daily) You could make the hard copy paper weekly to save costs, but to also save jobs. I am sure that you will find a way!
A reader and a true supporter of the free press in Canada.
M.
Please do not allow The Rocky Mountain News to cease publication. The tabloid format makes this newspaper so much easier to read than The Denver Post, which is awkward and bulky to try and fold and unfold just so that I can turn its pages and have room left on the table for lunch. I have enjoyed The Rocky for many years. Even before I could read, I would look at the Sunday funnies and pretend to read the paper so that I could be just like my dad. When I did learn to read, The Rocky took me around the country and around the world, making me feel somehow more connected to people everywhere. Losing The Rocky would feel like losing a close member of the family. Once again, I ask you to PLEASE keep publishing The Rocky and keep a valuable part of Colorado’s history alive and shining. THANK YOU!!!
Save The Rocky!
Good luck to all of you. We’re fighting to keep our daily paper, The Bristol Press, alive as well.
It’s a helluva time for journalism, but at least we’re not slipping silently into the night. Thanks for making ;otsa noise.
Fourth-generation Coloradoan. Always been a Rocky Mountain News. I never called it “The Rocky”; I called it “The News”. I wrote a screenplay based on the story of Isabella Bird’s journey to and through Colorado in 1873. William Byers and The Rocky Mountain News were part of her story back then. I cancelled my subscription to The Rocky Mountain News because, in my opinion, the reporters and editors were more concerned with their own interests than with their readers’ needs (I was a journalist covering some of the same stories for a community paper). Nevertheless, I think there should be a Rocky Mountain News. Good luck with your efforts to save it.
I’ve had the pleasure of visiting the Rocky Mountain News office with one of my friends, financial reporter David Milstead. Keep fighting the good fight!
If I’m not mistaken, my great aunt, Lucile Morris (later Lucile Morris Upton) worked for the Rocky in the 1920s. She always referred to it as “the Scripps-Howard paper” and covered, among other things, President Warren Harding’s last visit. She also wrote an advice column. Eventually she returned home to Missouri where she worked as a reporter in Springfield for 50 years. It was Lucile, and her stories about her days as a newspaperwoman in Denver that inspired me, later to also become a journalist.
The rest of the world needs to understand that it’s always been newspapers who provid the foot patrols who actually sniff out and gathered the news which served as a tickler file for radio and tv. People should also pay attention to the fact that TVs most erudite news comment shows feature print journalists (not TV faces) to provide the insight.
Good luck to you — and thank you for reminding me of my heritage.
Susan Croce Kelly
former publisher Ozarks Magazine
Gravois Mills, MO
I was shocked and choked up to learn that the Rocky might go under. Some of you guys may remember I worked there from 1986-1993, part of that time in the traffic/transportation columnist role now held by Kevin Flynn.
The time I spent at the Rocky represented, I believe, my best years in journalism.
I’d love to see alumni like myself descend on Denver and put on our own rally at the paper. It would be a damn shame to see this Colorado institution go away.
If there’s anything I can do to help, let me know. Take care.
I’ve been reading the Rocky for over 35 years and hardly ever search for daily news on web sites as this turn of events implies. I occasionally watch the news but do not find it as detailed or informative as what I can find in the news and where will I go to find my favorite columists? I was discouraged with the merger with the Denver Post, especially with the new format but still remained a fan of the Rocky and faithfully paid for that delivery service. I truly believe that those of us who enjoy reading the paper everyday would not mind paying a little extra for the privilege. Can’t we bail out the Rocky?
I love the Rocky and would hate to see it disappear. Its such a convienient size, the articles are easy to follow, yet quite thorough and I really enjoy the spotlight section and the tuesday edition. I look forward to reading Penny Parker’s column. I like browsing through the detailed sports section, the business headlines and news, and more. Plus, the rocky has the best selection of comics hands down!
…It would be tragic to see this paper go under! I have always been devoted to this paper (even when my own family subscribes to the Denver post…nope, Rocky for me!)
To the Journalistic Higher Powers that be, you’d be losing a rich part of history and a well done collaboration of Local, National and World news. Listen to the people, we want our Rocky!
The Rocky is THE Denver newspaper. The format is the best. The comics are the best. It will definitely be Denver’s loss if the Rocky goes. If it goes, our subscription will be limited to Sundays only.
I read both the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post everyday. I think a having multiple views of the same news is very important to having an informed public.
As a Colorado native and fourth-generation subscriber to the Rocky, I’m greatly disturbed by E.W. Scripps’ proposed sale and possible closure of the paper.
My family’s Colorado roots include westward travel to Denver with Rocky founder William Byers in the mid-1800s. Since then, the Rocky has been a daily part of my family’s life.
As a child, I can remember scanning the Rocky headlines, looking for small “r’s” which I equated with the shape of the streetlight outside my bedroom window.
I also quickly identified with Scripps’ lighthouse logo, and seeing it today evokes a feeling of quality, reliability and continuity.
In short, the Rocky has inspired my own journalistic career path, and having grown up with the Rocky’s coverage of the Broncos, 9/11 and the DNC, I cannot envision Denver without this Pulitzer Prize-winning publication.
That said, the Rocky is much more than just a simple newspaper — this Web site alone is a testament to that — and I feel the onus is squarely on Scripps to explore all options to preserve this integral institution.
I fully recognize that times are tough, particularly in the newspaper business. Still, defeat cannot be conceded so easily.
Please preserve the Rocky.
If not, the day the Rocky’s presses stop forever will forever be a dark day in Colorado history.
I think it is time to pursue the idea of a worker/owner coop of the newspaper and/or possibly community/reader as addition owners. This would take time plus an analysis with both the workers and the community as to how to make the paper profitable for if that cannot be done then the paper probably must die. This would also take the cooperation of Scripps to be patient with this process but it should be worth their time. There is a model in Spain of a University, Mondragon University that is a coop of all employees, students and the community and we might be able to model after that University. On this plan – if the paper could be made profitable with the help and ideas of employees and the community – the profits would go to the worker/owners (and other owners). It is time to realize that there is a model in the free enterprise system that is not capitalism (where the profits go to the capitalists who puts up the money)but the profit goes to the worker/owners (or possibly in this case the community owners also)
Adding my voice and opinion:
My wife and I subscribe to both the RMN & Post, yearly subscriptions. I prefer the News and read it, all of it, every day. Note I am not a sports fanatic, so it is not just ‘keep a paper for the sports info’. I read the news, business, Spotlight, comics, Editorials AND THE ADDS. This includes grocery, and inserts. The adds in the News are where I do most- if not all- identifying items I am interested in purchasing. I do NOT- and frankly hate- adds on the Internet. The computer is a useful tool for email and research searches, not for selling. And the “news” on the interent is sadly lacking detail, plus all the minor 4″ column tidbits of local – and at times international interest. And- needless t omention- the difference of approach and opinion in the reporters and writers of the News and Post.
Options: Sell the RMN to someone who can run a successful newspaper. Increase subscription rates. Reduce publication to a 3 or 4-day weekend paper (note that ‘Westwood’ appears to be still ’successful’ with one day a week). An ‘electronic newspaper’?
Destroying the News would be a travesty for the citizens of Colorado, especially those who can read and vote.
Every great city needs a great champion, a soul and a friend. The Rocky Mountain News has been all these things and more to generations of Colorado readers. It would be a horrendous loss for these doors to close.
We need the Rocky Mountain News to keep this city honest. One newspaper will not do it, and as history has shown, will never be able to hold politicians feet to the fire.
WE HAVE DELIVERED THE PAPER AS DISTRIBUTORS FOR 31 YEARS, LOVE THE PAPER, FEEL THAT IT WOULD BE A TERRIBLE THING TO LOSE THIS PUBLICATION, NOT ONLY AS OUR JOB, BUT AS A PAPER, I AM SORRY SOME PEOPLE DO NOT SEE THE WORTH OF THE PAPER, BUT FAR MANY OTHERS DO, IN GREELEY, COLORADO, IT IS WIDELY READ, AND SENIORS LOVE THIS PAPER, PLEASE HELP FIND A WAY TO SAVE THE ROCKY!!!!!!!!!!!
I have been a continuous subscriber of the Rocky Mountain News since 1968, and I would sure hate to start my day without it.
I had the great pleasure of working with B.G. for a couple of years – a consummate professional who knows his stuff. As a newspaper veteran/newbie, I hope to be there at the march to support B.G. and the other staffers of the Rocky.
I have been reading the Rocky for 49 years. I can’t imagine starting my day without it. Curiously, I just received by subscription renewal notice in the mail. Strange to have to think about whether I should renew or not. In the end, I renewed to show my support for the paper! What a shame it would be if this paper died.
I’m writing to lend my support to saving the Rocky Mountain News. The format is better than the Post, the editorial section is the only place to find a conservative voice, and the copics are better. The Rocky is part of Colorado’s history. How can the owners even think about letting it disappear? Keep the Rocky and get rid of the Post!
It’s too late, guys. It’s way the hell too late. About 24 years ago was the appropriate time to figure out how to make newspapers work in a changing world. But newspaper people, who have a better opportunity than most people to stay up on the latest trends and changes, just kept arrogantly doing the same things the same ways, and to hell with the changing world and changing demographics. Well, guess what? It’s way too late now. Wake up and smell the coffee? No, the coffee burnt up a long time ago. Very sorry, but time waits for no one. Bye
It is truly the sad that the Rocky may no longer…I worked for the Rocky in Circulation for years and I have some wonderful memories. But, I was also part of the Penny Special years, etc. I keep thinking how could you have keep your business going charging only a pennies per year. Well, the circulation numbers were pumped up which translates to advertising dollars. But, in the end, the Denver Post was the champ. And, there was always the question–is the city big enough for two papers? These are hard times–that is the reality. Good luck to everyone.
On September 29, 1994, my wife and I moved here from Houston. We thought we would retire here but found the cost of living to be nearly five times higher than back home. But, we were determined to stay. So, I got a job throwing the Rocky starting at 3:00 am every morning of the week. After my rout, I had breakfast with the News, then went to my second job at WalMart in Littleton.
A year later I left both jobs for full-time employment. But, my morning afair with the Rocky continued on to this day. After fifteen years of its daily nourisnment, if the Rocky is allowed to be put to rest, many of us may follow.
We dearly need the very positive voices of the Rocky and other reliable news outlets in order to maintain the quest for keepimg God’s blessings on this great nation. The Rocky is one of the many dwendling voices in a wilderness of politics, greed, and conspiricy. Please don’t let it die.
My husband and I have been subscribers to the Rocky Mountain News for over 30 years and we enjoy the format very much as we can both read different sections while enjoying our morning coffee at the breakfast table and then swap. It is a little difficult to do that with the week-end newspaper. I like all aspects of the newspaper and really don’t want it to go away.
Why can’t the employees become shareholders and buy the newspaper?
There has got to be away to save the Rocky Mountain News.
Loyal subscriber – Thornton Colorado
When my husband and I were first married in 1985, we came to Denver every couple summers and became converts to the Rocky. How great to hold the entire paper on one’s lap – that hadn’t happened since our days at the University of Kansas. We later moved here, and grew to know and love the News for much more. Great writing and great photography and a comic section that none can rival (Priorities!) I can’t imagine not reading the fair-minded Tina Griego who always makes me marvel at her willingness to be uncomfortable in this process called life. Nor can I stomach the idea of Saturday morning without breakfast, good coffee, and John Temple. I realize the world is changing, but I will always long for an actual paper in my hands, not happy to settle for scrolling on my laptop. I’m aching, I’m wishing, I’m hoping, and I’m praying there is a solution found. If not, thank you for many mornings where reading has lead to tears, anger, horror, frustration, delight, and laughter – sometimes in one hour.
I started reading the “News” in 1950 while still in high school; have read it most of my life since then. I don’t want to read the Other Paper! We like the columnists, the features, the handy size and format, and it’s a good habit. I also want my newspaper to be a newspaper, not something on a screen!
We wish you the best in your endeavors to sell it – for the sake of all of us who love the NEWS!!
When I moved to Ft Collins 20 years ago, I subscribed to both the Rocky and the Post for 6 months. At the end of that trial period the Rocky was the clear winner and continues to be. It would be a true disappointment if the Rocky were to close. I’m not sure what I’d do for my daily news/sports/comics fix… the Ft Collins paper is a McPaper (Gannett) and it’s difficult to imagine subscribing to the Post. I’m really hoping somehow this can get resolved in a favorable fashion for the Rocky– the superior paper thanks to the superior writers. If Denver has to be a single newspaper city, let’s hope it’s the Rocky.
If Yellow Cab of Denver’s employees could buy their company, why not the Rocky’s employees buy their’s? If it were a locally owned newspaper, I think it could make a profit. When large corporations become involved, the greed factor goes way up and the amount of income spent on non-income producing expenses also goes up. I lived in Denver for 37 years until moving to Florida in 1992 and I love the Rocky. In fact, I always subscribed to both newspapers when I lived there. I hope you can get a grassroots movement going to collect a large down payment. If Obama could raise what he raised on the internet, why can’t the Rocky’s employees. At the very worst, why couldn’t a TV station buy into it for a multimedia joint operating agreement?
Please keep the Rocky Mountain News! I am a Colorado native and have had access to both papers my whole life, I am 49 years old. There is nothing in the Denver Post that interests me. Their format, as well as their slant on articles is terrible. I can’t imagine waking up in the morning and not being able to read the local news. I will not subsribe to the Denver Post. The first morning that I go out to get my paper and find the Denver Post on my doorstep is the day I will cancel my subsription. I have been to many cities and read their local papers,and The Rocky is still one of the best papers around. Here’s a concept! Why don’t we cancel the Denver Post and put that money towards running the Rocky! Please keep up the fight Rocky-we need you.
I’ve been a Rocky reader since 1975 when my kids mom and I moved to Denver. She was raised in Colorado Springs and decided on a journalism career while in high school. Her first job out of college was with The Journal in Rapid City, SD where we met. After stints with the Westminster Free Express and the Boulder Daily Camera, she has been with the Rocky for many years. Though we divorced many years ago, I respect her for sticking with it for so long.
While I will miss the Rocky tremendously, it does not touch the feeling that must be running through the current and former employees.
My thoughts and prayers go to all of you. Good luck to all of you who have stuck it out and who deserve much better. My distain for corporate greed over what’s right overwhelms me.
Thanks to each and every one of you who have produced such a reliable newspaper. I savored The Rocky from Western Wyoming years before moving to Colorado. Once upon arriving here, it was such a treat to have The Rocky on my doorstep every morning. To the various carriers who have delivered, please know you have been appreciated.
My personal feeling of grief is real. Please, all of you, be hopeful and continue to support each other. If possible, keep this website alive to let us learn where we can experience your work.
To John Temple, thanks for your love of The Rocky. To Mike Litwin, thanks to your wonderful candid reporting, I was able to survive the electioneering without getting depressed enough to have to contend with Seasonal Affective Disorder.
Such a sad day for Colorado and for the West; a genuine part of Western history is leaving us. It boggles the mind to think that a newspaper that covered everything from the Battle of Gettysburg and Little Big Horn to the election of Barack Obama will be no more. For all the happy hours reading the RMN, I thank everyone involved in putting out such a consistantly high quality newspaper. You’ve all made Gene Amole proud.
I’m so sad. I’ve had many years of personal experience with the Rocky Mountain News as I and my grandfather both worked for them – he for about 1/4 of a century.
I’ve posted a story on my blog to honor the memory of The News, as well as my grandfather.
I hope someone buys the scraps and resurrects The News, even if only in a Westword style or online only.
I am so sad to see this newspaper go. Amazing to think it survived a Civil War, two World Wars, and the Great Depression but will no longer be around. I have been a regular reader since I was 8, starting with Sports and Comics then branching out to local news, world news, and editorials. I will always remember waking up before school to two eggo waffles, a glass of milk, and the Rocky. Even after I moved away for school, I have continued to read it online every day. The Rocky was a Denver institution on par with the Broncos. While the Broncos provide an outlet for the passion we all have for our city, the Rocky provided the eyes through which a great many of us viewed it and the world. The front page of the Rocky seemed as happy as any of us when the Broncos and Avs won it all. It enthusiastically chronicled the events of a Papal visit, a G-8 summit, and the DNC. It mourned with us during Columbine, 9-11, and Katrina. But it also told us the story of our day-to-day lives, from the daily struggle between police and gang members to the state of education in our region, concerts and restaurant openings, and high school basketball battles at Manual’s Thunderdome and other gyms across the city. I am thankful that some of my favorite writers (Vincent Carroll and David Krieger, especially) will be moving over to the Post and sad that many other talented people will not. I will certainly miss the Rocky’s bathroom friendly format. Most of all, I will miss what has been an institution of my city throughout my 26 years of life and far beyond. RIP Rocky Mountain News, and good luck to all those now looking for jobs.
O.K. I am in. The next click after I finish this will be to make I Want My Rocky my home page. The eloquence of Mike’s request to play for pride was moving. There’s got to be a Cinderella story here someplace. I’d love to see Ted Turner riding into town on a white horse with a bag of money ready to save the day.
I would pay a subscription fee to have access to the quality that’s hit my door step every morning. Ladies and gentleman, why not?
I’ll be watching, reading hoping. Thanks for the I. W. M. R.
Hiiiiii
Thanks to each and every one of you who have produced such a reliable newspaper. I savored The Rocky from Western Wyoming years before moving to Colorado. Once upon arriving here, it was such a treat to have The Rocky on my doorstep every morning. To the various carriers who have delivered, please know you have been appreciated.
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I’m thrilled to see the Rocky resurrect itself using the tools that supposedly killed it. Proof that the captains of industry were asleep at the wheel (again) and the CREW knew what to do! GOOD JOB FOLKS! I’ll be reading!
There can’t be too many free voices contributing to a society with freedom of the press. However, free though their voices may be, these talented writers and reporters don’t get their living expenses for free! Therefore, if advertising doesn’t make this endeavor profitable (enough), I hope the group will consider selling to subscribers who wish to get the news via e-mail. Maybe the service levels can be selected depending on the readers interests and priced accordingly (something like cable/dish packages). And just like the newspaper dispensing “machines” on the sidewalks, I hope there will be an option for folks who want who want to go on line and buy the occasional edition. There must be displaced business, marketing and accounting folks available who can help with this. Good luck and keep up the good work!
I’m STILL HERE!
And waiting patiently.
The POST is disappointing me every day….
Tick Tock.
My $10/month CAN go elsewhere…
See “Journalism evolving, not dying.” at Breitbart.com
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Long story short.
I used to subscribe to both papers for decades. Then I saw the trend in both papers to go from reporting the news in a fair and balanced informational format to (for instance) pandering to the concept of it being “ok” and sympathetic to illegals from Mexico crossing the border to come to America.
As a tax paying blue collar person I experienced the illegals undercuting the wage base so many of my co-workers who could not continue in the trades that had allowed them to buy homes, send kids to higher education and keep money in our economy to support all of our lifestyles…So the illegals cause the wages for the trades to be held artificially low that the Americans cannot continue the careers in trades. Illegals send their money back to Mexico, many work under the radar for cash, thus don’t pay taxes, yet send their kids to American schools and then use the emergency room resources…
College degreed people like yourselves in professional jobs think you are insulated from this so maybe you are unaware of the facts the Americans working for a paycheck see as a reality challenging our financial existance. We precieve this as a major challenge to our livelihoods and quality of life that your position chooses to ignore or you instead elevate the illegals “plight” over the working man’s “plight” and you rationalize them over US because they come from such a horrible 3rd world country.
Guess what, I see this invasion of America as being part of our current economic breakdown. Why? One of my co-workers saw illegals purchase in her neighborhood, thus helping to drive up prices, then walk away after the construction boom died-due to no equity down loans-thus crushing that neighborhood’s real estate value. Or how about my Denver General nurse clients that told me about the financial crisis there was partly due to the illegals using the resources of the emergeny room and then giving false information upon being asked to set up payment plans on their way out. Or how about my friends that started working out of high school 20 years ago at the meat packing plant for $14 per hour with benefits. Jobs that now pay the illegals $10 per hour and no benefits. And what about the big businessmen that made their fortunes by using the illegals over the “expensive” Americans, thus reducing the tax base to the government…And then there are my Hispanic friends that see there jobs being undercut in the same way. It is amazing to my friends that still subscribe to the Post how much news coverage and debating views are put forth on the sports stories, yet both the Rocky and the Post can’t find (chose not to) the story about illegals, global warming, new taxes by another name, government spending, etc…or could it be choose not to due to your liberal view of the world.
Sorry. Perhaps you reporters find this rant amusing sitting in your educated, worldly viewpoint. Oh yes, and unemployed. Perhaps you should consider writing articles people want to read. Try opposing viewpoints. Stir up debate. We arn’t dumb people. We want truth, information, facts. Something to mentally chew on. Not be fluffed to.
So this is my reasoning based on my personal and career experiences why I cancelled both my subscriptions over the past few years. Everytime the sales people at the grocery stores as me to subscribe I say “no”, but I will read online or in print once in a while to see if the fair and balanced investigative reporting ever comes back.
Everything I have said here I can back up if you choose to contact me.
I’ll keep checking your new webpaper to see if you wake up and then earn my support…Ron Louis