Newspaper death watch: Rocky road edition

Closed. The Rocky Mountain News finds itself in the same position as the homeowners it recently reported on.

It was a long and winding road for Colorado’s oldest newspaper, the 150-years-young Rocky Mountain News. But in the end, they just couldn’t go on any longer.

The paper’s owner, Scripps, has announced that, unable to find a buyer, the doors on the Rocky will be closed for good Friday.

It’s tough times for the industry, sure, but I had kind of high hopes for the Rocky. According to their own story on the closure:

In the past decade, the Rocky has won four Pulitzer Prizes, more than all but a handful of American papers. Its sports section was named one of the 10 best in the nation this week. Its business section was cited by the Society of American Business Editors and Writers as one of the best in the country last year. And its photo staff is regularly listed among the best in the nation when the top 10 photo newspapers are judged.

The paper was one of the first to shrink to a tabloid size, in 1942, and it slimmed down dramatically in 2007, as well, moving to an almost magazine-like size, with lots of bold colour and photography.

The content was strong, and the presentation was impeccable. Just leaf through some of their front pages here.

Unfortunately, Denver’s a two-newspaper town, and that town just ain’t big enough for the both of them anymore. Don’t think that the Denver Post is going to be happy to see them go, though: in a bid to save money, the two newspapers have been sharing business services — from advertising to a printing press — for eight years.

The Post, by the way, recently wrangled wage and benefit concessions of nearly 12% from its unions, to try and save that business.

I remain confident that, when the dust settles, there will still be professional journalism, but we’re really witnessing a shakeup in the industry, and a lot of babies are being thrown out with the bathwater.