A 150 year paper folds up

**Viking Prince** · February 26, 2009, 01:35 PM

As changes continue in this modern age:

Rocky Mountain News to end
02/26/2009 12:26 PM MST
A nearly 150-year publishing run will end tomorrow as the Rocky Mountain News prints its final edition. Above, Scripps CEO Rich Boehne arrives at DIA this morning to tell the staff.

**Mikelus Trento** · February 26, 2009, 01:40 PM

When I grew up in Denver the respected paper was the Denver Post. The News was viewed in a way that sounds similar to the way the Sun (?) is in England, more tabloid than substance. I have no idea of their reputations in more recent times.

They did have a better sports section though, so I read it often.

Tis sad what is happening to the newspaper industry, since its just not quite the same looking at a computer with your morning coffee.

**Hunter Makoy** · February 27, 2009, 12:47 AM

Originally Posted by Mikelus Trento

When I grew up in Denver the respected paper was the Denver Post. The News was viewed in a way that sounds similar to the way the Sun (?) is in England, more tabloid than substance. I have no idea of their reputations in more recent times.

They did have a better sports section though, so I read it often.

Tis sad what is happening to the newspaper industry, since its just not quite the same looking at a computer with your morning coffee.

I agree, its just not the same. The newspaper industry (at least the actual paper part) has been dying for years now though thanks to the internet. Its still sad to see them actually start to disappear. Plus the online newspaper isn't near as good at covering up a spot where your dog peed on the floor.

**danzig** · February 27, 2009, 01:33 AM

Originally Posted by Hunter Makoy

I agree, its just not the same. The newspaper industry (at least the actual paper part) has been dying for years now though thanks to the internet. Its still sad to see them actually start to disappear. Plus the online newspaper isn't near as good at covering up a spot where your dog peed on the floor.

Well if amazon would lower the price of the Kindle would have an alternative

**CDMan477** · February 26, 2009, 01:41 PM

Newspapers are dying all over the country. I don't know whether I should be sad, or simply say something "better" has come along. Is the U.S. postal service to follow?

**danzig** · February 26, 2009, 06:28 PM

Originally Posted by CDMan477

Newspapers are dying all over the country. I don't know whether I should be sad, or simply say something "better" has come along. Is the U.S. postal service to follow?

Yep newspapers are going the route of the horse and carriage it seems. The current economic mess is just speeding it along rather then being the cause. Good point about postal service, they have already toyed with the idea of cutting back service a day or two. I imagine postal service will last quite a bit longer then newspapers but it too is destined for a trip to graveyard. 10billion drop in volume last year, biggest drop ever for them. If people need to get something in the hands of another person more often its using Fed Ex.

**Kiljan Arslan** · February 26, 2009, 06:39 PM

Originally Posted by danzig

Yep newspapers are going the route of the horse and carriage it seems. The current economic mess is just speeding it along rather then being the cause. Good point about postal service, they have already toyed with the idea of cutting back service a day or two. I imagine postal service will last quite a bit longer then newspapers but it too is destined for a trip to graveyard. 10billion drop in volume last year, biggest drop ever for them. If people need to get something in the hands of another person more often its using Fed Ex.

or they could try being more competitive.

**CDMan477** · February 26, 2009, 06:43 PM

Originally Posted by Kiljan Arslan

or they could try being more competitive.

Problem is the USps has to deliver your regular stock of the mill letters which is what kills them. If they only delivered parcels like UPS, FedEx and the like, they would be fine. Ben would be crying right now i'd imagine.

**danzig** · February 26, 2009, 06:46 PM

Originally Posted by Kiljan Arslan

or they could try being more competitive.

For postal service Cdman hits it on he head imo, for newspapers there are simply too many of them fighting over a drastically declining customer base.

**CDMan477** · February 26, 2009, 06:57 PM

Originally Posted by danzig

For postal service Cdman hits it on he head imo, for newspapers there are simply too many of them fighting over a drastically declining customer base.

In the end, it may be simple convenience. I'll be the first here to admit I'm just plain lazy.

Why drive somewhere or even walk onto my front lawn to get a paper when I can just plop down on the couch and read the same articles sometimes a day early depending on when they are written. The internet is even faster than TV news programs. Until they can beam the info via satellite directly to my brain, I don't see a faster more convenient alternative.

**eddy_purpus** · February 26, 2009, 02:18 PM

This is really bad ....
=o
"guy living in Denver"

**Boer** · February 26, 2009, 04:18 PM

I've been away at college, and this is the way I find out about the Rocky Mountain News going under. That's too bad, but to be honest I only ever read it when there was a paper in my school's library.

**JP226** · February 26, 2009, 06:31 PM

Out with the old in with the new.

**Viking Prince** · February 27, 2009, 12:27 AM

The print version of newspapers had a market model based upon classified ad revenue. They have not figured out a new model. The Denver market is a bit of an extreme example of the failure to find a new model since there were two papers. Even the smaller one paper markets are in trouble though.

The future may be the free newspapers that can be picked up on the corner in urban areas. This model means the suburban and rural print market may cease to exist for daily news. The free paper news is mostly wire service which means the creation aspect of the local news is not solved yet. The broadcast media has solved the local coverage by simply doing very little by free riding off of the local daily printed news. Newspapers, to survive, may need to follow the same pattern. News reporting thus needs to be less and cover multiple media venues with the same information. No competition to get the story and no search for the hard to get and hard to write stories.

Another big failure is offering a profitable product that is friendly and attractive to youth -- the youth market gets their news from digits in the wireless connections of laptopcell phone, or pda. The newspapers have yet to figure out how to generate profit from the internet.

Now whether I get the local obituary or sports scores may not matter. Knowing what the local park board is doing does matter and ABC network news is not covering the local park board.

RIP -- Denver's Rocky Mountain News

**jankren** · February 27, 2009, 12:49 AM

I havent read the newspapers for a long time. The only papers I read are The Globe and National Enquirer. They are great stuff!

**The Good** · February 27, 2009, 12:53 AM

I like to read newspapers, so any blow to the traditional written newspaper isn't a nice thing for me. I more often read my news on the internet, but there's something about sitting down in a nice chair alone by a fireplace, perhaps, reading on the politics, economics, and various other articles.