Loss of Rocky Mountain News is heartbreaking

Until now, the loss of so many of the nation's newspapers due to the lousy economy and technological changes seemed to be something that happened to other people in far away places.

This past Thursday, it got personal. On that day, E.W. Scripps Co. officials announced that the Rocky Mountain News would publish its last edition on Friday, Feb. 27. No buyer had come forth to purchase the Denver newspaper, which had been put up for sale in December. With that, Colorado's oldest newspaper — a couple of months shy of its 150th anniversary — was shut down, idling 230 employees.

One of the saddest things I've read about these events involved Rocky employees opening a time capsule that was supposed to be saved for the newspaper's 200th anniversary in 2059. Inside it were copies of the Rocky and the rival Denver Post, a book of employees' signatures, a map of Denver and books from Rocky cartoonist Ed Stein and the late columnist Gene Amole, who was an elegant man and writer.

To me, losing the Rocky is like losing a friend. Growing up in Colorado, newspapers were a staple in my home. On Sundays, the living room would be littered with various sections of the paper and we'd talk as a family about things we had read. The Rocky was one of those treasured papers.

Thus began my love affair with newspapers and journalism. Thus explains why the Rocky's demise is so heartbreaking.

The Rocky was more than a source of news, sports, features and opinion. It was my connection to the state's capital. In my high school and college journalism days, the Rocky was my textbook. "This is how 'real' journalists do it," I'd often think as I read it and learned from it.

Once in a great while, when working at The Pueblo Chieftain, Associated Press would pick up one of my stories. That was pretty exciting. The icing on the cake, though, was the rare occasions that the Rocky would run it under my byline.

Monday morning, I walked to the end of my driveway to retrieve my Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune. I thought about how skinny our Monday newspapers had become. Even so, they're both still alive.

Mostly, though, I thought about all the talented Rocky Mountain News employees who didn't have a place to go Monday morning. I thought about their readers, who have yet to fully realize why it matters to have competing voices in their marketplace. I thought about the huge responsibility The Denver Post has to stay lean and mean without its long-time rival breathing down its neck.

Denver is hardly alone in this predicament. Increasingly, newspaper readers have gravitated toward the Internet. As the economy has contracted, so has newspaper advertising for real estate and automobiles. Classified ad revenue has been co-opted by Web sites like Craig's List.

Some of the nation's largest newspapers have filed for bankruptcy protection. Others, like the Rocky Mountain News and the Albuquerque Tribune, both Pulitzer Prize-winning newspapers owned by Scripps, have shuttered in the past year. Recently, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer were put up for sale. All told, four owners of 33 newspapers have sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the past 21/2 months.

It's hard to know how this is all going to play out. I just know that Salt Lakers should not take for granted that they are one of the few remaining cities in the United States that are two-newspaper towns.

Marjorie Cortez, who was schooled by a number of Rocky and Denver Post reporters early in her career, is a Deseret News editorial writer. E-mail her at marjorie@desnews.com