Comments on: The Death of the Rocky Mountain News: It Didn’t Have to Happen http://treehouse-media.net/blog/the-death-of-the-rocky-mountain-news-a-missed-opportunity/2009/ A re-education camp for print journalists interested in developing multimedia and entrepreneurial survival skills. Fri, 30 Jul 2010 07:54:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Rich Heidorn http://treehouse-media.net/blog/the-death-of-the-rocky-mountain-news-a-missed-opportunity/2009/#comment-256 Rich Heidorn Fri, 27 Feb 2009 18:43:26 +0000 http://treehouse-media.net/blog/?p=289#comment-256 Dan: No, it would not be the Rocky as it was. And yes, it's unrealistic to expect any city of Denver's size to support two newspapers. Scripps' action was a rational business decision given the Rocky's heavy losses and the stranglehold the Post's owner had on them through the JOA. (As the Journal reported today, any purchaser of the Rocky would have entered the market without a printing press, advertiser list or distribution capabilities.) But I guarantee you that most of the editorial staff would choose to continue publishing -- even if online only -- rather than dying altogether. You can "radically shrink" a newspaper by eliminating the circulation and pressroom costs and still put out a credible, respected product. Had Scripps attempted this bitter medicine sooner, the Rocky might be alive in some form today. It's sad, yes. But this is a prescription that other imperiled newspapers should try before it's too late for them as well. Dan:
No, it would not be the Rocky as it was. And yes, it’s unrealistic to expect any city of Denver’s size to support two newspapers. Scripps’ action was a rational business decision given the Rocky’s heavy losses and the stranglehold the Post’s owner had on them through the JOA. (As the Journal reported today, any purchaser of the Rocky would have entered the market without a printing press, advertiser list or distribution capabilities.)

But I guarantee you that most of the editorial staff would choose to continue publishing — even if online only — rather than dying altogether.

You can “radically shrink” a newspaper by eliminating the circulation and pressroom costs and still put out a credible, respected product. Had Scripps attempted this bitter medicine sooner, the Rocky might be alive in some form today.

It’s sad, yes. But this is a prescription that other imperiled newspapers should try before it’s too late for them as well.

]]> By: Dan Knauss http://treehouse-media.net/blog/the-death-of-the-rocky-mountain-news-a-missed-opportunity/2009/#comment-255 Dan Knauss Fri, 27 Feb 2009 18:11:07 +0000 http://treehouse-media.net/blog/?p=289#comment-255 Your headline is not borne out by what follows it, most of all your last paragraph. As Jay Rosen noted yesterday on Twitter, RMN was one paper in a rare two-newspaper town situation and could have failed for that reason any time in the past decade or so. If you are saying that RMN could have survived in a form where its revenue and staff were radically shrunken for online-only production, sure. They didn't want that, why should they? Look for the business model at the dawn of newspapers and newspaper-like products starting in the 1500s. It may shock you. It was a bloody course of centuries in which "the news" evolved. Your headline is not borne out by what follows it, most of all your last paragraph.

As Jay Rosen noted yesterday on Twitter, RMN was one paper in a rare two-newspaper town situation and could have failed for that reason any time in the past decade or so.

If you are saying that RMN could have survived in a form where its revenue and staff were radically shrunken for online-only production, sure. They didn’t want that, why should they?

Look for the business model at the dawn of newspapers and newspaper-like products starting in the 1500s. It may shock you. It was a bloody course of centuries in which “the news” evolved.

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