Lament for The Rocky

When the Rocky Mountain News closed forever on Friday (Feb. 27), it was with a huge lump in my throat that I read the news and watched the video and slideshow of the announcement in the Denver paper's newsroom.
The "Rocky," as they call it in Colorado, was 150 years old and had covered the state and region well, winning Pulitzer Prizes and kudos for its varied coverage.
During the Denver Broncos' surge to two Super Bowls with John Elway in the late 1990s, I would go online and read all about it on the Rocky's website (and that of its competitor, the Denver Post, though I always preferred the Rocky's).
When that bizarre and disturbing tale regarding the murder of JonBenet Ramsey occurred in Colorado, the Rocky had a site within its website dedicated to updates.
It was a good paper.
And now it's dead and its death is monumental in that the Rocky is the first major daily to go under as the Great Depression 2 hovers over us all — and over the newspaper/media industry with an intense focus.
The Seattle P.I., the San Francisco Chronicle, the Tucson Citizen are all on the brink of closing, just three in a long, long list of newspapers either winding down for good or going through unprecedented changes.
Myriad papers in the United States have responded to the recession and sky-high newsprint prices (they are almost doubt per tonne today than they were a year ago) by cutting back on publishing days, home delivery and staff.
Detroit's two dailies — the Free Press and News — have gone to thrice-weekly home delivery. In Madision, the capital of Wisconsin and a huge university town, one daily (State Journal) remains in printed form, while the second daily (Capital Times) decided in April 2008 to become an online paper.
In Philadelphia, the owner of that city's two dailies (Inquirer and Daily News) have filed for bankruptcy protection, which has been the status of the Tribune Company (Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times) for some time.
And the reports from Newfoundland to B.C., down to California and across to Florida, and back up to Maine are the same — a trail of downsized newspapers, shut-down newspapers, smaller-format newspapers.
British Columbia and Canada are not immune, either.
The challenges facing Canwest (publisher of the Vancouver Sun and Province) are well-known. CTV just this week announced staggering losses of $100-million-plus among its TV stations. Quebecor is struggling. And even the stalwart Globe and Mail continues with its plan to cut 10 per cent of its staff.
I work for Black Press, which is owned by David Black (no relation to Conrad Black). Torstar Corporation (which published the Toronto Star, a host of community papers in Ontario and Harlequin Books) has a 19 per cent stake in the company.
TorStar is in tough, and reported losses of $4.5 million with Black Press last year. It has been reported that the bulk of the losses stem from Black Press's ownership of the Akron (Ohio) Beacon-Journal.
Nor surprisingly, even our company is making hard decisions.
A few papers (Surrey Leader, Peace Arch News, Chilliwack Progress and Penticton Western News) have gone to twice-a-week publishing from three-times-a-week.
Staff cuts have occurred (at KTW, attrition was employed in not replacing a reporting position after a reporter left voluntarily).
Essentially, we are in the same boat as everyone else whose livelihood relies on advertising.
There are small, bright spots amid the carnage — we have managed to hold onto a summer reporter position this year.
Newspapers are my lifeblood and they will never go away entirely. But the traditional ink-on-paper model?
Two years ago, I would have said they would never die.
Today? I am less certain than I ever have been.
And I would be very worried if I was a journalism student midway through his studies because, by the time this mess shakes out, the Rocky will be known as the first in a long line of newspaper dominos that have fallen.