In Denver, Residents Lament the Closing of a Newspaper

[Principessa]

In Denver, Residents Lament the Closing of a Newspaper

By CHRISTINE TATUM

DENVER — The people of Denver woke up on Saturday for the first time in a one newspaper town. After 150 years, The Rocky Mountain News — The Rocky, as it was called — was closed for good by its owner, the E. W. Scripps Company. It was the mention of daily newspapers, not the strong black coffee, that curled lips among the breakfast crowd at Annie’s Café and Bar on Denver’s gritty East Colfax Avenue. The kitschy restaurant, decorated with an assortment of vintage lunch boxes and toys, had the one remaining large paper in town, The Denver Post, to offer customers. There were not many takers — and not because diners were carrying a torch for The Rocky. “I don’t know anyone my age who has time in the morning to read a newspaper,” said Chris Olivier, 37, a retail manager who said he gets his daily news from dozens of Web sites and a few niche publications circulating in specific Denver neighborhoods. “It’s sad to see such a huge part of our state’s history lost, but the market is moving, and newspapers haven’t moved with it. They don’t get the Web.”

Dozens of The Rocky’s empty newspaper boxes dotted the drive east from Annie’s to a

Starbucks in Denver’s growing Stapleton neighborhood, where residents enjoy abundant access to wireless networks. As the 230 members of the paper’s editorial staff hastily packed up their desks and discarded files that had been meticulously kept for decades on the state’s most powerful people and companies, Coloradans who had not bought a newspaper in years scoured news racks for The Rocky’s last edition. “I want one for sentimental value,” said Jason Perez, 36, a salesman, who said he had not subscribed to a Colorado newspaper in several years. “The Rocky has always been more integrated in the community than The Post. It’s the paper that talks straight to you. The Post is the more academic and aloof observer.”

When I was growing up in rural New Jersey we got 2 papers every day. The New York Daily News, for news of the country, and beyond, and the Asbury Park Press, which was the daily local newspaper. By the time I was in high school the cost of the Daily News had more than tripled and so we only got it on Sundays. We continued to get the Asbury Park Press delivered daily though.

When I was in grad school, in Washington, DC, I got the Sunday New York Times because the book section was a requirement for one of my classes. I would also get the Sunday Washington Post because they had a good comics section.

We get the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Sunday and truthfully it is often Thursday before I get thru all the sections which I like to read. Like many people find I get more news from the online editions of local, national and international newspapers. I guess that contributes to their demise. I still enjoy those rare times when I can sit down with a cup of coffee and the Sunday paper and read peacefully.


Do you still get a daily newspaper? Which one(s)? Which online papers do you read?

 

[nudeyorker]

Sad thing is I think like me, most people are getting their news on the www, I used to read the NY Post in the morning and the NY Times at night, now I look at AM New York in the morning on the way to work, I look at CNN when I get to work, and watch ABC News when I get home.
Sadly the only day I look at the Times anymore is Sunday!

 

[pym]

I think newspapers are doomed.....
For several reasons.
People are very internet savy, which lets them pick there own brand of news. Thus you are not limited to a local paper that may have a political/social class agenda that slants the reporting.
There is no wasted natural resources with news on a monitor.
One less bill/paperboy to pay.
It does kill off the nieghborhood paper and local reporter jobs though.....
Things move on.

 

[lucky8]

This is kind of funny...

and yes, I buy the WSJ, although it's not daily...and online wise, pretty much just Bloomberg, Yahoo occasionally just to see if shit is hitting the fan outside the realm of business/economy

 

[lucky8]

I think newspapers are doomed.....
For several reasons.
People are very internet savy, which lets them pick there own brand of news. Thus you are not limited to a local paper that may have a political/social class agenda that slants the reporting.
There is no wasted natural resources with news on a monitor.
One less bill/paperboy to pay.
It does kill off the nieghborhood paper and local reporter jobs though.....
Things move on.

Unfortunately though, many people will only read, believe, or search for news that is aligned with their own political beliefs, which only adds to the division, ignorance, and egos of people in both parties...we have PLENTY of examples of that around here...not to mention the internet is FULL of false information, and many people are too politically blind to notice

 

[pym]

Unfortunately though, many people will only read, believe, or search for news that is aligned with their own political beliefs, which only adds to the division, ignorance, and egos of people in both parties...we have PLENTY of examples of that around here...not to mention the internet is FULL of false information, and many people are too politically blind to notice

'YOU' , simply must TELL ME......where shall i go for the 'TRUTH'. PLEASE......!!!! tell me which source of news is the 'TRUTH'. I'm just itchin' to Know where i can find the 'TRUTH'.

 

[lucky8]

The truth lies within

 

[pym]

The truth lies within

Now Thats a CHEAP subscription!

 

[faceking]

Dawwwwwwwwwwwwwww, too bad.

The internet was only the straw that broke this camels back.

Newspapers across America:

- hate the military
- hate religion
- guilt white ppl (esp. men)
- hate the military
- defend terrorists and extremist Islam
- loathe heterosexuality
- take a "nuetral" stance on NAMBLA
- hate, attack, and go after local law enforcement.

Curious given the above, who actually reads a major city newspaper? They are riddled more to the left than NPR, MSNBC and the major networks combined.

Ce's t la vie.

 

[faceking]

P.S. - Buh bye.

 

[pym]

P.S. - Buh bye.

Don't let the door hit ya in the ass SPLOOGEY!

 

[Pecker]

Evidently the citizens of Denver weren't lamenting enough to buy a newspaper or they'd still be in business.

 

[crv]

I was a loyal Rocky reader...now it's the Denver Post.

 

[B_Nick4444]

how's The Rocky Mountain Oyster doing?