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Thursday, February 26, 2009

Another two-newspaper city bites the dust


The Rocky Mountain News has announced it will publish its final edition tomorrow.

"Denver can't support two newspapers any longer," Scripps (the paper's owners) CEO Rich Boehne told staffers in a noontime announcement today. "It's certainly not good news for you, and it's certainly not good news for Denver."

The Rocky Mountain News, founded in 1859, has won four Pulitzers and earlier this week its sports section was named one of the 10 best in the country.

Last December Boehne said he was trying to find a buyer for the newspaper. Apparently there was interest from one out-of-state party, but when it learned it would cost $100 million on top of the purchase price just to stay afloat, the potential purchaser backed out. The Rocky Mountain News has had a joint operating agreement with the Denver Post for the last seven-plus years. That agreement was more inclusive than the one between the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star Telegram. The Denver model shared all business services -- advertising to printing -- while the local papers, as far as I know, are only sharing editorial content.

"I certainly feel that all of (us) did what we could to make this paper successful, and I want to thank you for that," Rocky Mountain News Editor John Temple told the staff. "To me, this is the very sad end of a beautiful thing."

Next up it appears that papers in Seattle and Tuscon, which are also operating with joint operating agreements, will shut down and word is out that the Hearst corporation is seriously considering closing the hallowed San Francisco Chronicle.

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