Fate of Rocky Mountain News to be announced

[steveu]

Oh Jesus. I just saw this news and I feel like I could throw up.

I always preferred the RMN when I was out there. Great format, excellent work on stories, wonderful writers. All down the toilet.

Good to see the Post will publish on Saturdays. Now take some money and beef up the rest of the damn paper, because it is an inferior product to the Rocky IMHO. Make the paper better, Dean, if you can do it.

To Tracy and B.G. and the rest of the writing staff, you're in my thoughts. It's a dark day for Denver, which is now just another one-paper town and a less desirable place to visit.

[MileHigh]

My thanks for everyone's thoughts. We all had a sense this day was coming. I woke up this morning with a sense of dread, that it was happening. I work a side job from home in the mornings and decided to work in the building today.

Then there were outside photographers hanging out in the lobby. There was a sense of dread all morning.

Then the e-mail just before noon.

Tomorrow is the last paper. It will be more of a commemorative section. 52-page no-ad wraparound about the Rocky and its people. News inside, but not as much.

We will have limited access to the building after tomorrow. No access to e-mail or our phones or computers. So get everything out by tonight.

Tomorrow, we come in and will go over the financial situation.

We are getting two months of pay, per the WARN act. Our last check for that will be May 8. Which is just great. It's my 40th birthday.

Scripps is negotiating with the Guild on a severance package, and Scripps says they expect there will be one.

I've been coming to Colorado since I was a little kid, when my grandparents retired here in the 1970s. I've always wanted to work and live in this market for as long as I can remember. I've been working in newspapers since I was in high school. It was like I was born with ink in my veins.

After many tries, five years ago, I left the Miami Herald as the Sunday sports editor for what was a dream situation for me. Living and working in Denver.

I don't regret it for one minute.

It's crushing. It's devastating. But, life will go on. I've got great friends. Great family. A great support group.

And if you go to the Rocky home page, I guess they decided to make me the poster face (for now) of the situation. That's me with my head in my hands. Though it probably will change out and will be in a slide show.

Again, my thanks for everyone's thoughts. It really is quite comforting in this time of turbulence.

Chuck Hickey
Night sports editor/sports copy chief/sports copy editor
Rocky Mountain News
(For one more day at least)

[deskslave]

This is as insignificant as it gets in the scheme of things, but in looking at the pictures, I'm struck by this: You're putting a few hundred people out of work. Put a fucking tie on.

[Inky_Wretch]

Damn it, MileHigh. You made it all dusty in here.

[JBHawkEye]

Best of luck to you, MileHigh, and everyone else there.

[Simon_Cowbell]

My thanks for everyone's thoughts. We all had a sense this day was coming. I woke up this morning with a sense of dread, that it was happening. I work a side job from home in the mornings and decided to work in the building today.

Then there were outside photographers hanging out in the lobby. There was a sense of dread all morning.

Then the e-mail just before noon.

Tomorrow is the last paper. It will be more of a commemorative section. 52-page no-ad wraparound about the Rocky and its people. News inside, but not as much.

We will have limited access to the building after tomorrow. No access to e-mail or our phones or computers. So get everything out by tonight.

Tomorrow, we come in and will go over the financial situation.

We are getting two months of pay, per the WARN act. Our last check for that will be May 8. Which is just great. It's my 40th birthday.

Scripps is negotiating with the Guild on a severance package, and Scripps says they expect there will be one.

I've been coming to Colorado since I was a little kid, when my grandparents retired here in the 1970s. I've always wanted to work and live in this market for as long as I can remember. I've been working in newspapers since I was in high school. It was like I was born with ink in my veins.

After many tries, five years ago, I left the Miami Herald as the Sunday sports editor for what was a dream situation for me. Living and working in Denver.

I don't regret it for one minute.

It's crushing. It's devastating. But, life will go on. I've got great friends. Great family. A great support group.

And if you go to the Rocky home page, I guess they decided to make me the poster face (for now) of the situation. That's me with my head in my hands. Though it probably will change out and will be in a slide show.

Again, my thanks for everyone's thoughts. It really is quite comforting in this time of turbulence.

Chuck Hickey
Night sports editor/sports copy chief/sports copy editor
Rocky Mountain News
(For one more day at least)

You have always been one of those legit voices on this site, Chuck.

My thoughts and best wishes of a super-quick rebound are with you and your RMN brothers and sisters.

BTW, I saw a photo of a guy with a child in his arms. Wow.

Don't think I would ever do that.

[steveu]

I'll repeat it, MileHigh. You were the BETTER paper, by far. It's a dark day, yes, and you're in our thoughts.

[zeke12]

Courage, MileHigh.

Dammit all.

[deskslave]

I saw that photo too. Simply shattering. I'm sure he didn't realize what was going to happen when he brought his kid to work. Hopefully she's too young to really understand.

[Mizzougrad96]

I'll repeat it, MileHigh. You were the BETTER paper, by far. It's a dark day, yes, and you're in our thoughts.

They were both great papers. It was one of the few cities where you could say that.

[SF_Express]

MileHigh, you're one of my faves here, and we were in some of the same circles at some point. Best of luck. You have a great attitude in the midst of such a terrible day.

[imjustagirl]

Look, I'll say it. And it might be because it's close to home.

But I think it's really shitty that there's a slideshow up of people finding out they're losing their jobs. If a newspaper did that for some other business that was closing, readers would kill us for exploitation.

It's no less exploitative to have a slideshow of our own.

If I'm the only one who thinks it, so be it. But it hits me all kinds of wrong.

[MileHigh]

I'll repeat it, MileHigh. You were the BETTER paper, by far. It's a dark day, yes, and you're in our thoughts.

Thank you. We went out with a bang. APSE top 10 daily this week.

[Mizzougrad96]

Look, I'll say it. And it might be because it's close to home.

But I think it's really shitty that there's a slideshow up of people finding out they're losing their jobs. If a newspaper did that for some other business that was closing, readers would kill us for exploitation.

It's no less exploitative to have a slideshow of our own.

If I'm the only one who thinks it, so be it. But it hits me all kinds of wrong.

You're not the only one who thinks it.

[Joe Williams]

From the Twitter stuff, it sounds like a commemorative edition for Friday. No doubt big sales to an audience wanting a keepsake, a museum piece. Which is all part of the problem.

As for the two-paper markets, I'm thinking Ft. Lauderdale-Miami qualifies, though there are some distinctions in their targeted audiences. Not so many distinctions in Seattle, Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia or Minneapolis-St. Paul. Guess Salt Lake City doesn't make most lists because of the "church" thing.

Having a good thought for the RMN staffers, all of whom are no doubt too professional to do any profanities in stacked letters at the start of each paragraph of their final stories. But oh, if ever there was a time for it...

[nmmetsfan]

I was thinking the slide show was legit. Those pictures are gripping, and telling. No shame in that.

[NoOneLikesUs]

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/videos/detail/rocky-mountain-news-close/

The video...

[rpmmutant]

Seattle, Tampa, Detroit... What about San Francisco? The dominoes will start to fall quickly.

[Mizzougrad96]

I thought Seattle's was already official. All four of those cities will be down a paper by Dec. 31.

[Simon_Cowbell]

Look, I'll say it. And it might be because it's close to home.

But I think it's really shitty that there's a slideshow up of people finding out they're losing their jobs. If a newspaper did that for some other business that was closing, readers would kill us for exploitation.

It's no less exploitative to have a slideshow of our own.

If I'm the only one who thinks it, so be it. But it hits me all kinds of wrong.

Journalists make their careers on such written and photographic coverage of trauma.

It's news.

[Mizzougrad96]

Seattle, Tampa, Detroit... What about San Francisco? The dominoes will start to fall quickly.

The RMN was about 1,000 times better than any of those sections.

[imjustagirl]

A fair point, Simon. I guess I was looking at it more as an announcement inside a building, as opposed to public trauma. But I can definitely see your point.

[Mizzougrad96]

Look, I'll say it. And it might be because it's close to home.

But I think it's really shitty that there's a slideshow up of people finding out they're losing their jobs. If a newspaper did that for some other business that was closing, readers would kill us for exploitation.

It's no less exploitative to have a slideshow of our own.

If I'm the only one who thinks it, so be it. But it hits me all kinds of wrong.

Journalists make their careers on such written and photographic coverage of trauma.

It's news.

Yeah, it's news.... It didn't make it any easier to watch.

[Appgrad05]

Damn.
Just damn.
Like someone else said, all I can say is, "I am sorry."

[jps]

was at lunch and heard from a friend about this ... awful. haven't gone through the thread just yet, but the second photo on the rail of the story on the linked story ... honest to God puts me on the verge of tears.

edit: cross "on the verge of."