Newspapers
Rocky Mountain News is shutting down
By Toni Fitzgerald
Feb 27, 2009 - 1:36:14 AM

Three months ago, E.W. Scripps put the Rocky Mountain News up for sale, saying it could no longer afford to bear the financial losses being piled up by Colorado’s oldest newspaper.

Only one interested party bit, but it never provided a viable business plan, and so today the Rocky will publish its last edition, becoming the most notable newspaper casualty of the current recession.

“The Rocky is one of America’s very best examples of what local news organizations need to be in the future. Unfortunately, the partnership’s business model is locked in the past,” said Rich Boehne, Scripps’ chief executive officer, in a statement.

It’s not the first paper to shut down this year, nor the only one struggling.

The Baltimore Examiner published its last edition earlier this month, and several newspaper chains, including Philadelphia Newspaper Group, Tribune Co. and the Journal Register, have filed for bankruptcy in recent months.

It won’t be the last to close, either. Seattle’s Post-Intelligencer, which has been on the block for several weeks, could be next if no buyer emerges. And the San Francisco Chronicle might follow, after owner Hearst said earlier this week it will shutter the paper unless it makes significant cuts to its 1,500-person workforce.

The Rocky had been publishing under a joint operating agreement with the crosstown Denver Post for the past eight years, under which they shared advertising, printing and other business concerns.

Still, the RMN had been losing money, some $16 million last year alone, according to Scripps.

Circulation was down 6.6 percent during the most recent reporting period, for the six months ended September 30, to 210,281, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Sunday circulation was also off 6.8 percent, to 457,235, both rates steeper than the national average.

The paper has about 200 employees.