Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of the final edition of the Rocky Mountain News. Here’s to all the great journalists who worked for the newspaper over the past century, and especially to those who were with it at the end. You deserved better.
It did feel like a family member died. I still have the final issue on my back bar – I’ve yet to put it away.
I’m curious to hear from others what being a one-newspaper town has meant in terms of being able (or in our case, unable)to promote and publicize information to our community. Nonprofits in general, relied heavily on earned media, but corporate pr and agencies also relied heavily on having two bites at the apple when we had both the Post and the Rocky. What about restaurant reviews, theaters and other cultural institutions? Have the audiences declined as a result of losing half of the promotional opportunities? Have smaller newspapers been more important? Has ‘new’ or social media helped? I’m also curious from government PR folks if they’ve had less scrutiny as a result of the Rocky’s disappearance or as a result of the overall economics of newspapers that don’t allow for as intensive investigative reporting.
Andrew, having just attended the RAGAN/PRSA Social Media Summit in Atlanta, I can say for sure that social media is where the power is now.
I have the final edition sealed and safely stored away. Still miss it but have adapted to laptop and coffee just fine. Life goes on. Just too bad it has to go on without the Rocky.
You will miss the Rocky only if you are the over-fifty crowd.
Young people don’t notice and don’t care.