R.I.P. Rocky Mountain News: Another One Bites the Dust

Newspapers around the Nation are losing millions. Many are considering closure or undergoing a complete reinvention.

DENVER (Catholic Online) - The CEO of Denver's other newspaper, the Rocky Mountain News, told the staff on Thursday, February 26 at noon; the newspaper was publishing its last edition on Friday.

That means that its 230 employees (reporters, editors and others), will join the swelling ranks of the Nation's unemployed as of Saturday.

There is little doubt that the dire state of the economy contributed to the closure of this newspaper. However, efforts to sell the newspaper at a discounted price did not even yield one serious offer. There is simply a growing recognition that an entire era of communication is now over.

There is much more to this continuing story. Called by locals "the Rocky", this newspaper has a lot of company accompanying it in its death march.

Newspapers around the Nation are losing millions. Many are considering closure or undergoing a complete reinvention. Last week, Hearst announced plans to sell or close the San Francisco Chronicle and the Seattle Post Intelligencer.

There has been the equivalent of a tectonic plate shift in the delivery of news as the Internet swiftly moved from being a novelty or perceived as an "add on" to being the engine that drives the entire train in the world of news delivery.

The news business will simply never be the same.

Only those communications companies which only recognize the tectonic shift and fully embrace all of its massive implications, invitations and opportunities will survive.

The old newspaper industry is dying. The new news model of the integrated media network is standing strong, ready to not only survive but thrive.

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