"We want our Rocky" say former Rocky Mountain News staff

Posted by Helena Deards on March 6, 2009 at 12:16 PM

Friday 27th February saw the last ever edition of the Rocky Mountain News, after it became "a victim of changing times in our industry and huge economic challenges" according to Ricky Boehne, CEO of Rocky owner E.W. Scripps. However, now that the presses have stopped, many former staffers have migrated to the employee created I want my Rocky online-only news site.

I want my Rocky was created by Rocky Mountain News employees in December, initially to fight for the newspaper and as a "way for readers to send in their comments" explains Mel Pomponio, former Rocky Union chair and presentation editor, in a video entitled 'The Final Edition' on the new site. But it seems that the project has gone further now that the RMN is no more; many of its former journalists have begun publishing regularly on the site.

Kevin Flynn, for example, is one of the creators of I want my Rocky and has published four articles on the site so far this week. The former transportation reporter has followed up on issues he began at the publication - the Denver decision to adjust traffic light signal timing following a RMN campaign, for example - as well as new, local reporting. It isn't particularly news breaking stuff, but is the kind of local journalism for which the Rocky was valued.

Speaking to Poynter, Steve Foster, former assistant sports editor and another I want my Rocky creator explains that even if the Rocky Mountain News wasn't deemed to be worth saving, Rocky journalism should be, "the fact that was constantly hammered home to us, whenever we asked, is that the newspaper has no value... I believe I have value. There's reporters who have real value". Similarly, on Monday Foster launched a baseball news site entitled Inside the Rockies, to cover the Colorado Rockies with two other former Rocky sports reporters.

The Rocky Mountain News staffers are not the first to take matters into their own hands; in Arizona former East Valley Tribune journalists run both the Arizona Guardian and Heat City. Whilst the Tribune, unlike the Rocky, is still in existence its former employees decided that they wanted to carry on reporting - and so launched these the Arizona Guardian. Another publication looking at an online-only future is the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which looks likely to stop the presses but continue on the web.

Whilst such projects are undeniably a way of maintaining the comprehensive local coverage, which is all too often falling victim of budget cuts in the US, their sustainability is a constant issue. The sentiments behind the launches are admirable, but as long-term publications supporting a staff and website, their future looks undecided. To realistically maintain a website and team of reporters, making money is essential - and a lack of revenue is the reason for the job losses, closures and cutbacks which resulted in these new publications in the first place. However, there is much to be said for online-only news sites, and with the space for evolution and experimentation that comes with them, they could easily be part of a future solution.

Source: Poynter, I want my Rocky