Rocky Mountain Independent, new online news magazine, debuts in Denver

Posted by Liz Webber on July 6, 2009 at 5:18 PM

With the official launch today of the online news magazine the Rocky Mountain Independent, Denver gains another web-only publication in what has been a one-newspaper town since February. RMI, which was founded by staff members of the defunct Rocky Mountain News, promises to deliver local and regional content not covered by local outlets, in areas including news, sports, business and the arts.

"Our focus is on developing original content and creating a place to discuss the news that affects us all," said co-founder Cindy House. "We want to tear down the walls around the newsroom to join the community in that discussion."

A team of full-time writers and editors, paid contributors and independent blogs will produce stories for RMI. Partners include MileHighPolitics.com, a local political blog, and IWantMyRocky.com, whose original mission of saving the Rocky Mountain News has morphed into a state-of-the-media industry commentary.

RMI's founders plan to finance the project through advertising and subscriptions. A yearly membership costs $24, offering perks such as live discussions with reporters and fewer advertisements within articles.

In what may or may not be an indication of RMI's editorial direction, the most popular article tags on the site so far include such diverse topics as Denver baseball team "Colorado Rockies," "Jesus," "archaeology" and "startup." The homepage offers links to original video content as well as outside news sources under the heading "What We're Reading."

The nascent site will have to hit the ground running as it already faces competition from another online news site, INDenverTimes, founded by ex-News reporters with a similar business model which bills itself as "the No. 1 site for insight, perspective and news in Denver, Colorado." RMI can also learn from its competitor's pitfalls. INDenverTimes planned to launch on a subscriber-only model if it achieved 50,000 members by April 23, but had to rethink its financial strategy after failing to reach that goal.

A similar venture, the Seattle PostGlobe, took root in Seattle after the closure of the Post-Intelligencer. The financial situation at the PostGlobe differs notably, however, in that the site relies mostly on small donations from readers. While the publication so far has garnered a fair amount of reader interest, most staff still work on a volunteer basis.

Like any startup, RMI's success depends on its ability to make money. Will RMI's niche news offerings convince Denver-area residents to pay to keep the site alive? With new partnerships already in the works and an impressive list of regular contributers, RMI seems to think so.

Source: Rocky Mountain Independent press release