Leadpile’s Blog

It is with sadness that I write about another major newspaper ceasing publication.  Tuesday, March 17th will be the final printed edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.  Just like the Rocky Mountain News, this comes as no surprise as the Hearst Corporation was attempting to sell the newspaper with no success.  The company will retain a small staff to continue with an online-only news venture.

Seattle becomes another major city with just one daily printed major newspaper.  The Seattle Times for the moment remains in operation, but is bleeding debt.  The Times is a family-owned newspaper, and will benefit some by the closing of the competition.  There is an outside chance that Seattle could become the first major city with NO printed major newspapers if the family cannot, or chooses not to, withstand the challenging time ahead.

Sadly, there will be more newspapers closing in the near future, and the San Francisco Chronicle is likely to be next.

It’s a sad day in one of America’s great cities, and for one of the that city’s oldest businesses.  What can be said when a business that is almost 150 years old has closed its doors?  The last edition of the Rocky Mountain News was published this morning.  Yesterday, the owners announced there would be only one more edition of the paper.  It was not a total surprise, as the paper was recently for sale, but shock and sadness was felt in the newsroom, and throughout greater Denver.

There is little blame to be passed around, as the business model of daily newspapers has abruptly changed for the worse.  The poor economy has drastically affected display advertising, and classified advertising has either moved online or been drastically reduced.  The newspaper industry could perhaps overcome the loss of one revenue stream, but they cannot handle the loss or reduction of two revenue streams.  Heck, their third revenue stream (subscriptions) is also down.

Sadly, there are only about ten cities that still have two daily general interest newspapers.  A community is always served better by two voices rather than one.  More newspapers will surely close and some are looking again at charging for online content. (An experiment that hasn’t work for most papers)  If it’s not too late, perhaps some papers can figure out a way to monetize their websites.  (Please contact our V.P. of Marketing, Eugen Ilie, if assistance is needed.)

Tomorrow morning will be sad, and very different for many in Colorado.  Change is usually good, but when it is quickly forced on you, it can be unsettling.  Enjoy that cup of the coffee, and for many, the “Rocky” will be missed, but not forgotten.