"While Jared Polis and the nutroots took credit for killing the paper edition of the Rocky Mountain News, these individuals failed in their nefarious plot. Many of the former Rocky Mountain News staff members migrated to the internet to continue their work.

Since the Denver Post and the Joint Operating Agreement with the late Rocky does not allow the actual "Rocky Mountain News" moniker, former Rocky reporters and commentators post at the former advocacy site I Want My Rocky."

"Given the cutting at The Denver Post and fears that the Rocky Mountain News could soon be shuttered (as I noted yesterday), I’ve assembled some food for thought in hopes that somebody with financial know-how and a sense of civic responsibility might be reading this.

Let’s start with Salon, which laments the “death of news” at the dawn of the Information Age, an article that wonders who exactly will carry out the thankless gumshoe reporting if newspapers fade away."

"Multiple inside sources say that the Denver Post has interviewed numerous Rocky Mountain News staffers with an eye toward bringing a handful of Rocky types aboard when and if the tabloid stops publishing. No names have been confirmed at this writing."

"The mood at last night's Rocky Mountain News candlelight migil (half march, half vigil --- so coined, in the tradition of the Martin Luther King Day Marade, by someone cleverer than me) was light. Although the details of the event hinted at the possibility of theatrics, the actual gathering felt more like a class reunion with a cause."

"Imagine a world without both the Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News. It isn't beyond the realm of possibility that the recession could drive them both out of business.
The recession and some bad blood. The Denver Post is calling it a "Newspaper War."

It is being reported that while Scripps, which owns the Rocky Mountain News and one half of the Denver Newspaper Agency, was eating $11 million in operating costs last year, The Denver Post was borrowing a similar amount from the DNA to meet its payroll."

"When he arrived at his office yesterday, Rocky Mountain News editor/publisher/president John Temple was greeted by an e-mail letting him know about a report from KOA radio claiming that executives from E.W. Scripps, the paper's owner, which put it up for sale last month, would be arriving in the next 24 to 48 hours to announce its fate. Temple's answer to this note was two words long: "It's bullshit.""

"Yesterday, numerous Rocky Mountain News employees received a memo letting them know that a bonus they were supposed to receive today had been delayed and would now be included in their January 30 paychecks. In all likelihood, this was a simple processing glitch of the sort that happens routinely at companies all over America. But given that today is the deadline imposed by E.W. Scripps, the Rocky's owner, for parties interested in purchasing the paper to submit bids, some employees are worried that this little extra will never materialize."

"Word that the Rocky Mountain News has gotten a temporary reprieve from its owner, E.W. Scripps, which is collecting offers to buy the paper through Friday, shouldn't be interpreted as a sign of renewed stability in Denver daily newspapering. No matter what happens with the Rocky and the Denver Post in the coming days and weeks, it's clear that the joint-operating agreement linking the two papers hasn't provided the sort of decades-long guarantee of print competition that was promised."

"Ever notice how politicians get a lot more forthright when they're out of office? Today's example comes from Cathy Donahue, a former Denver City Council member. In a letter published in today's Rocky Mountain News, Donahue expresses her fondness for the Rocky while at the same time denigrating the Denver Post -- which will be the city's sole newspaper if a buyer for the Rocky isn't found, and soon.

"Rumors are rife at the Rocky Mountain News that representatives from E.W. Scripps, the tabloid's owner, will come to Denver this week to announce that a buyer for the paper has not been found. Why? Scripps CEO Rich Boehne told Westword and other news agencies that his firm would consider its options, including a possible closure of the paper, if a deal to sell the Rocky wasn't in place by the middle of January -- and Friday represents that midpoint."

""You're a hard lady to get a hold of," the caller said. "I've been trying to find out why you let your Rocky Mountain News subscription expire."

I stared at the receiver. Um, it seems that the future of the News might be a little uncertain, I said.

"Oh, it's just being sold. The subscription would continue."

"Some of the writers over at the Rocky have started a site, I Want My Rocky, dedicated to saving their newspaper.

Good luck with that. I doubt that those participating believe that they're doing anything other than sharing memories, more or less resigned to the demise of their beloved paper. A letter-writing campaign may have given us one more miserable half-season of Star Trek, but owners are more savvy now. "