Eulogy — Rocky Mountain News

By Friday February 27, 2009

Perhaps they should have done more of these videos years ago.



32 Comments
  1. brm says:
    2/27/2009 at 10:13 am

    “unthinkable a few months ago”

    Not for people who GET the internet, dude.

    Reply
  2. Paddy-O says:
    2/27/2009 at 10:18 am

    “After peaking in 1984, at 63 million copies, the daily circulation of American papers fell steadily at a rate of about 1 percent a year…”

    The “decline” started WELL before the influence of the internet. Best if newspapers figure out WHY that was if they want to save themselves…

    Reply
  3. brm says:
    2/27/2009 at 10:22 am

    #2:

    Isn’t 1984 around the time the LA Times went after some guys running classified ads on a BBS? Anyone remember this?

    Reply
  4. emh924a says:
    2/27/2009 at 10:25 am

    used to be funny when youd hear about a paper going under but watching the story the heartbreak and the sadness the people who really care about their job and the real people behind the story it is sad an maybe one day it will be one of us that cares about our job going through this no matter what our job is

    Reply
  5. brm says:
    2/27/2009 at 10:34 am

    #4:

    All I saw in this video is a bunch of people who (still) don’t get the internet, can’t adapt, and expect their business model to be propped up simply because they *feel* that it’s valuable.

    These people were lashing out at bloggers and craigslist, but they should be angry at the owners for loosing money on what appears to be a duopoly.

    If you’re so married to one job, and can’t imagine ever doing anything else, be prepared for bad times no matter what the economy is doing.

    Reply
  6. Paddy-O says:
    2/27/2009 at 10:41 am

    Another look at print media, tech mags no more.

    http://technologizer.com/2009/02/27/computer-shopper-a-magazine-no-more/

    Sorry, John. Not pimping for Harry, but a good perspective…

    Reply
  7. Carcarius says:
    2/27/2009 at 11:04 am

    #3 – good point. We can still blame the Internet. This was inevitable and we’ll see more of these going down. I only read a newspaper when I travel and get the paper for free at a hotel. Otherwise I get my content digitally.

    Reply
  8. MPL says:
    2/27/2009 at 11:09 am

    If having a printed newspaper is such a good ting why don’t they form co-op of some sort and continue to provide such noble important and …. printed revelations separated from evil big business.

    Reply
  9. . says:
    2/27/2009 at 11:25 am

    Good riddance.

    Reply
  10. spectre013 says:
    2/27/2009 at 11:44 am

    #5

    The thing here is the Rocky got the Internet and did more online then most newspapers. So don’t judge just one one video.

    The issues with most newspaper is you just can change a business model over night. I worked for a newspaper and we had one of our biggest years ever in ’06-’07 and it all fell apart in ’08. Show me a business that can develop a new business model and Implement in one year.

    #9
    Hope you are shown more compassion when you lose your job.

    Reply
  11. . says:
    2/27/2009 at 11:53 am

    #10

    I don’t work.

    Reply
  12. nazimbeltran says:
    2/27/2009 at 12:04 pm

    The video is an amazing insight into the future all across all fields. As John and Adam have been saying for the last 6 months, we are heading towards uncharted territories. All business models will be blown to pieces and as the Rocky proved even grasping new tech is not a lifesaver.
    As an American living n Italy I am starting to see this in my own company (web agency), clients holding back on payments, advertising revenues dropping, etc.
    Thanks John for showing such a heart warming reality of what people of all nations are going through…

    Reply
  13. Zybch says:
    2/27/2009 at 12:14 pm

    God, their choice of repetitive music playing again and again and again shows these guys needed to be closed down, for the sake of the children who might be listening.

    Reply
  14. Somebody_Else says:
    2/27/2009 at 12:33 pm

    People still read newspapers?

    Trying to feel sorry for these guys is like trying to feel sorry for a typewriter repairman.

    Reply
  15. US says:
    2/27/2009 at 12:44 pm

    I thought it was interesting that all the furniture in those offices looked new and they had expensive chairs. Where I work we are using cubicles that are probably 20 years out and chairs almost as old to save money. Everything here looked clean, new, and coordinated. Wonder how much unnecessary spending they were doing.

    I’d like to see more papers spun back out as small, independent companies. There isn’t much money in them to be made so the big companies are bleeding them dry. There are a lot of local people that would be happy to own and run a newspaper with the thin margins.

    Reply
  16. Colin says:
    2/27/2009 at 1:43 pm

    Liberal bias media is getting theirs now… sorry folks, you can’t tick off so many people for so long and not have it bite you in the arse.

    Reply
  17. bob says:
    2/27/2009 at 2:25 pm

    Sad that their business has failed. Also that they still don’t understand.

    Blame Craigslist, yes – but bloggers? Bizarre.

    Reply
  18. chuck says:
    2/27/2009 at 2:37 pm

    For a mere $75 billion, Obama could pay for a newspaper subscription for every person in the country, to the newspaper of their choice.

    Problem solved.

    After all, isn’t the government the solution to all our problems?

    Reply
  19. Bubb says:
    2/27/2009 at 3:01 pm

    The end of the News was the joint operating agreement they went into with the Post, after this took place they were no longer in any competition and their content was the same in both papers. They were only diffrent in name.

    Reply
  20. OmegaMan says:
    2/27/2009 at 3:21 pm

    Franky most blogs provide no original content except the spouting of opinions which is always free and forthcoming….but due diligence to actually pen an original piece via talking to people and doing things; almost never.

    At what point will people or advertisers begin to pay for what they now expect for free? This blog DU is a great finder of stories, but very limited on original content. DU even started asking for donations to not have one advertisement. It has an interesting economic model, just to republish others content and allow people to comment on it.

    That is why news organizations are failing, they don’t get anything from this blog doing a reposted link, but this blog makes money off of advertisements. (Granted not a lot..but bear with me).

    Prediction: Since the transmission of porn is what fuels the growth of ideas and concepts on the internet…once they figure out a system to stop people from getting porn for free, look at other content providers to do the same and news organizations will again rise once people begin to pay for the service of original content.

    That’s just my opinion…I could be wrong.

    Reply

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