FINAL EDITION: Goodbye, Dear Rocky Mountain News!

Goodbye, Colorado

"It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to you today. Our time chronicling the life of Denver and Colorado, the nation and the world, is over. Thousands of men and women have worked at this newspaper since William Byers produced its first edition on the banks of Cherry Creek on April 23, 1859. We speak, we believe, for all of them, when we say that it has been an honor to serve you. To have reached this day, the final edition of the Rocky Mountain News, just 55 days shy of its 150th birthday is painful. We will scatter. And all that will be left are the stories we have told, captured on microfilm or in digital archives, devices unimaginable in those first days. But what was present in the paper then and has remained to this day is a belief in this community and the people who make it what it has become and what it will be. We part in sorrow because we know so much lies ahead that will be worth telling, and we will not be there to do so. We have celebrated life in Colorado, praising its ways, but we have warned, too, against steps we thought were mistaken. We have always been a part of this special place, striving to reflect it accurately and with compassion. We hope Coloradans will remember this newspaper fondly from generation to generation, a reminder of Denver’s history – the ambitions, foibles and virtues of its settlers and those who followed. We are confident that you will build on their dreams and find new ways to tell your story. Farewell – and thank you for so many memorable years together." (The Rocky Mountain News 2-27-09, midnight)

My heart is broken. The Rocky Mountain News closed on Friday. I am really sad that this great newspaper was swept away by the recession and by the change in America's reading habits. Nobody bailed out the Rocky, and a lot of good men and women have lost their jobs and their passions.

I am still hoping the Rocky may somehow reemerge as an on-line publication.

Some bloggers berate the main-stream media (MSM), but not me. I know my blogging is nothing compared to professional journalists.

The Rocky Mountain News believed in free speech. They gave ordinary people like me a chance to make our views heard.

The Drunkablog notices something kind of miraculous. The farewell comments of Snapple and JonBen that were posted after the RMN article "Goodby, Colorado" (February 27, midnight) were picked up by the Columbia Journalism Review when they reposted the Rocky's farewell to Colorado!

Drunkablog writes:

Check out the Rocky's front page

Spooky. Sad.

Update: The Columbia Journalism Review notes the Rocky's passing. Check out the first comment they plucked from readers' reactions. Then check out the name on the second comment. Talk about spooky.

The Rocky Mountain News wrote a five-part series of articles about ex-professor Ward Churchill's "scholarship." The Rocky spoke truth to power when they confronted the BIG LIES of Ward Churchill. For me, this series was their finest hour, so I am posting links to the articles below.

"Shadows of Doubt (Overview)

Confirmed: Ward Churchill is a Fraud, Part 1--The Charge: Fraud

Confirmed: Ward Churchill is a Fraud, Part 2--The Charge: Plagiarism

Confirmed: Ward Churchill is a Fraud, Part 3--The Charge of Mischaracterization

Confirmed, Ward Churchill is a Fraud, Part 4--The Charge of Misrepresentation