Go to the mobile version of this Web site.

Login | Contact Us | Site Map | Paid archives | Electronic edition | Subscription Questions | Extras

Surprise announcement rattles newsroom staff

By Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published December 4, 2008 at 3:40 p.m.
Updated December 4, 2008 at 11:55 p.m.

Text size  
Rocky Mountain News editorial employees listen in the newsroom Thursday morning to the announcement that the newspaper is being put up for sale.

Photo by George Kochaniec Jr. / The Rocky

Rocky Mountain News editorial employees listen in the newsroom Thursday morning to the announcement that the newspaper is being put up for sale.



SPECIAL SECTION » The Rocky Mountain News is for sale. On December 4, 2008, E.W. Scripps, the owner of Colorado’s oldest newspaper, said if a buyer does not step forward it will pursue other options – including closure.

Click to read stories about the sale, and see what other news outlets have been saying about the paper since the announcement.

Related Stories

More More Business

More stories »

Last month the Rocky Mountain News' managing editor swept through the newsroom to assure employees that no layoffs were planned.

So the word shock is probably an understatement to describe the mood in the newsroom Thursday, when the Rocky's owner announced that it was putting the newspaper up for sale.

"Let's see," columnist Mike Littwin said, looking at his watch. "It's 12:20 and no jumpers yet."

Littwin, who loves to quote Animal House, later had some staffers laughing with his rendition of John Belushi's infamous, "Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?" speech.

But the news clearly rattled veterans and newcomers alike. Some cried. Some called sources to ask about jobs. Some did both.

Statehouse reporter Ed Sea lover left the Colorado Springs Gazette in July to begin work for the paper. The look on his face said it all. "I knew coming here that this was an uncertain business," he said, "but I came here because it's a good paper, which makes this that much harder."

When the paper offered buyouts in May 2007, Business Editor Rob Reuteman passed on the opportunity.

"I said, 'Screw it. I'll go down with the ship.' And I don't have any regrets. I've had fun every day - until now, and I'm still having some fun," he said.

Business reporters Roger Fillion and Joanne Kelley are married. He joined the paper six years ago. She signed on five years ago after the publication she was working for folded.

"I was hopeful we could get through the next couple of years," she said. "This is what I love to do."

One of the paper's veterans, Janet Reeves, began 26 years ago as a lab tech. She's now the senior editor for multimedia and the Pulitzer Prize-winning photo staff .

"Like everyone, I am shocked, even though in the newspaper industry we shouldn't be," she said. "I'm very disappointed if this means the end of the Rocky Mountain News. It's a very special place."

After the announcement, Deputy Sports Editor Kevin Huhn, known as "Moose," went back to work putting out the paper.

"It's out of my hands," he said. "I'm buying into the 'I've got a job to do.' "

Comments

  • December 4, 2008

    4:07 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    HopiMedicineMan writes:

    Not to mention, Lynn Bartels, author of this piece, is pretty shaken up as well. Readers don’t recieve the full force of her personality, impossible not to love.

  • December 4, 2008

    4:12 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    jolinegkg writes:

    Lynn, my thoughts are with you. I know how awful this feels (and I know how awful Scripps is to do this because they did it to me), but I also know you can and will land safely no matter what happens.

  • December 4, 2008

    4:24 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    HopiMedicineMan writes:

    Staffers were told no lay offs. Now they have a month. I'm sure the investigation will find Scripps credit line was cut. To the staff, this is a nice place to work and all that. But to the community the Rocky Mountain New is an institution covering several generations.

  • December 4, 2008

    4:34 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Classof65 writes:

    Although we no longer live in Colorado, my husband and I fondly remember the Rocky Mountain News -- in fact, it was the Rocky that led to our 17 years of life in the Denver area. We had always vacationed in Colorado and consulted the RMN when we knew we wanted to move to the state. The Rocky provided job search information which proved invaluable, housing information that led us to the purchase of a home in Castle Rock, and up-to-date and reliable news of the world, the nation, the state and the local area. We loved the tabloid format and regarded the columnists as part of our extended family. I can't imagine a day without consulting the RMN. I hope that whoever purchases the paper will continue to publish the News and will keep all the current staff. No matter what happens, please know that you've all made a difference in many lives and will live on fondly in our memories of Colorado.
    Classof65

  • December 4, 2008

    5:45 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    HopiMedicineMan writes:

    Class of 65,
    I agree generally with you. But if you considered the columnists as extended family, you're probably a Democrat.

  • December 4, 2008

    8:32 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Glenwood_73 writes:

    Lynn,

    You are all class acts, professionally and personally. If this turns out to be the conclusion of the Rocky Mountain News's 150-year run, I know that you all have too much talent and drive not to end up in a better place eventually.

    All my best.

  • December 4, 2008

    10:01 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    chronic writes:

    maybe it was the lack of a dress code that started the downward slide ... yikes.

  • December 4, 2008

    11:35 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    dkmartin writes:

    Tonight Gene Amole weeps with all the RMN staff who strive daily to publish and distribute the News we so take for granted.

  • December 5, 2008

    9:16 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Maple writes:

    I am devastated by this news... I think the majority of readers take for granted the amount of blood sweat and tears that is poured into newspaper production.

    I left the business a few years ago after feeling uncertain about its future and now am so sad to see this happening to one of the nation's best papers. I know I'm not alone in hoping for a buyout from someone with vision who knows how important it is that papers like the Rocky keep doing what they do so well ...

  • December 5, 2008

    11:06 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    GunnyBob writes:

    Unfortunately for the employees of the RMN, the leadership of the paper doesn't seem to be able to comprehend how editorials that call for the release of terrorists into US society might annoy readers, and how vile hate like that spewed by Campos and Salzman, and the shrill antics of Littwin as a "news" columnist who should have been called an opinion columnist (two very different things, supposedly), add to the readership's likelihood of bailing.

    The cascade leadership failure at the Rocky is 100% responsible for this mess and now a lot of folks are going to be unemployed because of that failure.

  • December 5, 2008

    1:51 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    AZCrunch writes:

    Another blow to democracy. I have just finished teaching my honors freshmen about the positives and negatives of propaganda and how a reduced field of media opens society to governmental control and biased masquerading as truth, justice and the American Way.
    To have a paper such as the Rocky in the line of fire, to watch the East Valley Tribune here in Arizona fall to four days a week and a reduced staff plus the Arizona Republic cut yet another 100 jobs, and to have seen the Albuquerque Tribune fall into history scares me beyond seeing friends lose jobs. Whether a person likes it or not, a free media is a cornerstone of democracy. No one should be jumping for joy at the fall of print and the fast reliance to the brevity of TV or unadulterated forum of the internet.
    To all at the Rocky, fight hard. You have a great paper and I pray it will still be here a year from now.
    Cary L. Tyler
    Arizona