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Scripps execs say paper a bargain

By Sara Burnett, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published December 5, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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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.

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The Rocky Mountain News needs a savior. Or at least someone more optimistic about its future than its current owner, the E.W. Scripps Co.

Sitting down with reporters from a half dozen local media outlets and fielding phone calls from an equal number of national publications, the two men sent from Cincinnati to break the news of the Rocky's sale said Thursday afternoon it is their greatest hope a buyer will be found.

They spoke repeatedly of their pride in the Rocky, and insisted its demise is not a given, despite the long odds.

"This is an opportunity for someone to pick up one of America's very great newspapers at a great price," Rich Boehne, president and chief executive officer of Scripps, told reporters.

Boehne and Mark Contreras, senior vice president/newspapers, flew to Denver on Wednesday night.

After meeting with the Rocky staff Thursday morning, they headed to the Sheraton Downtown Denver, where the company had reserved a lower- level meeting room for media interviews.

They opted to hold the meetings off site to spare the Rocky staff from having other media walking through the newsroom all day, both for staff privacy and to minimize distractions, Rocky Editor and Publisher John Temple said.

Boehne told a reporter from The Denver Post he was surprised he was able to break the news without staff at either the Post or Rocky finding out about it first.

He also said the timing of the announcement, right before the holidays, couldn't be avoided.

After interviews, and with a few more to do by phone en route to Denver International Airport, the execs said the day had been rough. The roughest came when surrounded by Rocky journalists, whose questions were the most pointed.

"You guys were the toughest," Contreras said.