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WOLF: Our best to you, Denver; we will never be the same

By Mark Wolf, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published February 27, 2009 at 12:05 a.m.

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I read the news today, oh boy.

The Beatles were singing that lyric about the time the Rocky came into my life. I was a college student in Boulder and bought the Rocky for a dime most mornings between classes.

For the past 24 years, I've worked in this newsroom, the past three of them in the online province, creating a dialogue with our readers.

A newspaper has a pulse. The Rocky's economic pulse stops beating today, but the pulse of its soul will endure for ages, in the people we helped, the people we prodded, the stories we told, the pictures we made.

We gave you our best, from the biggest, showiest efforts to the workaday grind of producing a new product every 24 hours; from getting the governor's quotes right to spelling your child's name correctly in a high school sports report that became the most important thing in the day's paper.

The most profound sadness I feel is that this group of people will never again produce this brand of journalism.

Some of us will stay in the business. Some of us will leave it.

This is a tough time to work for newspapers, but you don't get to pick the career you fall in love with.

Newspapers are the last cheap date in America. The Rocky costs less than a candy bar. A recent edition contained 48 staff stories; 13 columns (most of them local); 20 national/world stories from The Associated Press; two local cartoons; 33 obituaries; two editorials; seven letters to the editor; various briefs, notes and graphics; 26 high school box scores with more than a dozen local kids' names in each one; plus standings, scores and summaries from every professional sporting contest played the night before. Not to mention the ads, God bless them, touting sales and bargains

It's foldable, portable and soaks up spills. Maybe we should have hired one of those kitchenware pitchmen to tout the Rocky in late-night infomercials.

We went to boring meetings just in case someone you elected did something significant with your tax money. We told you stories that were by turns light, bright and tragic. When we made a mistake, we fessed up, prominently, on Page 2. We reported on games in the biggest stadiums in the land and the smallest towns in the state.

Alas, our business model no longer made economic sense to our owners.

And now, we're gone.

Denver and Colorado would have been a far less vital place to live without the Rocky Mountain News.

We hope it will live in your hearts.

We know it will live in ours.

Mark Wolf pioneered the role as host of the Rocky's Web site, leading a conversation between the paper and its readers.

Comments

  • February 27, 2009

    1:22 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    jay writes:

    all the best to you and yours, mark.

  • February 27, 2009

    4:06 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Pagen writes:

    I will truly miss the Rocky, between the wonderful website and the Sudoku in the morning at work and of course the support you gave us fighting the smoking ban. Take care all! Lisa Fender

  • February 27, 2009

    4:27 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    cris9711 writes:

    I wish the best to each and every one of you. You all made the Rocky the best newspaper in Colorado. You and our Rocky will be missed for a very long time.

  • February 27, 2009

    4:59 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    ML writes:

    We'll miss you, Mark...best of luck!

  • February 27, 2009

    6:13 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    ArgusArgus writes:

    "...20 national/world stories from The Associated Press..."

    ...which now, in all probability, delights in your demise. But none of you newspaper wonks ever really got it, did you Mark?

  • February 27, 2009

    7:57 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    HolierThanThou writes:

    Many thanks to you, Mark Wolf, and to all the staff and web techies who helped make this message board possible. It's been my favorite literary shooting gallery where the conservative ducks just kept on floating by. This was the best of its kind on the Internet. I'll miss the fun and the laughs.

  • February 27, 2009

    8:42 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    sundaychild67 writes:

    Mark, I wish you and your colleagues the very best. I hope you all land on your feet and find new jobs that are just as rewarding as working for RMN.

  • February 27, 2009

    10:25 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Conshana writes:

    Mark, This is truly a sad day in print journalism. Regardless of the negative comment by argus above, from myself and many hundreds of thousands of readers through the years, I wish you the very best in all that is in your future(s). To me, the Rocky was objective, and did the best it could in presenting news stories fairly, and with all perspectives presented. As was noted in other posts, today's youth lives by "sound bites", and no longer chooses (apparently) to read to learn, whether by the newspaper or by books, and I grieve for the future of this Nation, because of it.
    Land on your feet, Mark,,, you, and all the wonderful journalists at the Rocky Mountain News. You were ALL top of the line, and professional in your presentations, whether I agreed or not~!
    Blessed Be,
    Eugene

  • February 27, 2009

    10:48 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    DougH writes:

    Mark, my best wishes and good thoughts for you and your family. The world is changing for everyone and it is too bad that your career and livelihood have gotten swallowed up in this. I have enjoyed this web site and have had fun jawing with people.
    So, Thanks.

  • February 27, 2009

    10:50 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    primafacie writes:

    Sad day, indeed. It's a darker day for all of us.

    Godspeed, Rocky.

  • February 27, 2009

    5:06 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    rbeta writes:

    My heart is heavy. I feel a true sense of loss. The mirror that reflected who we are as a people, as Coloradans, is now broken. Goodbye, dear Rocky Mountain News. And thanks for all the memories.

  • February 27, 2009

    8:54 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    incognitoboy writes:

    thanks, mark. i appreciate all you have done here, and i am truly saddened by the RMN's demise. may you land in a good place. may we ALL land in a good place.....

    take care, jay, holier, and jmh, and anyone else i missed