Rocky's last word

Final issue appears less than two months shy of its 150th anniversary 

Under leadership of Editor John Temple, the Rocky Mountain News had won four Pulitzer Prizes since 2000. Most recently in 2006, the newspaper won two Pulitzers, in Feature Writing and Feature Photography. 

 

Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

I was working for the Colorado Press Association at its annual convention the night John Temple announced the demise of the Rocky. It is still hard to believe,  more than 15 years later. 

After 149 years and 311 days, the Rocky Mountain News published its final edition on February 27, 2009.  I remember watching the following video in the Hotel Room that night, and picking up the "Final Edition" from the extra stacks distributed in hotel halls, in the morning.

 https://vimeo.com/3390739?pg=embed&sec= 

The Front Page of that last edition reads as follows: 

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.