Out With A Bang

First things first. I know very little about Denver.

Never been.

I do, however, know that it used to have two daily newspapers.

Now it has only one. The Denver Post. ‘The Rocky’ went to meet its maker a few months back.

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_11791798

Left as the only show in town, the Post’s owners – MediaNews Group – this week announced that they would start to build a pay-walled garden around their content…

http://www.cyberjournalist.net/54-newspapers-to-charge-for-content/

By pure chance our old friend in Philly – Brian P Tierney – announced that his own, UK tax-payer supported outfit would be doing the same before the turn of the year…

http://www.cyberjournalist.net/54-newspapers-to-charge-for-content/

The fact that the great and the good of the US newspaper industry had been holed up in some Chicago suburb the week before was, likewise, a complete coincidence.

http://www.editorsweblog.org/newspaper/2009/06/antitrust_discussions_following_newspape.php

It was, of course, Mr Murdoch that set this whole ball rolling; a ball that today found MediaGuardian revealing that the Sunday Times could have a walled garden to call its own by the end of the year…

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jun/03/sunday-times-website

Dare one even suggest that there is a co-ordinated campaign afoot? No, no, no. Clearly not. As if.

But if we forget for a moment that the Age Of Imposition may have long ago ended, there is another point to come out of this – and one that says so much as to why newspapers of the Western World variety are in such peril.

This is the quote that gives the game away; the memo to the staff at The Denver Post…

“First, we continue to do an injustice to our print subscribers and create perceptions that our content has no value by putting all of our print content online for free,” said a memo from Chief Executive Dean Singleton and President Jody Lodovic.

“Not only does this erode our print circulation, it devalues the core of our business – the great local journalism we (and only we) produce on a daily basis…’

That last line. ‘The great local journalism we (and only we) produce on a daily basis…’

‘We (and only we)…’

Huh?

Like I said, I’ve never been to Denver. What I do know, however, is that when the late lamented Rocky Mountain News went under, so its Rockies baseball writer Tracy Ringolsby took his ‘brand’ and that of his pal, Jack Etkin, to market.

Just as I did with www.myfootballwriter.com/norwichcity three long years ago.

And, with a little technical help from the web editor off their now defunct sports desk, www.insidetherockies.com was born.

“It just seemed like a natural thing to do to still go ahead and write something about them every now and then,” Ringolsby recalled, when interviewed on Salon.com…

http://www.salon.com/sports/kaufman/feature/2009/03/13/ringolsby/index.html

“And Jack Etkins and I have been together since ‘83 in Kansas City. It’s like, “Hey, Jack, if you want to stay involved in some stuff here’s something and we can see where it can lead to…”

And it’s still there, by the looks of things. Jack Etkins has a report on yesterday’s game with the Astros; Tracy Ringolsby – aka Write Em Cowboy – is speculating as to who the next manager will be…

http://www.insidetherockies.com/2009/06/02/whos-next-on-managerial-hot-seat/

So, on that basis, where are the boys from the Denver Post coming from when they say that ‘we (and only we…) are now bringing the local news that matters to the people of Denver?

Cos if I’m a Rockies baseball fan and that’s ‘the news’ that matters to me, The Post are going to need some top class sports beat writers to persuade me to start shelling out my hard-earned bucks when I can stick with Write ‘em Cowboy and Jack Of Diamonds for free…

That’s the issue; this idea that The Post are the only show in town; the only voice from inside The Rockies… they’re not. And the punters know they’re not.

The punters know that Write ‘em Cowboy and Jack Of Diamonds are out there; on the web; for now, pedalling their written wares for free.

But for the management of The Denver Post to admit that there was an alternative source of news out there would – as we’ve said before – be like King Canute calling for a towel.

And they won’t – or can’t – do it.

In which case, drown.

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