I don’t have much to say, really. Not so much because there isn’t much to say, because I should be able to fill volumes, but because I don’t know how to say it.

I came to the Rocky Mountain News only 4 years ago expecting to make the best of it until something better came along. That’s the thing about the Rocky, something better was always coming along within that very paper. I didn’t make it to collect my 5 year pin (or was it a 5 year pen?) but given the opportunity, I would have. I’ve never heard of or met a more dedicated staff.

If Scripps CEO Rich Boehne knew how much unaccounted for overtime everyone worked in that newsroom he would keel over from a heart attack. Were everyone to come forward claiming their OT, Scripps’ finances would be left in worse shape than Media News Group. And that will be the last snarky punch I throw at the Denver Post.

Marie Griffin, Mike Noe and myself holding an award for best news website.

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter and me at the Rocky Mountain News farewell party. It was good of him to show up and see us off.

Jaime Aguilar and me at the Rocky Mountain News farewell party. Oh, and I'm pretty sure that's an award for best multimedia.

Sonya Doctorian, John Temple and me at the Rocky Mountain News farewell party.

This is what our server diagram looked like on the last day of the Rocky Mountain News.

And this is what the first day without a Rocky looked like. The Denver Post started publishing a Saturday copy as soon as we closed.

So long Rocky, and thanks.

Online journalism final edition, journalism, Rocky Mountain News

It’s been a wacky week to say the least. 

In what I would consider to be a profoundly beneficial use of our tax dollars (no, that’s not sarcasm, I’m serious,) the FCC is considering options to provide free Internet service throughout the US although the CTIA is less than enthusiastic. That’s fine though since the US Airforce is considering ways to destroy access to that very same Internet.

In a characteristically webish move, change.gov (yeah, that’s a gee-oh-vee at the end) goes all Creative Commons on our ass. 

Link Love courtesy of Tom Cheredar

To those of you new to the topic, DigiDave provides an excellent primer on linking for journalists (or anyone really.) I would pay damn close attention because not taking advantage of these tools is like walking into Level 9 and facing Ganon without those silver arrows! In other words, Certain Death. In addition to linking, Mark Potts lists what should be obvious to all but clearly isn’t. 

If you’re already on the auction block (chopping block?) this might be too little, too late. For anyone else, this is worth a read. 

One opportunity for community building as well as addition revenue lies in the realm of social media. But building a social networking site from the ground up is such a daunting task you say! Not so. Just don’t forget what separates a good niche social media site from a bad one. Oh, and you better hurry, cuz socialmedian is no longer in beta. 

Laying off hundreds of employees at various papers, Gannett has had a bit of a rough week. After reviewing this post on Gannett Blog, some of those employees might have further reason to feel a bit disgruntled. However, all those jobless journalists with limited skill sets have the opportunity to take advantage of some free technology training. 

There are an awful lot of newspapers closing or up for sale. What becomes of their audience? Community building takes time and is certainly worth something whether you’re a newspaper or social media service. Remember that. 

If this guy honestly represents the future of journalism, I think it’s better to opt out now. 

Everyone always preaches the merits and benefits of link journalism. You know, “the more you send ‘em away, the more they come back” but very few actually act. NYTimes just released Times Extra which allows you to modify your version of the NYTimes homepage with aggregated links. The idea is great, the current execution is clunky at best.

Ah the disposable medium… print is clearly dead and yet, not so dead. Er, wait… is everything dead?

Twitter was in the spotlight last week because of the phenomenal real time #Mumbai coverage. This week we can look at some of the lessons learned. And if you’re wondering why Twitter turned down the Facebook purchase, it’s because, “Twitter decided that it had too much left to do, beginning with figuring out how to make money.” Right. I can think of a really great way to make some money: sell your soul to Facebook. 

And finally, in a shocking move that has completely rocked the entire international journalism community, Reuters pulls out of Second Life.

Online journalism, Uncategorized journalism, links

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I arrived to work this morning to find everyone gathered around the news desk. Rich Boehne, President and CEO or Scripps, was hanging out and everyone had their frowny faces on.

As I quickly learned, yes, Scripps has put The Rocky Mountain News up for sale. That’s not to say that the Denver newspaper has been sold or will be sold, but it’s out there for any potential buyers.

I don’t know who these potential buyers might be, none really come to mind. What I do know is that the closure of The Rocky Mountain News would be devastating to news environment in Denver. The city relies on the balance that two major newspapers provide.

The Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post have a Joint Operating Agreement facilitated through The Denver Newspaper Agency. Unfortunately, there have been a number of very poor decisions made by the agency that I believe have helped bring us to this point. It doesn’t seem likely that anyone would purchase the paper and knowingly enter a JOA.

I can’t help but feel that we’ve been sailing down this path for a while.

Online journalism, Uncategorized Denver, fail, newspaper, Rocky Mountain News

“Well, other newspapers are doing it” is by no means adequate justification for doing… well, much of anything at this point. I’m really tired of hearing that. 

It’s like when you’re very young and you want to shove marbles up your nose because your friend Tommy is doing it. Your mom stops you and asks if you’d jump off a bridge just because Tommy jumped off a bridge. You respond, “well gee mom, ‘course not!” because even at five years old it doesn’t make sense to follow your colleagues to their imminent demise.

In the case of newspapers, “because other newspapers are doing it” is probably in itself a good reason to avoid doing it, whatever “it” may be.

Online journalism I'm a jerk, lemmings, marbles, newspapers, Online journalism

Do people treat online news as entertainment?

An enormous amount of people derive entertainment value from news - the dirtier, less consequential news the better (naked priests going for morning jogs anyone?) Just check the “Most viewed,” “Most emailed,” or “Most discussed” stories and perhaps it is obvious. As the Interwebs continue to mature and people are able to participate in more of a “choose your own adventure” style of of interacting online, many are less interested in being truly informed and find far more value in entertaining news (not to be confused with entertainment news.)

Do people think of online news as entertainment?

Probably not. While people may be entertained by news, I don’t believe they are cognizant of it being entertainment. This is a very important distinction because there is a certain sophistication to being engaged in the news as opposed to flitting about on entertainment sites that are designated as such.

This isn’t exactly a radical new prospect, but it is something that’s rarely discussed. Most likely because journalists don’t like the idea that the serious content they work so hard to develop is just someone else’s entertainment.

As someone developing content and presentation for a news website, it’s important to ask:

Is it truly a desire to be informed or a desire to entertained that drives people to news websites?

and quite bluntly…

Is news entertainment?

Online journalism entertainment, news, Online journalism