Magazine and Newspaper Publishing

Rocky Mountain News: Marking anniversary of its death four years ago today

Four years ago today, the Rocky Mountain News closed on the cusp of its 150th birthday. The changes in the Denver media scene since then have been profound. And while the Denver Post, the city's surviving paper, continues to exist, its present doesn't look much like the future that seemed in the off ... More >>

Phil Anschutz-owned company buys Colorado Springs Gazette

For years, media observers have speculated that Dean Singleton would someday purchase the Colorado Springs Gazette with the idea of synergizing with his other Front Range newspapers, most prominently the Denver Post. But that day isn't today. With Singleton taking a backseat to John Paton in Digital ... More >>

Denver Post's decision to sell stake in Colorado Rockies not sign of financial turmoil, CEO says

Last week, the Denver Post announced a desire to sell its 7.3 percent stake in the Colorado Rockies -- an asset acquired due to the Rocky Mountain News's 2009 closure. A knowledgeable source tells Westword this move was motivated by dire financial problems at the Post -- ones serious enough that the ... More >>

Denver Post & MediaNews Group: Fallout from partner Journal Register Company bankruptcy?

Almost exactly a year ago, the Journal Register Company's John Paton was named CEO of MediaNews Group, owner of the Denver Post, with a new entity called Digital First Media taking over management of both firms. But the first birthday of this deal hasn't been a happy one. Yesterday brought word that ... More >>

Boulder Daily Camera lays off seventeen, may be outsourcing ad design in India

Earlier this week, we contacted Boulder Daily Camera publisher Al Manzi after hearing the paper's publishing company had told nearly twenty workers they would be laid off -- and that they'd subsequently learned many of the paper's ad-design chores would be outsourced to India. Today, Manzi got back ... More >>

Jerry Grilly to retire as president and CEO of the Denver Post

Jerry Grilly, the president and CEO of the Denver Post, is retiring -- and not for the first time. Grilly had been lured back to the Post three years ago, shortly after the closure of the Rocky Mountain News, which ended the joint operating agreement that yoked the two papers. It's a different worl ... More >>

John Paton named MediaNews Group CEO: What's it mean to MNG's pay-wall experiment?

John Paton.​In late August, we noted that the search for a new MediaNews Group CEO to succeed Dean Singleton had stretched out for seven months, with no end in sight. At last, the situation has changed. John Paton, a director of the Journal Register Company, has been named the firm's CEO as p ... More >>

MediaNews Group experiments with digital pay walls -- but not yet in Colorado

Dean Singleton.​In an interview earlier this year, MediaNews Group executive chairman Dean Singleton talked about experimenting with pay walls at his various newspaper properties. These efforts are now about to get a public try-out at 23 MNG properties -- although none in the company's home st ... More >>

Righthaven finally acknowledges relationship with MediaNews Group in Brian Hill filing

Brian Hill.​This week, Righthaven, a Nevada firm specializing in copyright-infringement litigation, finally acknowledged its relationship with MediaNews Group, owner of the Denver Post, in a filing on view below related to a dropped lawsuit against chronically ill, mildly autistic hobby blogge ... More >>

MediaNews Group-Freedom talks break down, but don't be shocked by a comeback

Dean Singleton.​For months, newspaper insiders have been abuzz about Denver Post parent company MediaNews Group potentially acquiring Freedom Communications, owner of the Colorado Springs Gazette and the Orange County Register -- two properties that synergize nicely with MediaNews strongholds ... More >>

Righthaven: Denver Post reports about controversy without mentioning Brian Hill

Brian Hill.​Last November, we failed to get MediaNews Group executive Sara Glines to comment on a copyright protection warning printed by the Denver Post -- and did so again after controversy flared over the Post's partnership with lawsuit machine Righthaven LLC and its targeting of chronicall ... More >>

Mark Contreras, newspaper division head when Rocky Mountain News closed, out at Scripps

Mark Contreras.​At the February 2009 press conference announcing the closure of the Rocky Mountain News, Mark Contreras, the senior vice president/newspapers for E.W. Scripps, the Rocky's owner, mainly stayed out of the spotlight -- but many soon-to-be-unemployed staffers felt he played a big ... More >>

MediaNews spokeswoman responds to query about Righthaven lawsuits with more silence

Sara Glines.​Last November, MediaNews Group vice president of field operations Sara Glines didn't respond to repeated interview requests about a series of lawsuits filed by Nevada's Righthaven LLC for unauthorized use of Denver Post content. Now, following controversy over a suit against autis ... More >>

Reporters Without Borders letter faults Denver Post for Righthaven suit against Brian Hill

Brian Hill.​As an organization devoted to freedom of the press, Reporters Without Borders typically targets dictatorships and other iron-fist nations that attempt to quash objective journalism. Now, however, RWB is protesting a story very close to home: the copyright infringement lawsuit filed ... More >>

Dean Singleton, Denver Post publisher, shoots down rumors of national copy-editing center

MediaNews Group​In an interview last month about stepping down as CEO of MediaNews Group, Dean Singleton talked geographical expansion and consolidation. These words echoed after MediaNews bought the Longmont Times-Call's parent company days later -- and fears of job losses were heightened by ... More >>

Rocky Mountain Right website goes on hiatus due to fear of being sued by Denver Post

RMR logo.​Visitors to Rocky Mountain Right's website can usually find conservative news and commentary -- but not right now. The home page is currently emblazoned with the phrase "Access Denied." That's because site overseer Antony Surace has temporarily blocked users to the page due to concer ... More >>

Susan Greene compares working at Denver Post to Stockholm syndrome in HuffPo debut

Susan Greene.​Update below: Susan Greene resigned from the Denver Post late last year after being told her column would be canceled -- and while she was clearly saddened by the circumstances of her departure, she had only positive things to say about colleagues and didn't criticize the paper a ... More >>

MediaNews Group subsidiary buys Lehman Communications, Longmont Times-Call

Dean Singleton.​In an interview earlier this week about stepping down as CEO of MediaNews Group, Dean Singleton said his new position as the company's executive chairman would allow him to focus on "opportunities for expansion, which I have always enjoyed doing." And how: Today, Singleton anno ... More >>

Dean Singleton interview about stepping down as CEO of MediaNews Group

Dean Singleton.​Dean Singleton is stepping down as CEO of MediaNews Group -- a position he's held for more than a quarter-century. But he's not retiring. He'll serve as MediaNews' executive chairman, as well as publisher for both the Denver Post and the Salt Lake Tribune. Speculation is rife t ... More >>

Matt Drudge latest target of a Denver Post-related copyright infringement lawsuit

Matt Drudge.​The copyright-infringement warning the Denver Post published last month was followed by a lawsuit filed on behalf of the Post and its owner, MediaNews Group, by Las Vegas-based Righthaven LLC against a small South Carolina blogger. This action implied that the firm had targeted a ... More >>

Dean Singleton, Denver Post publisher, looking to help son Adam Singleton learn family biz

Dean Singleton.​Correction below: Is Dean Singleton, head of MediaNews Group and Denver Post publisher, looking for a successor, Kim Jong-Il style? Doubt it: Despite his continuing battle against multiple sclerosis, he seems energetic, active and fully in charge. But judging by a Thursday memo ... More >>

Conde Nast Restaurants open for business

Flickr​So what do you do when you're a big magazine publisher that's strapped for cash? Close a couple of magazines? Build new mobile apps? How about open a restaurant?

Denver Post circulation press release and article: Can you tell the difference?

"Told you so."​The Denver Post isn't exactly known for writing about itself in hard-hitting fashion: Note its coverage of the bankruptcy filing by parent firm MediaNews Group's holding company, which attempted to bury the word "bankruptcy." As such, it's not especially surprising that the sam ... More >>

Miles Moffeit, award-winning Denver Post reporter heading to Dallas, told to leave paper after publication of Westword blog

Miles Moffeit left the Denver Post a little earlier than he'd anticipated.​Update, 11:03 a.m.: Moments ago, Denver Post editor Greg Moore responded to an interview request for this blog, which was originally published at 10:46 a.m. His comments have been incorporated below. Last Friday aftern ... More >>

MediaNews Group: Former Comcast veep Mark Winkler exiting in major marketing shakeup

Dean Singleton ordered some alterations.​Last week, Denver-based MediaNews Group, owner of the Denver Post and dozens of other newspapers around the country, officially emerged from bankruptcy -- and it didn't take long for boss Dean Singleton to make significant changes in the organization. ... More >>

Dean Singleton and MediaNews Group: Bankrupt no more

Dean Singleton's indebtedness looks a lot less onerous this week.​The Saturday Denver Post blurb about Affiliated Media couldn't entirely avoid the word "bankruptcy," as the broadsheet's writers have endeavored to do since January. After all, the judge who approved the prepackaged plan assembl ... More >>

MediaNews Group reportedly worried its phones will be shut off

Dean Singleton's lawyers have been busy lately.​In its reporting about the impending bankruptcy filing by Affiliated Media, the holding company of MediaNews Group, its owner, the Denver Post left the B-word out of the headline -- and its published version of an Associated Press story about the ... More >>

MediaNews Group bankruptcy story reads differently in Denver -- which doesn't run info about Dean Singleton's salary

Dean Singleton: Still making a pretty penny.​A blog published last week noted that the Denver Post had managed to report about an impending bankruptcy filing by the holding company of its parent firm, MediaNews Group, without using the word "bankruptcy" in the headline -- a neat example of spi ... More >>

MediaNews bankruptcy, Dean Singleton and Denver Post spin

Dean Singleton doesn't like the B-word.​Here are some sample headlines from other publications around the nation about the latest development involving MediaNews Group, owner of the Denver Post and dozens of other newspapers around the country: UPI: "U.S. Newspaper Group to File Bankruptcy." ... More >>

Dean Singleton vs. Google: Chalk up two for Dean

Dean Singleton has won some concessions from Google.​Denver Post publisher and MediaNews Group boss Dean Singleton thinks putting articles behind online pay walls may be a way to save the newspaper business -- a strategy that's brought him into conflict with Google, which makes its nut by poin ... More >>

A letter to Dean Singleton from a former employee who thinks his paywall ideas are crazy

Dean Singleton wants to charge for delivery on the Internet, too.​As the newspaper industry continues to struggle, more and more attention is being paid to the paywall strategy being promoted MediaNews Group boss (and Denver Post publisher) Dean Singleton. He plans to start charging readers fo ... More >>

MediaNews unlikely to go after Freedom Communications

Dean Singleton.​Had Freedom Communications, owner of the Colorado Springs Gazette, filed for bankruptcy during better economic times, journalism-business observers would have immediately begun speculating about the odds that it might be purchased by MediaNews Group, headed by Denver Post publi ... More >>

Post-News joint operating agreement ends not with a bang, but with a press release

Dean Singleton.​The death of the joint-operating agreement that was supposed to sustain a business partnership between the Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News for a half-century but didn't survive for even one decade can't help seeming anticlimactic. After all, the Rocky's been gone for si ... More >>

A closer look at MediaNews Group's debt

MediaNews Group chairman Dean Singleton. When the Rocky Mountain News was put up for sale in December (a move that prefigured its February closure), employees clinging to hopes of a last minute reversal of fortune repeatedly pointed to the debts burdening MediaNews Group, owner of the Rocky's rival ... More >>

MediaNews Group disputes article hinting at possible bankruptcy filing

A blog earlier today detailed a Debtwire article about MediaNews Group, a Denver-based firm that owns dozens of newspapers around the country, including the Denver Post. That piece included information about a series of outstanding loans, as well as the following passage: "MediaNews has scheduled ... More >>

This just in: Newspaper lovers still exist

The conversation took place at Parker's Warhorse Inn. Covering the troubles in the newspaper industry can be mighty dispiriting: I sometimes feel like I spend my days writing the obituary for my own career. No wonder I felt such trepidation when accepting an invitation from the folks at the Douglas ... More >>

Updated: Pay cuts at Boulder Daily Camera

Update, 4:45 p.m.: The initial version of this blog was based on information provided by a source that has been extremely reliable over a period of several years. However, I just received a call from Al Manzi, president and publisher of the Boulder Daily Camera, and CEO of Prairie Mountain Publish ... More >>

Harry Whipple out as head of Denver Newspaper Agency

Harry Whipple. The only surprise in yesterday afternoon's announcement that Harry Whipple would no longer be in charge of the Denver Newspaper Agency was the identity of his successor: former Denver Post publisher Gerald Grilly, who's coming out of retirement to take the gig. Indeed, the February 2 ... More >>

Q&A with David Milstead about the death of the Rocky Mountain News and the future of the Denver Post

David Milstead. The most dogged and enterprising journalist to write about the Rocky Mountain News' closure saga came from the Rocky's own newsroom. Business columnist and reporter David Milstead broke story after story. For example, he unearthed a confidential letter from executives at E.W. Scripp ... More >>

Highlights from the goodbye-to-the-Rocky Mountain News press conference

J. KnightE.W. Scripps CEO Rich Boehne addresses the media after announcing the Rocky would close after Friday's issue. Reporter Lynn Bartels's colleagues at the Rocky Mountain News warned her not to try exiting the Denver Newspaper Agency building through the main lobby. After all, the place was sw ... More >>

How the troubles at the San Francisco Chronicle echo in Denver

The San Francisco Chronicle, the largest daily newspaper in the Bay Area, is reportedly in such shabby fiscal shape that its owner, the Hearst Corp., says it may have to close the venerable pub within weeks if expenses can't be brought under control. In the event of such a shut-down, San Francisco ... More >>

Dean Singleton's giant balls

This morning, both Denver dailies feature articles spurred by a Denver Post memo sent out in response to "Scripps Says Post Violates JOA," a January 28 Rocky Mountain News report based on a leaked letter reportedly penned by two executives at E.W. Scripps, the Rocky's owner. The latter piece, by s ... More >>

The Denver Post's fiery response to charge that it violated JOA with the Rocky Mountain News

"Leaked Letter Reveals Deep Problems at Denver Post, Denver Newspaper Agency," a More Messages blog published this morning, considers the content of "Scripps Says Post Violated JOA," a David Milstead-penned piece from today's Rocky Mountain News. The article's centerpiece is a letter purportedly w ... More >>

The Rocky Mountain News is going down

E.W. Scripps CEO Rich Boehne on his company's commitment to newspapers

As is the case with all articles, plenty of interesting stuff gathered for Westword's December 11 feature about the dire circumstances facing the Rocky Mountain News and sidebars focusing on Rocky writers who the Denver Post should try to hire and the joint-operating agreement between the Rocky an ... More >>

Rocky Mountain News put up for sale

It's the sort of headline most media observers in this area have been anticipating for quite some time, but it's still a shock to see it in print: "Rocky Mountain News For Sale." The article, published moments ago on the Rocky's website, quotes from a press release in which Rich Boehne, president ... More >>

MediaNews Group Changes Its Tune With Connecticut Sale

Dean Singleton Fights Back Against Bad MediaNews Press

Rocky Mountain News' David Milstead Predicts One-Newspaper Town

More Messages: Barking and Biting