Subject: Newspapers

• More Messages: Barking and Biting

  May 19, 2006

• More Messages: The Latest from the Dean of Newspapers

  April 28, 2006

• Dean Singleton on Sinking Circulation at the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News

  November 8, 2007

• Is Circulation at the Denver Dailies Sliding Or Not?

  April 29, 2008

• Dean Singleton to the Newspaper Industry: Stop Your Whining

  June 10, 2008

• Rocky Mountain News' David Milstead Predicts One-Newspaper Town

  July 2, 2008

• Dean Singleton Fights Back Against Bad MediaNews Press

  July 8, 2008

• MediaNews Group Changes Its Tune With Connecticut Sale

  August 11, 2008

• Daily Sentinel on the block

  August 14, 2008

• Denver Post tries to squelch shut-down rumors in memo that says the Rocky would close first

  August 25, 2008

• This War's Over

  Shake hands and come out writing.

  September 7, 2000

• The Boulder Daily Camera's building goes on the block

  November 7, 2008

• Denver Film Festival vet and TV "dinosaur" Ed Asner part of Stop the Presses

  Ed Asner as Lou Grant. Ed Asner is back at the Denver International Film Festival -- at least on film. The irascible star of Lou Grant came to Denver 21 years ago, when the completely forgettable O'Hara's Wife opened the festival in 1987. But former festival director Ron Henderson won't forget one aspect of that appearance: "Ed Asner was on his way here when he was notified that Lou Grant was cancelled because of his involvement fighting the situation in El Salvador," Henderson remembers.

  November 17, 2008

• 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 and CEO of E.W. Scripps, the paper's parent company, is quoted as saying, "The decision to seek a buyer for the Rocky would have been unthinkable until very recently. But the operating conditions hav

  December 4, 2008

• MediaNews Group's Dean Singleton about outsourcing to India

  A feature article about the difficulties facing the up-for-sale Rocky Mountain News plus a sidebar about Rocky journalists who could land at the Denver Post and a piece about the Rocky-Post joint operating agreement appear in the December 11 Westword. As a bonus, we're also offering a series of outtakes from interviews conducted for those pieces, including the Rocky's John Temple questioning the timing of a controversial memo authored by Dean Singleton (pictured), head of MediaNews Group, a De

  December 10, 2008

• 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 and the Post was left on the cutting-room floor. Examples include the Rocky's John Temple disputing MediaNews Group leader and Denver Post publisher Dean Singleton's memory of a meeting that preceded th

  December 10, 2008

• Dean Singleton to be honored with 2009 Community Cultural Enrichment Award

  MediaNews Group vice chairman and chief executive officer/Denver Post publisher Dean Singleton faces the same kind of bleak economic outlook as any newspaper magnate, albeit with a number of intriguing twists -- among them the potential closure of the Rocky Mountain News, the Post's joint-operating-agreement partner in Denver. But at least he knows he'll have a happy day on May 14. That's when the Mizel Museum honors him as the recipient of the 2009 Community Cultural Enrichment Award winner a

  January 7, 2009

• Department of Justice trying to preserve at least one newspaper JOA

  The blog "Debate Over Spiked Rocky Mountain News Media Column Heats Up" deals in part with a piece by Jason Salzman, who feels the Denver dailies haven't truly measured the chances that the Justice Department might choose to prevent the dissolution of a joint-operating agreement that links the Rocky and the Denver Post. Salzman concedes that such a prospect is a long shot, and most other observers are even more dubious about federal intervention in light of the current economy. But there is on

  January 8, 2009

• Denver Newspaper Guild not sharing details about reopened contract talks with the Denver Post and Denver Newspaper Agency

  The title of a certain December 15 blog -- "Denver Newspaper Guild Almost Mum on Renegotiating Denver Post and Denver Newspaper Agency Contract" -- pretty much foreshadows the DNG's lack of eagerness to discuss its recent decision to open pacts with the Post and the DNA early at the request of Dean Singleton's MediaNews Group. The Guild's Tony Mulligan offered few words in a January 20 piece in the Rocky Mountain News about this move -- far fewer than Melissa Pomponio, the DNG's unit chair for

  January 21, 2009

• 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 written by Rich Boehne and Mark Contreras, a pair of executives for E.W. Scripps, the Rocky's owner. The missive claims, among other things, that the Post borrowed $13 million from the Denver Newspaper

  January 28, 2009

• 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 staffer David Milstead, asserts that the Post borrowed $13 million from the Denver Newspaper Agency, the operation that handles business matters for both papers, in order to fund its newsroom -- an act

  January 29, 2009

• Could MediaNews Group furlough program come to the Denver Post?

  Even as a Denver Post statement branded a Rocky Mountain News story about troubles at the broadsheet inaccurate, another memo associated with MediaNews Group, the Post's owner, was turning heads on the left coast. The document, first published at Jim Romenesko's Poynter Online address, revealed that employees at the nine MediaNews dailies that make up the Bay Area News Group cluster, would be required to take one week off without pay by the end of March in a cost-cutting move. At around the sa

  January 29, 2009

• 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's main daily would be the Examiner, a freebie owned by Denver gazillionaire Phil Anschutz. This announcement has repercussions throughout the newspaper industry, which experienced yet another blow e

  February 25, 2009

• 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 swarming with reporters gathered to attend an upcoming press conference at which E.W. Scripps CEO Rich Boehne -- and, as it turned out, quite a few other executive types -- was going to explain why his

  February 26, 2009

• Will advertising rates for the Denver Post be going up?

  Dean Singleton delivers. During yesterday's press conference announcing the closing of the Rocky Mountain News, MediaNews Group boss Dean Singleton, whose firm owns the Denver Post, declared that the ad rates at his publication are "way below" the national average, but "they'll just have to stay that way" for now, due to the current economic climate. This remark suggested that rates wouldn't rise, and a letter from the Denver Newspaper Agency to advertisers confirms it -- sort of. Charges won't

  February 27, 2009

• 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. Scripps, the Rocky's former owner, revealing that the Denver Post borrowed $13 million from the Denver Newspaper Agency to fund its newsroom -- but the DNA couldn't repeat this feat because banks wouldn't l

  March 4, 2009

• 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 26 press conference announcing that the Rocky Mountain News would shut down the next day provided graphic evidence of Whipple's fading power. Instead of appearing on the stage at the Denver Newspaper A

  March 5, 2009

• Denver Post chairman and MediaNews Group CEO Dean Singleton responds to this week's Message column

  Dean Singleton. Say what you will about Denver Post chairman and MediaNews Group CEO Dean Singleton (and plenty of his critics have, and will continue to do so): He's among the most accessible and engaged of all media magnates -- and he's not afraid to push back when he feels he's been misinterpreted in some way. Today's example -- a long note from Singleton in response to "After the Rocky Taps Out, the Post Acts Like it Won By a Knockout," this week's Message column, which chronicles the clos

  March 6, 2009

• Denver Post veteran Steve Lipsher learns small-town papers not immune from print-journalism downturn

  Steve Lipsher. In an item included in a May 2008 Message column, longtime Denver Post staffer Steve Lipsher talked about his decision to leave the beefy broadsheet in favor of a news-editor gig at the Summit Daily News, a 12,000-circulation free daily based in Frisco. His love for the mountains was one motivation for the move, and so was his sense that papers in smaller communities may be better positioned to survive the current economic climate than metro pubs. "The chain I'm joining is Swift

  March 30, 2009

• Q&A with Denver Post editor Greg Moore

  Photo by J. KnightDenver Post editor Greg Moore at the February 26 press conference that announced the closure of the Rocky Mountain News. During the period of time between the December announcement that the Rocky Mountain News had been put up for sale and the February press conference revealing that the Rocky would close the next day, Denver Post editor Greg Moore kept a low public profile, and appropriately so. Since the Post became Denver's only major daily newspaper, he's stepped forward a

  April 3, 2009

• After the Rocky taps out, the Post acts like it won by a knockout

  March 5, 2009

• The Rocky Mountain News is going down

  December 11, 2008

• Changing of the Guard

  The arrival of a new editor shakes things up at the Denver Post.

  May 9, 2002

• The Post and Rocky Attempt a Cover-Up

  October 25, 2007

• Adrian Dater Flames ESPN

  June 28, 2007

• Cuts Redux

  The Post joins the buyout trend as its owner admits the newspaper business is facing tougher times than he expected.

  May 3, 2007

• Dealing

  The Post offers staffers money to leave.

  April 27, 2006

• The Message

  Plus-Minus

  April 21, 2005

• The Message

  Free for All

  March 17, 2005

• The Message

  The Denver Newspaper Agency has combined the city's dailies into a one-two punch.

  February 27, 2003

• The Black-and-White Newsroom

  Several Post staffers want more colors in their paper's palette.

  December 19, 2002

• Inside the Temple

  The Rocky's leader believes his paper is a survivor.

  August 1, 2002

• Press for Success

  At fifty, William Dean Singleton has dozens of newspapers and all the money he needs. But what about respect?

  August 2, 2001

• Look for the Union Label

  JOAs can be bad news for newspaper employees.

  June 8, 2000

• Don't Bogart That Joint

  It's our turn to take a hit off the Post/News merger.

  May 18, 2000

• Off Limits

  March 4, 1999

• All the News That Fits

  What gets lost in the heat of Denver's newspaper battle.

  April 10, 1997

• 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 County Library to speak at a Cafe Current session they dubbed "The Incredible Vanishing Act of the Newspaper Industry." But to my surprise, the get-together, which took place last night at Parker's W

  May 13, 2009

• Change of focus for IWantMyRocky.com

  Back in December, when IWantMyRocky.com debuted, John Ensslin, one of numerous Rocky Mountain News employees who helped launch the project, described the website as "more of a rally-the-troops kind of thing, where people can post their comments or even videos." Although the site succeeded in that respect, the enthusiasm and camaraderie it helped foster wasn't enough to keep the Rocky in business. IWantMyRocky.com didn't vanish in tandem with the tabloid, though. Instead, remaining staffers us

  July 2, 2009

• 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 six months now, as John Temple, the tabloid's former editor, publisher and president, noted on his blog in an often-depressing rundown of comments from former staffers. Since then, the Post has moved fo

  August 28, 2009