Rocky Mountain News

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Rocky Mountain News

The May 2, 2006 front page of the Rocky Mountain News, before the 2007 redesign
Type Daily newspaper
Format Tabloid
Owner E. W. Scripps Company, Opearted by Denver Newspaper Agency
Publisher John Temple
Editor John Temple
Founded 1859
Headquarters 101 West Colfax Ave.
Suite 500
Denver, CO 80202
Flag of the United States United States
Circulation 255,427 Daily[1]
704,806 Sunday[2]
Website: rockymountainnews.com

The Rocky Mountain News is a daily morning tabloid-format newspaper published in Denver, Colorado. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. (Despite Scripps still running the paper, it's the only newspaper in the Scripps family not to have the corporate lighthouse logo on the front page.) As of March 2006, the Monday-Friday circulation was 255,427.[1]

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

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] First Issue

The Rocky Mountain News is Colorado's oldest newspaper and continuously operated business. Its first issue was printed on April 23, 1859 by founder William N. Byers, who had hauled his printing press from Omaha, Nebraska by oxcart during the start of the Colorado Gold Rush. The first issue was printed only 20 minutes ahead of its rival, the Cherry Creek Pioneer.

[edit] Jack Foster

The E.W. Scripps Company bought the Rocky Mountain News in 1926. The Rocky Mountain News and its competitors, including The Denver Post, resorted to gasoline giveaways and other promotions in an attempt to boost circulation. By the early 1940s, the Rocky Mountain News had nearly died.

It was saved by then-editor Jack Foster when he convinced Scripps to approve changing the newspaper from a broadsheet-format to a tabloid design. Foster reasoned that the new format would make it easier for readers to hold and navigate and that it would make advertising more affordable.

Foster's wife, Frances, introduced America's first "advice" column called Molly Mayfield. It became an instant favorite among readers and was soon adopted many other newspapers, paving the way for advice columnists such as Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren.

[edit] The Joint Operating Agreement

After a continued rivalry that almost put both papers out of business, the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post merged operations in 2001 under a joint operating agreement [2]. Through the JOA, the Denver Newspaper Agency was formed. The new company runs all non-editorial operations of both papers, namely advertising and circulation, and is equally owned by the E. W. Scripps Company and MediaNews Group (which owns The Denver Post).

While the newspapers share an advertising and circulation department, they still publish separately (except during the weekends, when the Rocky Mountain News is published only on Saturday and The Denver Post on Sunday; both newspapers' editorial pages appear in both weekend papers) and maintain their rivalry.

[edit] Recent Awards

[edit] 2006

Pulitzer Prize - Feature Writing
Awarded to Jim Sheeler, Rocky Mountain News reporter for his "Final Salute" special report, the story of a Marine major assigned to casualty notification and how he helps families with fallen relatives in Iraq cope with their loss.
Pulitzer Prize - Feature Photography
Awarded to Todd Heisler, Rocky Mountain News photographer for his photos in the "Final Salute" special report.

[edit] 2003

Pulitzer Prize - Breaking News Photography
From the citation: "Awarded to The Rocky Mountain News Photography Staff for its powerful, imaginative coverage of Colorado's raging forest fires." [3]
Colorado Press Association's General Excellence Award
Named best large daily newspaper in Colorado for the eighth year in a row.
25 Society for Newspaper Design Awards
Awarded to the photo and design staffs. They placed eighth in the world.
  • 9 National Press Photographers Association Awards
  • 6 Pictures of the Year International Awards

[edit] 2002

Best Of The West
Won more first place awards than any other western newspaper

[edit] 2000

Pulitzer Prize - Breaking News Photography
From the citation: "Awarded to the Denver Rocky Mountain News Photo Staff for its powerful collection of emotional images taken after the student shootings at Columbine High School."[4]

[edit] Rocky Redesigned

On January 23, 2007, the Rocky Mountain News was redesigned to a smaller, magazine-style format. The redesign's features included more color pages and photographs, full-page photo section covers, a new masthead logo and different page numbering from the previous design.

The redesign was the result of new presses that allowed the newspaper to print about 25 percent faster than its old presses and can print an average of 60,000 issues per hour.[3]

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b 2006 Top 100 Daily Newspapers in the U.S. by Circulation (PDF). BurrellesLuce (2006-03-31). Retrieved on 2007-03-06.
  2. ^ Circulation figures include combined Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post for Saturday and Sunday editions.
  3. ^ [1] Rocky Mountain News video journal. Retrieved on 2007-1-23.

[edit] External links

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Newspapers owned by The E.W. Scripps Company