Posted 5:02 PM by Gene

The dreadful folding of the Rocky Mountain News shows the absolute pickle such outfits are in: Too small to compete nationally, too bland (perhaps) to compete locally. Being an award winner as it was isn't enough as people see awards as back-slapping. Only a paper with true character could survive in a middle market, and today's papers don't have character enough. (We don't count Frisco's Chronicle which has character of the wrong kind). As for the notion fees would have saved such enterprises, we say somebody would have been first and biggest with free news. End of experiment.

Bad as this is we note America has survived the folding of many papers, including some which it would profit us to read. But ever since electricity newspaper owners have tilted at windmills, and the Web is but their latest; more to the point, we should never forget the obscene profits they made from local TV, whose video police blotters brought such disgrace to the news and made the print business that much less tenable, and credible. We expect more carnage; we hope it is limited; and we hope the survivors will realize they can't make money by getting along and going along, whatever the handicaps of this -- economy, or free news, or CRAIGSLIST.