December 17, 2008 09:40 AM UTC

A Model for Denver's Newspapers?

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• by: Jeff Bridges

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

Jack Foster, editor and CEO of the Rocky Mountain News for three decades, saved the paper from imminent extinction by arguing with the Scripps-Howard owners for a radical move from a Denver Post style broadsheet to their current tabloid format. Foster believed the change would make it easier for readers to use and navigate, while making advertising more affordable.

Today, the Rocky faces imminent extinction once more, and a radical change making it easier for readers to use and navigate could again save the day.

The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News (working under a similar joint operating agreement as the Rocky and Post) announced on Tuesday they would end daily home delivery and instead focus on leading the “nation and industry with expanded digital offerings.”

Finally.

Newspapers are in trouble across the country. We live in a digital age, and as even the recording industry has begun to grudgingly acknowledge, the way people consume content has and will continue to change. But remember the old fictional yet poignant trope that when written in Chinese the word crisis is composed of two characters: one represents danger, the other opportunity.

The Detroit papers have decided to seize the opportunity. They’ve acknowledged that survival requires a drastic change to how they do business.

MediaNews Group owns both The Denver Post and The Detroit News. Their going out on a limb in Detroit indicates they understand the challenges faced by traditional papers. I suspect they’d have a better chance of finding a working formula if they took the same risk here in Denver.

E.W. Scripps owns the Rocky and has already shut down numerous other papers across the country. Hopefully this means they also understand the old formula simply does not work. Could they be persuaded to take a risk here in Denver?

In 1942 the Rocky Mountain News nearly died, but thanks to the work of a gifted and visionary editor it survives as Denver’s oldest newspaper. Today we again need the leadership, dedication, and tenacity of a new Jack Foster to save the Rocky – and reinvigorate a flagging industry.

Mr. Temple and Mr. Singleton, are you up to the job?

Have any ideas on how a digital paper might work – and how it could make enough money to pay its news and editorial staff? Post ’em in the comments and let’s hope someone’s listening!