The Rocky Mountain News may not be dead yet

Written by Sara Kassabian in News on Mar 16, 2009 18:22 / comments

With the folding of the Rocky Mountain News many readers were left without their paper, but a team of reporters, editors, columnists, cartoonists and critics from the now-defunct paper are providing these readers with the news they want courtesy of “I Want My Rocky.”

“Colorado’s oldest newspaper stopped publishing Feb. 27, 2009, but it didn’t die,” said the “I Want My Rocky” Web site, serving as a mission statement for its journalists and a beacon of hope for its readers.

“I Want My Rocky” is an online publication that contains articles similar to those found in the print version of the paper that preserves the newspaper, even if it’s with a different medium.

To learn more about “I Want My Rocky,” go to http://www.iwantmyrocky.com/

Lisa Bornstein was a theater critic for the Rocky Mountain News and continues to report through “I Want My Rocky.”

“I wasn’t willing to stop doing what I was doing,” Bornstein said.

Bornstein said that the response from readers has been positive.

“We’ve all gotten a huge amount of feedback,” Bornstein said. “It’s phenomenal. People are very excited that we are still reporting and doing what we do best.”

The staff of “I Want My Rocky” is currently unpaid.

“I don’t have a way to be paid yet,” Bornstein said. “I can’t do this unpaid forever but I’m going to keep doing what I love.”

A few changes to “I Want My Rocky” are going to be released to the public on Monday.

Bornstein said these changes include a way for the online publication to become financially supported.

The School of Journalism and Mass Communication at CU has various members that support this Web site, including Rick Stevens, an assistant professor of courses that focus on new media journalism.

“Well I think it is pretty interesting that you can take the journalist out of the newsroom but you can’t take the newsroom out of the journalist,” Stevens said.

Stevens said he believes more newspapers are going to follow in the footsteps of the Rocky Mountain News in the move to the Internet.

“The future of journalism is going to be on the Web, we know that,” Stevens said.

The future of journalism is going to hit a “rough patch” said Stevens, but in his opinion students shouldn’t be too concerned.

“I think our students have an excellent chance of finding jobs,” Stevens said. “Those jobs just may not be in the news organization we see today.”

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Emily Zarka at emily.zarka@colorado.edu.

About Sara Kassabian

Sara is a senior news-editorial major and the editor-in-chief of the CU Independent. She has previously edited the opinion, news and entertainment sections of the publication, and worked as a managing editor last spring. Sara has been working in journalism for six years, writing about everything from politics to pornography. She is pursuing a minor in philosophy and is participating in the International Media certificate program. Outside of classes and chasing down leads, Sara likes to collect vinyl records, read books, tell stories, lurk the Boulder Humane Society website and be generally enthusiastic. She hopes to someday apply her education to a career that requires writing, editing or reading in her own private library.