Several individuals have emailed me telling me that the Rocky Mountain News has announced that they will close their doors tomorrow. Editorial cartoonist Ed Stein and sports cartoonist Drew Litton will be out of jobs.
E.W. Scripps, which owns the paper was unsuccessful in finding a buyer. The paper had about 230 staffers in their newsroom. It closes just two months shy of its 150 year anniversary.
More on this as it develops.
My thoughts to Ed and Drew. Hope they’ll do OK.
I know Drew Litton has expressed interesting in going to animation if this happened. Now that we know, I guess we’ll see if he makes a successful transaction.
I wonder what Ed will do (will he continue by syndication?)
The RMN was the paper I grew up with and reading the expansive comics section, along with Drew’s and Ed’s cartoons, really had a major affect on me wanting to become a cartoonist. These guys were like cartooning gods to me (still are) — and it’s a shame that by this weekend the paper will no longer exist. It’s a sad day.
I lived in Aurora as a kid and the RMN was the first newspaper I ever read. It’s also the newspaper that introduced me to comic strips. It’s where I read Bloom County, Calvin & Hobbes, and a ton of other great comics growing up.
Sad times.
I encourage you guys to read my sports blog where I just posted a lengthy article about my relationship with Drew and what the Rocky meant to me. I hope you take a few minutes to read it…
http://www.denverstiffs.com/2009/02/saying-goodbye-to-my-morning-newspaper.html
So will Litton’s “Win, Lose & Drew” continue through NEA,
or will the end of his home paper also end his sports cartoon?
And will this February 25 cartoon be the last one?
http://blogs.rockymountainnews.com/drew/
Sad, sad new indeed, and the worst part is that this still get worse.
I hope Ed Stein is getting his originals out.
Sheesh. 1859. Wonder how they paid the bills and had staff then? No automobile ads..either new or used. No widescreen TV’s. No cell phones.
The age of instant communication makes news obsolete?
Without news, does advertising have a venue?
Perhaps we can all transition to web animation slaves, or do Victorian pictorial obituaries.
Flowers…lots and lots of flowers.
( Satire aside, Stein and Litton are real talents. They deserve better, [we all do] and hope they have other career doors open soon! )
It’s very dismaying listening to the local radio news today (Friday 2/27) announcing today’s final edition. Like Norm and Aaron, I too was/am a RMN comics-section regular, growing up and (still) living in the Denver area. I’ve enjoyed Ed and Drew’s work over the years, and I remember trying to emulate Ed’s style as a teenager in teaching myself to cartoon. I sincerely wish them luck.
My son emailed me an article from the Post about the Broncos maybe trading Jay Cutler. My first thought? “I think I’ll see if the Rocky has anything more definitive on this …”
Sigh. Never mind. Guess we’ll just have to take the Post’s word on stuff from here on out …
BTW, the first newspaper that ever paid me for an article was the Rocky. And yet they were able to survive that error in judgment for some 35 years.