Temple’s lessons from the Rocky’s demise

By Robin J Phillips on Oct 01, 2009 in Jobs

Gone but not forgotten.

John Temple, former editor, president and publisher of the Rocky Mountain News, kicked off the UC Berkeley Media Technology Summit at Googleplex (the company’s headquarters) in Silicon Valley on Wednesday.

Here is the full text of what he said about lessons from the Rocky Mountain News.

It is a long speech, but worth the time it takes to read it. Here’s the nut graph:

So, why did the Rocky disappear? Looking back now on that difficult day, the word that stands out in Boehne’s statement is “newspaper.” As one former Scripps executive told me in talking about what has happened to the newspaper industry, words that I think apply to the Rocky, “We had all the advantages and let it slip away. We couldn’t give up the idea that we were newspaper companies.”

For more of John Temple, follow him daily on Twitter: @JTEMPLERMN

He’s continuing a blow-by-blow from the invitation-only Media Technology Summit.

About the Author

I am digital director at the Reynolds Center for Business Journalism, which I joined in 2009. Before that I was Online Community Manager for azcentral, the online site for The Arizona Republic. Before arriving in Arizona, I worked at Newsday where I was Deputy Business Editor. I was the small business editor at BusinessWeek Online. I teach journalists to use Twitter, Facebook and other social media tools to expand and manage their networks. And I am a cofounder of #wjchat, a weekly Twitter chat about web journalism. You can reach me at Email: Robin.Phillips@BusinessJournalism.org OR RobinJPhillips.com OR @RobinJP