Part 1 "Where's my two dollars!"

Generations

"Kaleigh," I asked my 16-year-old, text-calloused daughter this weekend, "what do you think about the newspaper going out of business?"

"What newspaper?"

"The Rocky Mountain News. It's going out of business."

"Oh. Can I have money for Chipotle?"

Kaleigh, a 3.9 GPA Honor Role student and yearbook editor, lacks the emotional attachment of the local, front wave boomers struggling to overcome the shock since it was announced the Rocky Mountain News was closing. The nationally acclaimed Rocky knelt to its sister by, The Denver Post, last Thursday. And Denver isn't the only city. The demise of the print news is well documented across the country.

This isn't (or shouldn't be) a surprise. Nosediving ad revenue, struggling journalist identity and generational evolution all contributed to a decision grounded in the balance sheet. The evolutionary forces involved here could not be stopped as there was a gray generational cut off point coming at some point.

Reaction in Denver can be generalized by age group:

50+ crowd has the most to say, and can show you copies of the RMN they've kept in trunks, providing a timeline of their lives.

40+ crowd thinning, but recognizing the business reality.

30+ readers less affected, and able to let go.

20+ it would have happened here no matter how much this generation's grandparents would have held on.

16+ "what newspaper?"

And to those born after 1995, the newspaper is what we put under our art project so we don't make a mess.