The End of an Era?

[W. Gray]

The Rocky Mountain News announced, today, that it must be sold within the next four to six weeks or is in danger of folding.

The Rocky is the oldest business in Denver, Colorado, and is going on 150 years old.

The newspaper first published in Kansas.

Perhaps management could ask Congress for a bailout?

[D Whetstone]

They should petition to change their classification to a bank.    Then they could get some of the bailout money.

[Warph]

The Rocky Mountain News announced, today, that it must be sold within the next four to six weeks or is in danger of folding.

The Rocky is the oldest business in Denver, Colorado, and is going on 150 years old.

The newspaper first published in Kansas.

Perhaps management could ask Congress for a bailout?

With our NEW liberal government, a bailout wouldn't surprise me a bit 

The End of an Era?.... you've got that right!  One of the main reasons it is folding --- two words: Liberal bias!  This isn't just happening in Denver.  There are more than 100 newspapers across the nation that are close to feeling the ax mainly because people are sick and tired of their liberal bias and political correctness.

For instance:  In most cases the liberal media refuses to identify the political party in their stories when a Democrat is involved in a scandal.  Most times it is buried deep within the article so as to remain anonymous to the audience.  The Associated Press (which is where the small newspapers, and many of the large ones, get most of their non-local content) is the most guilty of this practice but it is in fact modus operandi by all liberal media sources.  Compare that with Republican scandals which the liberal media will always includes the party name in its' headlines or within the first sentance or first paragraph.

For liberal newspapers, such as The NYTimes, The LATimes and The Washington Post, it is desperately important to win because their whole sense of themselves is at stake.  Given the high stakes, it is not hard to understand the all-out attacks of liberals on those who differ from them and their attempts to stifle alternative sources of values and beliefs, with 'campus speech codes and political correctness' being prime examples of a spreading pattern of taboos.  Here they are not content to squelch contemporary voices, they must also silence history and traditions–the national memory–as well.  This too is a larger danger than the dangers flowing from particular policies.  History is the memory of a nation–and that memory is being erased by historians enthralled by liberalism.  Open disdain for mere facts has been accompanied by adventurous reinterpretations known as 'revisionist' history.  This is all yet another expression of the notion that reality is optional.

A very similar development in the law treats the Constitution as meaning not what those who wrote it meant, but what one small segment of the public today wants it to mean.  This is the 'living constitution' of 'evolving standards,' reflecting what 'thinking people' believe.  The law itself has been prostituted to the service of ideological crusades.  The social cohesion that makes civilized life possible has been loosened by the systematic undermining of families and of commonly shared values and a common culture.

Sorry Waldo, I'll get off my soapbox.... but before I go, I'll leave y'all with this little
piece:


College faculties are not only mostly liberal, but lean even further to the left than conservatives have imagined.

According to a study by professors at Smith College, George Mason University and the University of Toronto (they surveyed 1,643 full-time faculty at 183 four-year schools), 72 percent of professors at American universities labeled themselves liberal, while just 15 percent said they are conservative. 50 percent of faculty members identified themselves as Democrats and only 11 percent Republicans.

Political Science professors Robert Lichter of George Mason University, Neil Nevitte of the University of Toronto and Stanley Rothman of Smith College also found that 51 percent of those surveyed said they rarely or never attend church or synagogue. University, Neil Nevitte of the University of Toronto and Stanley Rothman of Smith College also found that 51 percent of those surveyed said they rarely or never attend church or synagogue.

These liberal leanings translate into liberal political beliefs.  84 percent of those surveyed are strongly or somewhat in favor of abortion rights, 67 percent think homosexuality is acceptable, 88 percent want more environmental protection "even if it raises prices or costs jobs" and 65 percent want the government to ensure full employment, which puts the professors to the left of the Democratic Party.

A quick Google search of "liberalism on college campuses" brings a wealth of good evidence that what is being taught on many of them is anti-American, anti-religious, anti-Israel, pro-gay rights and pro-abortion, often to the exclusion and ridicule of opposing views.

[Catwoman]

Actually, the era of civility and kindness of attitude began to be a bygone era when our liberal press and liberal media started having the opinion that openly bashing our leaders, both secular and religious, as being acceptable.  It has led our public to being openly sarcastic with each other...it is nothing to badmouth someone behind their back (an activity that, in more civil times, would have had you ostracized from polite society).  The social constraints that used to keep our bad habits in check have gone by the wayside...as a result, we have become a society that views cynicism, disrespectfulness and rudeness as being the norm.  I am an oddity in this world...I have demanded that my children address their elders as "yes, sir" or "yes, ma'am"...I have demanded that my children comport themselves as ladies and gentlemen...and I have demanded civility in their every day relationships...I extend the respect of not yelling, swearing, or being rude...and I demand that of my children, as well.  I'm hopelessly old-fashioned, I know...call it an old woman's lament...a derelict from a bygone era! lol

[W. Gray]

Of the two Denver newspapers, the Denver Post is considered the more leftist. A really leftist female editor once terminated Mallard Fillmore saying there was no "demand." There was so much outcry that she had to reinstate it. She had the last say, though, as she reduced the size of the toon to one-half what it formerly was.

The Rocky does have some conservative views but is still dominated by the left.

One of my favorite college professors was a conservative at what is now the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg. This was many years ago and I cannot recall his name. I have also forgotten the course name although it must have had something to do with political science. However, I have never forgotten one of his class "exercises."

Seats in the class were not assigned and everyone sat where they wanted.

One day at the end of the period, the professor announced where the center line of the classroom was pointing between two lines of chairs. When the class next met, he asked that everyone sit, for that one day, in conformance with his or her position on the political spectrum. That is, sit to the left or the right of the center line. Some students moaned but others got quite a kick out of request.

At the next class, I arrived early, and sat midway between the center line and the right wall of the classroom, the door of which was on that right wall. Others came in and to my surprise most sat to the right.

One fellow came in after the class began, said hello to the professor, and grabbed an empty chair and moved it out in the hall and sat down to the hilarity of everyone—he was on the extreme right.

Of the students who sat on the left, most were girls sitting along the center line, but I do remember one fellow who sat next to the windows as an extreme leftist.

[Catwoman]

That's a cool little human experiment...wish it could be replicated in some other venues...the results would be interesting!

[Rudy Taylor]

The Rocky Mountain News is a respected newspaper that will be sorely missed by those living in that region.

I can assure you it is not the quality of their news or the alleged leaning of their editorials that has led to their demise. It is the severe drop in advertising revenues and a drop in readership caused by people getting their news from faster sources such as the internet and cable news. Daily newspapers, large and small, are suffering equally, regardless of any political views they may express in print.

Amazingly, small weekly newspapers seem to be surviving quite well. With one hundred percent local news in their columns, readers are finding a reading product that cannot be duplicated by watching television or searching on the internet.

But in the meantime, watch for more big dailies to fold.

[Rudy Taylor]

http://business.smh.com.au/business/tribune-empire-stares-at-bankruptcy-20081208-6u0g.html

[W. Gray]

Those same big city difficulties are multiplied when there are two newspapers publishing in the same city. The two Denver newspapers went into a publishing agreement for a revenue sharing plan that took place around 2000. Advertising and subscription revenue were pooled and shared. That plan required Department of the Justice approval. Subscription prices jumped and became the same because there was no more subscription competition.

Prior to the revenue sharing agreement I was subscribing to the newspaper with the lowest priced subscription, which was the Post, and continued with it.

Under the newspaper's agreement, the Denver Post ceased publishing a Saturday edition, and subscribers to both newspapers received the Rocky. The Rocky ceased publishing a Sunday edition and subscribers to both newspapers received the Post on Sunday.

Both the wife and I really preferred the Rocky, mainly because of its tabloid format. However, that format did not divide very well when it came to him and her reading in the morning. The Denver Post has a traditional sectional format.


In the 1870s, the Rocky Mountain News regularly advertised for readers in the Howard City Beacon. As I recall the subscription price was $3.00 per year, when the local papers were around $1-2 per year.

[Warph]

I spent some time at Colorado Springs and would read the Post from time to time.  I remember reading some of  George McClure's (whom I believe lived somewhere between Mars and Pluto) goofy articles.  I don't know if he's still with the Post but I remember getting a big kick out of the following:


The mainstream US media are dominated by liberals!

Sun, 3 Jul 2005

By George McClure, Denver Post

The mainstream media in this country are dominated by liberals.

I was informed of this fact by Rush Limbaugh. And Thomas Sowell. And Ann Coulter. And Rich Lowry. And Bill O'Reilly. And William Safire. And Robert Novak. And William F. Buckley, Jr.

And George Will.

And John Gibson. And Michelle Malkin. And David Brooks. And Tony Snow. And Tony Blankely. And Fred Barnes. And Britt Hume. And Larry Kudlow. And Sean Hannity.

And David Horowitz. And William Kristol. And Hugh Hewitt. And Oliver North. And Joe Scarborough. And Pat Buchanan. And John McLaughlin. And Cal Thomas. And Joe Klein.

And James Kilpatrick. And Tucker Carlson. And Deroy Murdock. And Michael Savage.

And Charles Krauthammer. And Stephen Moore. And Alan Keyes.

And Gary Bauer. And Mort Kondracke. And Andrew Sullivan. And Nicholas von Hoffman. And Neil Cavuto. And Matt Drudge. And Mike Rosen. And Dave Kopel. And John Caldara.

And.....