Back in March last year, I wrote a post about a stunning series of photos by Todd Heisler (and accompanying story by Jim Sheeler) entitled 'Final Salute', which was a 2006 Pulitzer Prize winner that originally appeared in the Rocky Mountain News on Veterans Day, 2005.However, sadly, as I write this, the Rocky Mountain News has just published its final edition. E.W. Scripps, which owns the newspaper, failed to find a buyer for the troubled Denver daily, which ultimately sealed its fate. Scripps’s chief executive, Rich Boehne, said in a statement that 'The Rocky', as it's known locally, was “a victim of changing times in our industry and huge economic challenges.” Scripps said the newspaper lost $16 million last year, and it will be closing its doors just two months short of its 150th anniversary. The newspaper's final edition was a best seller.
A little over two weeks before The Rocky published the 'Final Salute' photo essay in 2005, the US death toll in Iraq had already reached the grim milestone of 2,000 and public support for the war was fading. Therefore, not only was it a timely decision to run Heisler's powerful and heartrending photos, and Sheeler's touching written feature - it was also bold and brave as well. For this reason, I thought it was important to mark the passing of this newspaper. The video below illustrates just what the closure means to The Rocky's dedicated staff and its loyal readership.
Final Edition from Matthew Roberts on Vimeo.
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