DeFede Columns

MIAMI (CBS4) ― The Rocky Mountain News, the oldest newspaper in Colorado, published its last edition Friday morning. Its death is a likely a harbinger of things to come with other newspapers. The Seattle Post Intelligencer is on the brink of closing as is the San Francisco Chronicle. The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News both filed for bankruptcy this month. And of course the Miami Herald is not only for sale but is expected to go through another round of layoffs in the coming weeks.

These are bad days for newspapers.

The loss of the Rocky Mountain News, however, hits close to home for me. From 1981 to 1986 I lived in Colorado, going to school at Colorado State University. The Rocky was the paper I read. I liked the Denver Post, but the Rocky was the scrappier of the two dailies, not nearly as stodgy or refined.

In 1985, I was student body president and often liked to try and get my name in the news by leading various protests. If there was something to complain about on campus you could count on me to be front and center. The writer for the Rocky Mountain News who covered the university was John Ensslin. He was new to the paper and he quickly learned he could always count on me for a good quote – whether it was complaining about the university president or a tuition hike by the governing board.

John and I became friends and when I heard the Rocky was closing, my thoughts turned to him and his family. He had long since stopped covering the college in Fort Collins and had moved back down to Denver where he was working the crime beat. We hadn't spoken in more than two decades but Friday I picked up the phone and called his phone number in the newsroom. I really didn't expect to reach him but sure enough he answered the phone.

"You probably won't remember me," I said before offering my name.

John laughed.

"Of course I remember you," he said, "you were part of that quote I had to correct."

Indeed, I am a small part of Rocky lore. Something I said led to one of the great corrections in the paper's history.

It all started when, as student body president, I wanted to convince more African American high school students in Denver to consider applying to Colorado State University. The school's diversity record was abysmal. Most inner city kids either stayed in Denver or wanted to go to the hipper University of Colorado in Boulder.

So I helped devise a plan where hundreds of Denver high school kids were brought up to Fort Collins for a campus tour. We also brought the Rev. Jesse Jackson to campus to be a guest speaker to the kids.

At the end of the day, the students were brought into an auditorium to hear Rev. Jackson – who just a year earlier had run for president. But before they heard from Rev. Jackson, I spoke to the high school students. I wanted to tell them that, quite honestly, we needed them more than they needed us. We needed more diversity on our campus, I explained.

And then I said: "Because let's face it, white middle class Coloradoans are boring people and an entire campus filled with them is pathetic."

There was a fair amount of hooting and hollering at what I said, and after a few more minutes I introduced Rev. Jackson, who was sitting off to the side of the stage while I was speaking. When Rev. Jackson came up, he gave me a big hug, slapped me on the back and just smiled. He then proceeded to offer an incredibly stirring speech.

John Ensslin covered the event for the Rocky and the next day in the paper, in a large print, in a box separate from the story, was the quote: "White middle class Coloradoans are boring people."

Unfortunately, the quote was attributed to Jesse Jackson.

It wasn't John's fault. In the body of the story, John had properly attributed the quote to me, but an editor had pulled the quote out for special treatment and attached Jesse Jackson's name to it.

As you can imagine, the thought of Jesse Jackson calling white folks in Colorado boring created a bit of stir. And so, the next day the Rocky ran a correction saying it wasn't Jesse Jackson who thought white middle class Coloradoans were boring people, it was student body president Jim DeFede that thought that.

The death threats started coming in to me about 8 that morning. It was a fun few days. Nevertheless I survived.

When I reached John on Friday, I wasn't sure what I wanted to say. I was still a little shocked that I had actually reached him. "In about another ten minutes you wouldn't have," he said. "I'm just about done cleaning out my desk."

He said he was working on about three hours of sleep. After executives from E.W. Scripps, the company that owns the Rocky, announced in the newsroom that they were closing the paper, the staff went back to work putting out their final edition. And when the paper was done, the drinking commenced.

I told John I just wanted to call to let him know I was thinking about him and his fellow colleagues at the paper. I also wanted to tell him that having been fired from the Herald a few years back, I know how scary it can be to suddenly have your life thrown into tumult. "You'll get through this," I said.

"This recession won't last forever," he said, trying to strike a note of optimism.

He told me he was planning on going back to school to try and learn video skills that would make him more marketable. "I'm going to stay in journalism," he said.

We traded emails. And he said if I hear of any job openings to let him know. I wished him luck and hung up.

I realize every day in the news there are stories about thousands of people being laid off and businesses closing. But for me, seeing a newspaper die, hits me in a way that is hard to describe. I love newspapers. I love journalism. I think the men and women who ply this trade are a special breed. No one becomes a print reporter to become rich or famous, they do so because they care about the greater good. I know journalists are held in low esteem and often for good reason. But what we do is vital.


And closer to home, anyone who thinks I take any enjoyment watching the Herald suffer is mistaken. This town needs a strong and healthy Miami Herald.

This industry is going through the greatest upheaval in its history. And no one knows how it will look five years from now. Will newspapers survive? I still say they will – I just don't say it with the same conviction I did six months ago.

The need for people to go out and gather information will remain. How that information is presented, how it is packaged, how it is displayed – that is what will change. Will it be solely online? If it is then at some point people are going to have to start paying for access to those sites because the work we do has value and it can't be done for free.

But that's a debate for another day.

Today my thoughts are with John and all the other folks at the Rocky Mountain News. Denver will not be the same without the Rocky.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)