There is no easy way to say goodbye to the newspaper you love. How we grieve is so personal. Some cry, some bundle it inside, some seek isolation, others company.
And worst of all is when the death comes quickly. When we don’t have time to prepare our thoughts, to really share last conversations and memories, to make sure the past is honored.
That must have been the way the staff at the Rocky Mountain News felt last week when they were told that in one day the Rocky was going to die, victim of the incredibly bad economy, victim of enormous change, victim of self-inflicted wounds.
One day to work with all the pride they possessed, pride in themselves, their colleagues and their paper, to produce the best possible last edition they could give their readers. Their farewell gift to the community the paper had served so well for 150 years.
There was no time to grieve.
No time to think about tomorrow.
No time to reminisce about the good days.
My mind races back to that day in 1978 when the Chicago Daily News, one of America’s finest newspapers, ran its last lead story headline: “So Long, Chicago.” A reunion of all its great journalists would fill the bleachers at Wrigley Field, but at that moment it was an afternoon newspaper without a Sunday edition competing against two morning papers and losing millions each year. So our owner, Marshall Field IV, stood on a desk on a day in February and told us the Daily News would be closing in weeks.
The staffs of the Sun-Times, also owned by Field in those days, and the Daily News would be combined, but many quality and talented journalists would lose their jobs.
Helping to make those stay-or-go decisions, as managing editor, were the toughest days and nights of my managerial career. Only one thing helped: The state of newspapers was much more optimistic in those days before the explosion of technology.
Recruiters from other papers across the country flew into town, or simply walked across the street from the Tribune, to talk to those losing their jobs, or to attempt to lure away those who might be anxious about joining the combined staff of two formerly competing papers.
But everyone needed time to grieve. We had lost a loved one. Chicago had lost a friend. The newspaper industry had lost one of its best.
People needed to talk. They needed to be heard. They needed to look ahead. They needed time to heal. They needed someone to help them focus.
Thirty years later Daily News veterans still receive a regular newsletter keeping us up to date on what’s happening with those of us still around. There are some memories you never want to surrender.
That’s why I often re-read the column the great Mike Royko wrote the day before the last edition of the Daily News. And why I have quoted excerpts from it often in speeches.
Let me share some of Mike’s words. I know the men and women at the Rocky share the same feelings Mike expressed so eloquently. I just wish they had been given more time to express them. Here’s Mike:
When I was a kid, the worst of all days was the last day of summer vacation, and we were in the school yard playing baseball, and the sun was down and it was getting dark. But I did not want it to get dark. I did not want the game to end. It was too good, too much fun.
I wanted it to stay light forever, so we could keep playing forever, so the game would go on and on.
That;s how I feel now. Come on, come on. Let’s play one more inning. One more time at bat. One more pitch. Just one. Stick around, guys. We can’t break up this team. It’s too much fun.
But the sun always went down. And now it’s almost dark again.
As I said in an ASNE speech in 1995, it was indeed dark that day and my soul was bruised, as were the souls of many, and the indelible mark of that void will never wash away. We loved the Daily News to death. I just wish we could have loved her to life.
The same can be said for the Rocky and any other newspaper that dies.
