America's Last Newspaper War: One Hundred and Sixteen Years of Competition Between the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News A
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America’s Last Newspaper War: One Hundred and Sixteen Years of Competition between the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News A dissertation presented to the faculty of the Scripps College of Communication of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy Kenneth J. Ward May 2018 © 2018 Kenneth J. Ward. All Rights Reserved. This dissertation titled America’s Last Newspaper War: One Hundred and Sixteen Years of Competition between the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News by KENNETH J. WARD has been approved for the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism and the Scripps College of Communication by Michael S. Sweeney Professor of Journalism Scott Titsworth Dean, Scripps College of Communication ii Abstract WARD, KENNETH J., Ph.D., May 2018, Journalism America’s Last Newspaper War: One Hundred and Sixteen Years of Competition between the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News Director of Dissertation: Michael S. Sweeney The Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post fought for dominance of the Denver, Colorado, newspaper market for more than a century, enduring vigorous competition in pursuit of monopoly control over a lucrative market. This frequently sensational, sometimes outlandish, and occasionally bloody battle spanned numerous eras of journalism, embodying the rise and fall of the newspaper industry during the twentieth century in the lead up to the decline of American newspapering and the death of the News, which ended the country’s last great newspaper war. This historical analysis charts the course of this competition throughout the lifetime of the News, which was founded in 1859. It begins by examining the Denver market’s early history, in which the News battled the city’s earlier newspapers for control in the decades before the Post’s founding. It then turns to document the 116 years of competition between the News and Post, drawing on manuscript collections scattered across the United States as well as oral histories with executives, managers, and journalists from the two papers. In particular, this dissertation interrogates these sources to better understand the strategies employed by the two newspapers in their competition with one another and against other challenges, such as widespread economic uncertainty and the decline of the newspaper industry. It explores the joint operating agreement entered into by the Post and News in 2001 to better understand its causes, conditions, and iii results in serving the goals of the two newspapers and the Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970. Additionally, the dissertation investigates the News’s closure in 2009, critiquing the rationale for closing the paper offered by its parent, the E.W. Scripps Company. These questions are evaluated in light of the modern media ecosystem, one in which news organizations tangle with one another on the Internet as well as their native platforms as they compete for the strained attention of their audiences. This work offers practical lessons of immediate use related to market competition, product differentiation, emergent media, economic hardship, and public versus private ownership models, advice that benefits today’s publishers as they attempt to stand out in a difficult news environment. iv Dedication For Christine. v Acknowledgments This work is indebted to the encouragement and support of more people than can be mentioned on this page. Included in this list are several institutions that kindly provided access to collections relevant to this project, including History Colorado, the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Media School at Indiana University, Denver University, Colorado College, and Ohio University’s Alden Library. In particular, this work thanks the staff of Denver Public Library’s Western History department, which offered help at every turn of this project, including unparalleled access to irreplaceable manuscripts, without which this work would not have been possible. At Ohio University, instruction and financial support from the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism and the Contemporary History Institute enriched this project greatly. So too did the guidance of this dissertation’s committee—Drs. Michael S. Sweeney, Aimee Edmondson, Katherine Jellison, and Greg Newton—without whom this work would have been incomplete. Additionally, the willingness of John Temple, Dean Singleton, Larry Strutton, Neil Westergaard, Lynn Bartels, Jody Lodovic, and William Burleigh to share their time, expertise, and experience is greatly appreciated. Personally, I am indebted to Will Mallory, Christine Crouse-Dick, John McCabe- Juhnke, Lisa Parcell, and Michael S. Sweeney, a line of teachers and mentors that pushed me to become a better person and scholar. The same goes for Benny Stucky, the best friend anyone could ask for; my loving mother, father, and brother; and my parents-in- law, who graciously housed me during research expeditions to Denver. Finally, I thank Bre, my wife, for her patience, her constant prodding forward, and her love, and I thank my baby daughter, Roz, for being adorable. I love you all. vi Table of Contents Page Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iii Dedication ........................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgments .............................................................................................................. vi Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Overview and Justification ............................................................................................. 2 Literature Review ........................................................................................................... 5 Media Economics ........................................................................................................ 6 Regional History ....................................................................................................... 13 Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post History ..................................................... 18 Method .......................................................................................................................... 21 Organization .................................................................................................................. 23 Chapter 1. Primacy: 1859–1895 ....................................................................................... 36 Publish or Perish ........................................................................................................... 38 Fighting the Frontier ..................................................................................................... 42 Maturing Market ........................................................................................................... 47 Chapter 2. Disruption: 1895–1926 .................................................................................... 57 A Full Field ................................................................................................................... 59 Transformation of the Denver Post .............................................................................. 63 The Post Style ............................................................................................................... 69 Management .............................................................................................................. 70 Editorial ..................................................................................................................... 72 Advertising ................................................................................................................ 78 Consequence of Style ................................................................................................ 81 The Post Becomes Dominant ....................................................................................... 86 Napoleon Alone ............................................................................................................ 92 A Worthy Competitor ................................................................................................... 97 Chapter 3. Stagnation: 1926–1945 .................................................................................. 113 Scripps-Howard Enters the Fray ................................................................................. 115 War .............................................................................................................................. 118 Détente ........................................................................................................................ 125 vii The Man from Missouri .............................................................................................. 132 Surviving the Depression ............................................................................................ 138 A New News ............................................................................................................... 148 Chapter 4. Profit: 1946–1970 .......................................................................................... 173 Changing of the Guard ................................................................................................ 175 “Who