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Today was a sad day for me. An old friend has died. Tomorrow, February 27th is the last edition of the Rocky Mountain News. Denver, as well as the rest of the nation, will not be the better for it.

Working for E W Scripps, the Rocky Mountain News has been a big part of my life for the last year. Although a late adopter of SEO, they were quick to see the benefits of its common-sense principles and adopted it more fully than most any other paper within the company. Some of the things we have been able to accomplish over the last year have been profound, and the plans for the future held even bigger SEO success for the paper …a future we will never see.

One example of their success was our SEO initiative around the Democratic National Convention. During a period of heavy news coverage and other web resources covering the Democratic National Convention, the Rocky Mountain News was able to hold first page Google coverage, sometimes out-performing the official DNC sites and Wikipedia …and always outperforming CNN, MSNBC, and the rest of the news giants. Even today you will find them as a first page result for Democratic National Convention.

As someone who had personally been abused by the horrible misreporting of the 1997 UPS strike, which I was apart of, it took me a very long time to regain my trust in news. The journalistic passion of the Rocky’s staff played a big part in that healing process. Today, I fully see the value and necessity of news. Journalists are not only the people that keep us connected to our community, they are our watch dogs. Who will keep those in power honest? When every news agency has died, will we be better off trusting the military press secretary then a reporter in the field? I don’t think we will.

But even when it came to news, the Rocky Mountain News has always been different. Most news groups simply report the news. The Rocky Mountain News told a story. It was so much more then a collection of facts. It was personal. They made you feel it …and I love them for that. Don’t get me wrong. Scripps has some really great newspapers. But, if told I only could choose one paper that makes me proud to be part of Scripps, the Rocky Mountain News would be my pick. Amazing paper, amazing journalism, amazing people. 150 years of trustworthy news coverage …deleted!

There are two individuals from the Rocky I want to recognize before I close this article: John Temple and Mike Noe. Two men I’ve spent a tremendous amount of time with over the last year. Two men I’ve grown to respect greatly. Two men who will be a huge asset to the companies that scoop them up.

John Temple: 50% Pit Bull, 50% the man you wish was your father. John Temple embodies everything a publisher and editor should be. He has an unbending passion for quality journalism and inspires those around him to be better than they would be without him.

Mike Noe: A very talented interactive editor / online manager who not only gets the job done but gets it done right. In an internet full of mediocrity, Mike stands out as someone with strategic thinking and the skills to put them into practice. His passion for excellence is extremely rare.

There are many more talented people at the Rocky, most I have never met. You can read more about these individuals at iwantmyrocky.com.