No plans to quit

Written by the Metropolitan Staff

Today, we stood two inches away from the founder of The Metropolitan, flipping through the yellowed, brittle pages of the first issue and sharing stories of its beginnings. They were six key journalism students who worked themselves tirelessly, skipping class and staying up past bedtime, to erect the paper for which we proudly work for today.

Many journalists who have worked in a newsroom before might recall ‘the glory years’ — when their spell check was a just dictionary and the large plates on which the papers were printed were fragile enough to break.

The technology may have changed but one thing remains: the people. We are journalists. We assemble, interpret and analyze the information you read. We make it easier for the people to understand the world’s chaos. We are the public’s watchdogs, critics and entertainers. Our newsroom seems more like home than our own apartments, and the people we share it with become our family.

Every newsroom has its own personality. Our home never stops laughing. We’ve lost count on the numerous inside jokes and stories we have with each other. There are exhausting nights of shouting, editing and seemingly never-ending writing. Believe it or not, we have bickered and fought over one sentence that’s made all the difference. A newsroom is never still unless it’s closed.

This is why the Rocky Mountain News’s loss has affected us all in a deep way.

A newsroom has died; the whole atmosphere of ideas, humor and excitement has been sucked out of it. An entire space filled with the most talented, brilliant reporters, editors and columnists have wiped their desks clean. Their crowded cubicles now stand completely empty. The people we respect and learn from are left displaced. Some may have joined other newsrooms, but more are still recuperating from the shock.

The business model may have failed, but the people have not. They are still the storytellers you depend on to bring life into print. In a sense, we are your public servants; if the public refuses the service we provide, the loss is greater than just a printed newspaper.

Journalists will never stop doing what they do. They will continue to pursue the stories and find a way to bring it to the people’s front door, even if it’s through the Internet. This is not an ending for journalism, it’s a fresh beginning, and any journalist will tell you that they’re ready to adapt just as they always have, working tirelessly, maybe skipping class and staying up past bedtime, to bring you a paper we are still proud of today. We have to. It’s all we know how to do.