Denver area spawns three web-only publications

When the Rocky Mountain News folded, a site called “I Want My Rocky” quickly spring up that covered the closing and gave updates on what was to come. Interestingly, it’s still around, and at this point is reporting mostly on the fate of newspapers in Colorado and elsewhere. It’s worth looking at here.

The first web-only publication created by former Rocky reporters was InDenver Times, which we covered in March (complete with a video I shot of their launch press conference). It’s still in existence, with a staff lineup that appears heavy on Metro State journalism students. At least one of the original businesspeople who helped kick it off is still listed on its masthead. You can see its current state by following this link.

Newest kid on the block is Rocky Mountain Independent, headed up by several people who left InDenver Times for reasons that are still unresearched by this slovenly reporter at this point. It has a rather formidable staff lineup and a product that, in format and range of coverage, seems kind of similar to InDenver Times. You can see the Rocky Mountain Independent for yourself on this link. Also, Westword’s media reporter Michael Roberts wrote an informative article about the new venture in Westword.

That’s just a rundown. I hope to do more sleuthing in upcoming days, thus providing more details about what this all means right here. I do note how both spinoff publications have worked at creating content-sharing relationships with existing area bloggers.

Next arrival: HuffingtonPost.com’s Denver and Colorado edition, which is slated to debut in September, and with which I may just be involved. That project is being headed up by Ethan Axelrod, son of President Obama’s senior advisor and frequent public spokesman David Axelrod, no less. No link to that – it doesn’t exist yet.

Hang on, it could be a wild ride.