'I Want My Rocky' evolves as news website

A website that Rocky Mountain News staffers developed to try to save their newspaper has evolved into a news webite. The story on the evolution of “I Want My Rocky.” is the centerpiece story on Poynter Online. Click on the headline to go to the Poynter centerpiece and be sure to scroll to the end of the story where you will find a dozen links to other Rocky stories.

Here’s the lead from the centerpiece:

Kevin Flynn, the former transportation reporter for the Rocky Mountain News, is unemployed. So how did he publish a news story Monday on a Good Samaritan who was ticketed for jaywalking? And why was he on deadline Tuesday night?

The home for Flynn's three stories since the Rocky closed on Friday is I Want My Rocky, a Web site created by Rocky employees in December to advocate saving the paper. They also envisioned the site as a gathering place for former Rocky employees if the paper ended up closing. And now, just days after the Rocky printed its final edition, I Want My Rocky is a nascent local news site, publishing and linking to the work of its former transportation, arts, and sports reporters.

"A lot of people are looking at it to launch what's next. We don't know what's next," said Steve Foster, a former assistant sports editor and one of the creators of I Want My Rocky.