There were so many TV news trucks surrounding the Rocky Mountain News building Thursday that reporter Sara Burnett kept losing her cell-phone connection as she broke the news of the paper's closing.

Outlets as varied as the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal called to interview Rocky staffers. More than 25 television and print reporters from across the region covered the afternoon news conference in the newspaper's auditorium as E.W. Scripps executives announced the company was shuttering one of the oldest papers in the nation.

60 Minutes also came to cover the biggest national news story of the day.

"It's a big story because we are losing a major media in the community," said Bruce Wilson, cameraman for Denver's 7. "There's a feeling it could happen to us. When you lose a major media, you're losing information."

Christin Ayers, a reporter for the station added, "It's hard to watch. It seems so wrong to cover the story in a way."

As the Rocky becomes the latest victim of the changing times in the media industry, many newspapers and television stations fear they could be next, said Chip Scanlan of the Poynter Media Institute in Tampa, Fla.

Four owners of 33 U.S. daily newspapers have sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the past 2 1/2 months, and a number of other papers are up for sale. Hearst Corp. announced earlier this week that it will close or sell the San Francisco Chronicle if it can't dramatically cut expenses in the next few weeks.

"For a paper with the reputation and size of the Rocky Mountain News to disappear, it's mind-boggling," Scanlan said. "If one company could close a paper that served a community for so long, what does that mean for other papers out there? But not every newspaper will go the way of the illustrated manuscript."

Scanlan said a newspaper's death represents more than just a loss of information or the farewell to an institution.

It's the loss of a social instrument.

"Some of the most iconic scenes of American life is one where an American family is sitting around the breakfast table sharing and reading the newspaper," Scanlan said. "It's hard to watch newspapers disappear as a fixture of daily American life.

"At their very best newspapers not only communicate to the public, but they are champions of the public interests," he added. "At their very best newspapers inform, inspire and entertain."

washingtonam@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5086