After nearly 10 years at the Aspen Daily News, Editor Rick Carroll (at right) is jumping ship for the competitor, The Aspen Times. Both are free daily newspapers, competing head-to-head in perhaps the smallest market with two separately owned dailies. Carroll, 38, will become managing editor of the Times, replacing Allyn Harvey, who announced his resignation in December and will leave in February. The
Aspen Daily News spin on the story was that Carroll was leaving an independently owned paper for one owned by a "corporate" chain, Swift Newspapers of Reno, Nev. The Daily News wrote, "For years, Carroll has shunned the corporate way of life, pledging allegiance to the Aspen Daily News and passionately opposing The Aspen Times." The
Aspen Times put a different spin on it, quoting Carroll as saying, "I look at it as a move up." Carroll also said that while the Times often has more breadth and depth than the Daily News, he always tried to scoop the Times. He said he would like to bring some of that urgency to The Aspen Times.
