Christian Science Monitor to cease daily print publication

Sunday, November 2, 2008

The Christian Science Monitor has announced plans to cease daily print publication. The newspaper employs 95 correspondents and 8 foreign bureaus and has won 7 Pulitzer Prizes, making it the most prominent newspaper to transition to online publication. It is due to celebrate its one hundredth anniversary later this month. The move has other major newspapers wondering whether this is the future of mainstream journalism.

	It is the future for many papers, but because we are not-for-profit we are not exactly a model for for-profit publications.
—John Yemma, Christian Science Monitor editor

Editor John Yemma stated "It is the future for many papers, but because we are not-for-profit we are not exactly a model for for-profit publications." The Monitor receives its funding from the Christian Science Church, but is nonsectarian and does not proselytize, and the Church has no say in its editorial policy. The newspaper was founded in 1908 by Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy as a reaction against partisan journalism.

The new publication format will be a website updated daily, with subscribers receiving e-mail briefs of major stories and a 44 page weekly magazine. According to a report in The Independent, the weekly magazine "will carry separate original content." The Monitor has made this announcement as a response to rising print publication costs and falling subscriptions. The actual changeover from a Monday through Friday publication five days a week to a single weekly magazine will occur in April 2009.

Yemma predicts that within the next five years, economic constraints will force most other newspapers to make similar changes. A small number of local newspapers made similar changes before the Monitor announced its plans. Two examples are The Capital Times and The Daily Telegram respectively of Madison, Wisconsin and Superior, Wisconsin.

Ken Doctor of Outsell Inc. assessed the economic situation for The New York Times. 92 percent of a typical newspaper's revenue comes from its print edition, so the cost of ceasing print publication exceeds the benefit in savings for most newspapers. The Monitor has an unusual funding profile, with significant resources coming from an endowment and donations. Most of its print revenue comes from subscriptions rather than from advertising. Nonetheless, industry trends led Brennon Slattery of PC World to predict this may be the first of a series of major print newspaper closings.

Have an opinion on this story? Share it!

Sources

Matthew Bell. "Is this the future of newspapers? A veteran publisher abandons print" — The Independent, November 2, 2008
Stephanie Clifford. "Christian Science Paper to End Daily Print Edition" — The New York Times, October 28, 2008
Brennon Slattery. "Christian Science Monitor Goes Online-Only" — Washington Post.com (reprinted from PC World), 31 October 2008

Share this:

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.