Christian Science Monitor to End Daily Print Edition (Update3)

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Christian Science Monitor to End Daily Print Edition (Update3)
2008-10-28 21:16:35.850 GMT


    (Adds historical details starting in first paragraph.)

By Tim Mullaney
    Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- The Christian Science Monitor, the
newspaper started 100 years ago by church founder Mary Baker
Eddy, will stop printing a daily edition next year to focus on
the Internet, the first national newspaper to take such a step.
    The move follows years of losses at the non-profit
newspaper, which is subsidized by the Church of Christ,
Scientist. The Monitor expects to lose $18.9 million in the year
ending April 30. Its annual budget is $34 million, Editor John
Yemma said in an interview.
    While some newspapers have dropped Monday editions to save
money, the Monitor's shift to Web-only isn't likely to be copied
soon by larger, for-profit dailies. Online ads provide no more
than 10 percent of sales at most newspapers, too little to
support editorial staffs, said John Morton, president of the
consulting firm Morton Research Inc. in Silver Spring, Maryland.
    ``There may come a time when you can envision it happening,
but not soon,'' Morton said. ``The model is still substantially
based on print.''
    The Monitor will probably cut its editorial staff of 95 by
10 percent to 15 percent as part of the transition, Yemma said.
The newspaper will initially lose more money by giving up the
$240-a-year print subscription than it will save, he said.
    ``We hope to make it up,'' Yemma said. ``The next century's
model has to be one where print is not at the center of it.''

 
  


-------------------------------------------
Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now
RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com