The Christian Science Monitor to cease daily print publication
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To reduce costs and focus on its widely read website, the 100 year-old Christian Science Monitor will cease publication of its daily newspaper in 2009, it announced today; a weekend edition will continue. It is the first major national paper to cancel daily print publication.
The paper was founded by Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist, after she was attacked in the pages of Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World. Despite its name, the paper has a secular, not religious, focus (and a lovely books section). What’s more, the bad blood between Eddy and Pulitzer has been forgotten; the Christian Science Monitor has won seven Pulitzer Prizes.
Current Christian Science Monitor editor John Yemma says:
In the Monitor’s next century, as with its first century, it is committed to finding answers to the world’s most important problems, asking the questions that matter and getting the story behind the news -- all of which is staying true to Mrs. Eddy’s unselfish, original vision. The Monitor’s role is right there in its name. It’s to monitor the world, to keep an eye on the world from a perspective of hope.
The paper’s budget has been supplemented by the church, but it hopes to become self-sustaining in the future. One question: With its new online focus and diminished newsprint presence, can we call it a ‘paper’ anymore?
-- Carolyn Kellogg
Image credit: preview of upcoming Christian Science Monitor website from CSmonitor.com
