Christian Science Monitor to end daily edition

Rick Edmonds, a media business analyst at the Poynter Institute, said it’s tough to draw too many conclusions from the Monitor’s decision because it is so unusual: It’s owned by the church, has a small but national circulation and sells relatively little advertising.

Still, the industry will be watching, he said.

“I think to the degree they are successful ... that could be important for others looking at that action down the road,” he said.

The newspaper was founded in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Christian Science Church. Despite its background, it is not considered a religious newspaper, though it continues to publish a daily religious article at Eddy’s request.

Ken Doctor, a newspaper analyst for Outsell Inc., a research and consulting company for the information industry, said the Monitor’s decision is part of an accelerated shift from print to digital. Over the last several years, many newspapers have reduced their physical size and number of pages to cut newsprint costs, and many have had employee layoffs or buyouts to slash payroll costs.

“We are seeing the amazing shrinkage of the U.S. press,” Doctor said.

“What the Monitor is saying to its longtime readers is that the best way we can maintain and preserve the kind of journalism we’re doing is to deliver it to you online, even though many of you would prefer it in print. We just can’t afford to do it that way anymore.”

Citi Investment Research analyst Catriona Fallon wrote Monday that she expects newspapers’ revenue from classified, national and retail advertising to continue falling through 2009. And, in the context of initiating coverage of three major newspaper publishers — Gannett Co., The New York Times Co. and The McClatchy Co. — she said online revenue is years away from offsetting declines in print.

Yemma said the newspaper has been operating at a loss for years, and has received a subsidy from the church to fund the deficit. In the current fiscal year, the newspaper’s operating costs were about $25.7 million, but the church paid about $13.3 million of that.

Over the next five years, the church wants to move to a break-even point where it does not have to subsidize the newspaper anymore, said Yemma. To do that, the newspaper needs to focus on the Web, Yemma said.

“There’s no magic bullet on the Web. There’s only doing what essentially works ... doing high-quality journalism and doing it continuously so that your site becomes a destination, a place where people can expect newly updated news the way you do it,” he said.

The new weekly newspaper will be a 44-page publication that reads like a news magazine, and looks like a hybrid between a newspaper and a magazine, Yemma said.

Dave Aeikens, president of the Society of Professional Journalists, said some readers are sure to feel a sense of nostalgia for the Monitor’s daily publication.

“It’s really sad to see a great paper such as The Christian Science Monitor stop its print edition,” Aeikens said. “It’s really unfortunate, but things are evolving."

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