The Christian Science Monitor today announced it will drop its daily print edition early next year and focus on growing audience and advertising on its
Web site. After April 1, it will publish only a weekend edition in print.
The
Monitor, celebrating its 100th birthday this month and next, is the most prominent newspaper to date to take the online plunge. But, like some of the others that have quit daily print publication this year, it has special circumstances that would not apply to the typical metro daily. In the
Monitor's case, those circumstance include a modest circulation -- about 50,000 -- combined with national distribution. Also, it is owned by the
Church of Christ, Scientist, which has been willing to underwrite operating shortfalls though the years but not the big losses that come in the current deteriorating print climate.
Both the print and Web versions of the
Monitor are light on advertising. So unlike most dailies, it will save substantially on printing, paper and distribution without an enormous sacrifice of premium-priced print advertising revenue.
Editor & Publisher reported that the
Monitor expects to save $4 million in the first year, but will lose about $5 million in revenue.
Typical or not, the Monitor will be closely watched and could blaze a path for others to follow. That could be especially true if the print business model experiences even deeper setbacks and online audience and revenue possibilities expand. Of particular business interest may be the online/print hybrid, where online is the leading face of the organization's news effort but a residual print product is there for readers and advertisers who still prefer that format.
The ambitious online news site,
The Politico, early on supplemented its base report on the Web with a three-times-a-week "reverse-published" print version, thick with advertising and distributed free around Washington.
Editorially, the Monitor's transition should be a smooth one, since it has a selective and serious news focus, typically looking for fresh angles that other papers miss. It also has a nicely designed site with ample use of video and reader input.
Other papers that have shifted to a primarily online strategy include The Capital Times, a second paper in Madison, Wis. under joint ownership with the much larger Wisconsin State Journal. When The Cincinnati Post folded at the beginning of the year with the expiration of a joint operating agreement, Scripps chose to continue The Kentucky Post online.
Earlier this month the East Valley Tribune in suburban Phoenix announced it is pulling back from daily to four times a week in print and also refocused on the Mesa-Gilbert-Chandler area, dropping coverage of Scottsdale and Tempe.
