Comments on: Christian Science Monitor Going Web-Only

By: Triumph

Triumph — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:59:36 +0000

I forgot where I read this, but there is an interesting comparison between newspapers in the US and the UK. The UK has at least 4 or 5, basically national, papers.

The critique of US papers is that they have been really bad at marketing their product.

The last time I was in London-about 6 months ago--nearly every paper was giving away film DVDs to persuade people to buy printed copies off the newsstand.

I find it strange that papers haven't used a similar strategy here in the US.

I picked up like 3 DVDs when I was in London just as part of my morning paper-reading routine--unfortunately they all are coded to not play in US DVD players (but that's another asinine issue, altogether--blame Jack Valenti for that)

By: Hypnosis

Hypnosis — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 05:53:37 +0000

While I was not a reader of the CSM, I must admit that I read most newspapers online myself. Sign of the times... Yet, I find it sad that the glory days of the printed newspaper are clearly history - some of the biggest dailies are struggling seriously. Soon we will carry out 'Kindle' to the coffeehouse. Not quite the same...

By: Brett

Brett — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 05:10:23 +0000

The NYT might survive with a print edition as well as the on-line edition, but I think at some point they are probably going to have to revert back to requiring an on-line subscription as well as on-line advertising revenue to keep from bleeding money.

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:21:33 +0000

US mail for delivery. The sum result was that you may get an issue on the day it was published, but more often I would go for several days without getting one and then get like 3 on a single day.

Yup. I had a trial subscription back in the 1980s and found that rather bizarre, never converting to a real subscription. I started getting their RSS feed several months back, though, and find some good stuff there.

By: Triumph

Triumph — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:14:15 +0000

CSM is a unique breed, given its non-profit status and subscriber-generated revenue stream, but I think that if they modernized their print distribution system, they could still be successful.

I used to get a subscription, but they actually used the US mail for delivery. The sum result was that you may get an issue on the day it was published, but more often I would go for several days without getting one and then get like 3 on a single day.

Their excuse is that they are a national paper--but the NY Times, FT, and USA Today all are able to figure it out.

They had good, solid analysis, but since I stopped getting a subscription, I don't think I have ever visited their website.

By: CSM Becomes “Web-Only” | The American Pundit

CSM Becomes “Web-Only” | The American Pundit — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:34:16 +0000

[...] web-only keeps costs down. With so many people getting their news from the web nowadays, it’s really a smart move. We recently announced, as covered in today’s paper, that in April 2009 the daily print edition [...]