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The Christian Science Monitor
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The Christian Science Monitor (CSM) is an international newspaper published daily, Monday through Friday. It was started in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. As of March 31, 2008, the print circulation was 56,083.
The CSM is a newspaper that covers international and United States current events. The paper includes a daily religious feature on the "The Home Forum" page, but is not a platform for evangelizing.
In October 2008, citing losses of $18.9 million per year versus $12.5 million in annual revenue, the Monitor announced that it would cease printing daily and instead print weekly editions starting in April 2009.
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Encyclopedia
The Christian Science Monitor (CSM) is an international newspaper published daily, Monday through Friday. It was started in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. As of March 31, 2008, the print circulation was 56,083.
The CSM is a newspaper that covers international and United States current events. The paper includes a daily religious feature on the "The Home Forum" page, but is not a platform for evangelizing.
In October 2008, citing losses of $18.9 million per year versus $12.5 million in annual revenue, the Monitor announced that it would cease printing daily and instead print weekly editions starting in April 2009. The Monitor will continue to offer daily news online on its website and via email.
Concept and inception
Despite its name, the Monitor was not established to be a religious-themed paper, nor does it promote the doctrine of its patron church. However, at its founder Eddy's request, a daily religious article has appeared in every issue of the Monitor. Eddy also required the inclusion of "Christian Science" in the paper's name, over initial opposition by some of her advisers who thought the religious reference might repel a secular audience.
The Monitor's inception was, in part, a response by Eddy to the journalism of her day, which relentlessly covered the sensations and scandals surrounding her new religion with varying degrees of accuracy. In addition, Joseph Pulitzer's New York World was consistently critical of Eddy, and according to many historians, this along with a derogatory article in McClure's, furthered Eddy's decision to found her own media outlet.
Eddy declared that the Monitors mission should be "to injure no man, but to bless all mankind." Since its founding, the paper has won the Pulitzer Prize for journalism seven times. It is particularly well known for its in-depth coverage of the Middle East, publishing material from veteran Middle East specialists like John K. Cooley.
The Monitor was originally published in broadsheet form but today it is published in tabloid format. The newspaper has struggled since the 1960s to enlarge its circulation and turn a profit. The church's directors and the manager of the Christian Science Publishing Society were purportedly forced to plan cutbacks and closures (later denied), which led in 1989 to the mass protest resignations by its famed editor Kay Fanning (an ASNE president and former editor of the Anchorage Daily News), managing editor David Anable, associate editor David Winder, and several other newsroom staff. These developments presaged administrative moves to scale back the print newspaper in favor of expansions into radio, a glossy magazine, shortwave broadcasting, and television. Expenses, however, rapidly outpaced revenues, contradicting predictions by church directors. On the brink of bankruptcy, the board was forced to close the broadcast programs.
Modernization
The print edition continued to struggle for readership, and, in 2004, faced a renewed mandate from the church to turn a profit. The Monitor, more quickly than other newspapers, turned to the World Wide Web for its future. The Web offered the paper the opportunity to overcome the severe cost and logistical difficulties of mailing out a daily international newspaper. The Monitor was one of the first newspapers to put its text online (in 1996), and also one of the first to launch a PDF edition (in 2001). It was also an early pioneer of RSS feeds.
More recently, the website has proven to be one of the most respected news sources on the internet while the print edition continues into its one hundredth year, amid a search for a successful business strategy. In 2005, Richard Bergenheim, a Christian Science practitioner, was named the new editor; shortly before his death in 2008, Bergenheim was replaced by a veteran Boston Globe editor (and former Monitor reporter), John Yemma.
On Tuesday, October 28 2008, Yemma announced that the Monitor would be discontinuing their daily print version to focus on web-based publishing. Instead of a daily print edition, CS Monitor will publish a weekly news magazine with an international focus. As the paper turns its attention to online storytelling, it is breaking ground with multimedia projects like "Little Bill Clinton," a narrative serial following a year in the life of a young refugee.
Monitor Radio
Monitor Radio was a radio service produced by the Church of Christ, Scientist between 1984 and 1997. It featured several one hour news broadcasts a day, as well as top of the hour news bulletins. The service was widely heard on public radio stations throughout the United States, as well as several shortwave transmitters. The service ceased operations on June 28, 1997.
Galloway apology
In April 2003 after being provided documents by a former Iraqi General, several news organizations including the Monitor reported that George Galloway was accused by a U.S. Senate Committee led by Norm Coleman of personally profiting from abuses of UN Oil-for-Food program. The Monitor investigated the matter, concluded that the documents were "almost certainly forgeries," and in response to a lawsuit by Galloway apologized in court.
Reporter kidnapping
In 2006, Jill Carroll, a freelance reporter for the Monitor, was kidnapped in Baghdad, and released safely after 82 days. Although Carroll was initially a freelancer, the paper worked tirelessly for her release, even hiring her as a staff writer shortly after her abduction to ensure that she had financial benefits, according to Bergenheim.
Beginning in August 2006, the Monitor published an of Carroll's kidnapping and subsequent release, with first-person reporting from Carroll and others involved.
Awards
The CSM has been the recipient of 7 Pulitzer prizes, the most recent in 2002.
External links
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