Tuesday, September 30, 2008

End of an Era: NY Sun Goes Dark

The New York Sun started by a bunch of disaffected New York Times reporters, has finally shut down because of a failure to find additional capital investment. The Sun helped lead the way in investigating scandals at the United Nations and was consistently on top of its game reporting on the Middle East.

It's a sad day to see the Sun go, but this is all part of a trend in the newspaper business because of falling readership and the ability to obtain information online without having to go to the newspapers. New York City is graced by several major newspapers, including the New York Times, New York Post, New York Daily News, and New York Newsday. Throw in the Record and the Star Ledger, and you've got a serious amount of papers competing for attention on any given day. It's the most competitive region in the nation for a newspaper to function, and the fact that all the papers are suffering should not go unnoticed. Some if it has to do with editorial choices. Some has to do with bad business decisions. Some has to do with the economic model that newspapers in general have chosen. Taken together, the Sun had an uphill battle from its inception, but it managed to put out a good product while it was here.

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