The editor of the New York Sun, a small five-day-a-week newspaper that professes to offer "an alternative" to the New York Times, said Wednesday the paper may close at the end of September if it doesn't receive new backing, Canadian Press (CA) has reported. The Sun was founded in October 2001 and began publishing daily in April 2002.
Some details from the CA report:
The Sun "has yet to achieve its financial goal of making a profit," editor Seth Lipsky said in a letter to readers posted on the paper's website. The letter is to appear in print editions Thursday. "As costs rise and the advertising market for newspapers generally tightens, keeping the Sun alive and moving it toward self-sufficiency will require broadening the base of investors beyond the original group," Lipsky's letter said.
The paper's investors are willing to infuse more capital, and talks with other newspaper owners and investors about "possible combinations or investment relationships" will continue, he said. But there's no guarantee of rescue for the paper, whose losses he called "substantial."
Lipsky said the Sun is losing money despite "increases in print advertising revenues not only last year and the year before but also so far this year" - in contrast with most newspapers across the country.
