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The Sun Hits Nadir, Burns Out and Sets, Eclipsed by Money Woes
By
John Del Signore
Published Sep 30, 2008
Modified Sep 30, 2008
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By
John Del Signore
Published Sep 30, 2008
Modified Sep 30, 2008
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Photo of editor Seth Lipsky addressing The Sun staff yesterday courtesy Konrad Fiedler/The Sun.
Despite a record-breaking month for advertising revenues, The Sun published its last edition today. Started in 2002, the neoconservative daily lasted just long enough to publish on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, surviving into year 5769 of the Jewish calendar. Editor Seth Lipsky addressed the staff in the paper's Lower Manhattan newsroom yesterday; excerpts from his remarks were published in today's edition:
This was always a risk, and all the greater is the heroism of our financial backers. Even at the end they were offering millions of dollars if we could find the partners we needed. I don't mind saying to you, as I have to them, that I very much regret — I will always regret — that we were not able to return to them the capital that they invested in us.
It is in the nature of things that there are going to be some jeers as we go out, as there were when we came in. Do not be discouraged by this...All of you will be able to tell your children and your grandchildren or simply your friends that not only did you appear in arms in a great newspaper war but that you did so on your own terms, for principles you believed in, and worked with some of the greatest newspaper craftsmen and craftswomen of your generation — and you covered yourselves with distinction.
Lipsky assured the staff that while the paper was folding, The Sun would not file bankruptcy and would pay the 110 full-time employees through November, with their health insurance lasting until the end of the year. An editorial in the final edition charts "the Arc of the Sun," whose name was taken from the old New York Sun that merged with The World-Telegram in 1950. The editorial explains that the 21st century iteration of The Sun was inspired by the former paper's stated opposition "to indecency and rascality, public and private."
The Times had reporters in The Sun's newsroom yesterday and noted that the staff won't miss the working "in a 19th-century building with 19th-century conveniences. They said the paper’s computers and telephones were problem-prone, the fire alarms sometimes sounded for no reason, the elevator stalled regularly and the bathroom plumbing backed up." Elizabeth Green, an education reporter, remarked that readers will remember the paper for its commitment "to having a substantial conversation and holding our leaders accountable."
Tagged
business
bust
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closing
Final
folds
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newspaper
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the sun
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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